Troubleshoot charts in a form or report

A chart is made up of information from the following places, in order of precedence:

• The data in the underlying table or other record source
• The chart's RowSource property
• The Microsoft Graph application

Microsoft Access regenerates the chart each time you print or preview the chart, or switch to Form view. Therefore, changes that you make using Graph might be overwritten by the underlying data or the RowSource property.

Keep the following in mind when you change your chart:

• Changes to the underlying data (such as the format of the data) have precedence over other changes. However, if the RowSource property setting contains a calculated field, such as =Format([StartDate],"MMM"), the format is determined by the result of the calculation, not by the underlying data.
• Changes in the RowSource property, such as changes to the chart's title and labels, can be overwritten by changes in the underlying data.
• Changes you make using Graph, such as changes based on the data, can be overwritten by changes you make in the underlying table or other record source or in the RowSource property.

You may encounter this message if you didn't explicitly declare in the Query Parameters dialog box the parameters used for a crosstab query or a query that a crosstab query or chart is based on. To resolve this, do the following:

1. In the query that contains the parameter, specify the parameter and its data type in the Query Parameters dialog box.

   How?

   1. On the Query menu, click Parameters.

   2. In the first Parameter cell, type the first prompt you entered in the query design grid.

   3. In the Data Type cell to the right, click the appropriate data type according to the following guidelines:

      If the parameter field data type is	Click this data type in the Data Type cell
      Currency, Date/Time, Memo, OLE Object, Text, and Yes/No	Currency, Date/Time, Memo, OLE Object, Text, and Yes/No
      Number	Byte, Single, Double, Integer, Long Integer, and Replication ID. These data types correspond to the five FieldSize property settings of the Number data type.
      Unknown	Value. This is a generic data type that accepts any type of data.
      Binary	Binary. Used with parameter queries directed to linked tables that do recognize this data type (Microsoft Access does not recognize this data type).

   4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each parameter you want to specify a data type for.

2. In the same query, set the ColumnHeadings property.

   How?

   You can change the order or limit the column headings in a crosstab query. For example, in column headings containing the months of the year, you can display the months chronologically rather than alphabetically. Or, you can limit the columns to just January through June.

   1. Open the crosstab query in Design view.
   2. Click the background of query Design view, outside the design grid and the field lists.
   3. On the toolbar, click Properties to display the query's property sheet.
   4. In the ColumnHeadings property box, enter the column headings you want to display, in the order in which you want to display them. Between the column headings, type a comma or the list separator for your country/region. (To find the list separator for your country/region, see the regional settings in Microsoft Windows Control Panel.)

      The column headings you enter must exactly match the column headings in the query datasheet. For example, if a column heading in the datasheet is "USA," you must enter a column heading of "USA"— not "US." (After you press ENTER or move the pointer to a different location, Microsoft Access places quotation marks around each heading.)

   5. To view the query's results, click View on the toolbar.

   Notes

   • If you run a crosstab query often, or if you use it as the basis for a form, report, or data access page, you can speed up the query by using the preceding procedure to specify fixed column headings.
   • If you frequently use the same column headings in different queries, consider creating a table with one Text field to store the column headings. Then open the table and copy the headings into the ColumnHeadings property box as needed.

The RowSource property for a chart may be invalid.

1. Open the form or report in Design view.
2. Make sure the chart is selected, and then click Properties .
3. Make sure the RowSource property box contains a valid value.
4. Switch to Form view or Print Preview to view the changes.

If the chart is record-bound, the query in the chart’s RowSource property can't contain a field that matches the fields in the LinkChildFields and LinkMasterFields properties of the form or report.

If you use Microsoft Graph to change the format of labels on your chart's axes, the changes are overwritten when the chart is updated. To make these changes permanent, you must modify the query specified by the chart's RowSource property.

1. Open the form or report in Design view.
2. Make sure the chart is selected, and then click Properties .
3. Click Build to the right of the RowSource property box.
4. In the query, replace the name of the field you want to format with the field name and the Format function.

   For example in a Microsoft Access database, you can change it to Format([OrderDate],"YY") to change how the date appears on your chart.

5. Close the query and save the changes.
6. Switch to Form view or Print Preview to view the changes.

Note  Not all Access custom formats work with Graph.

To make your data appear in a different order, you can modify the query specified by the chart's RowSource property.

1. Open the form or report in Design view.
2. Make sure the chart is selected, and then click Properties .
3. Click Build to the right of the RowSource property box.
4. In the query, put the fields you want sorted, left to right, in the order you want them sorted.
5. Close the query and save the changes.
6. Switch to Form view or Print Preview to view the changes.

In form or report Design view, the chart shows sample data when you first create it. To see current data, switch to Form view or Print Preview, or close the form or report and then open it.

You can't create a radar, surface, or combination chart by using the Chart Wizard. However, in Microsoft Graph you can change the chart you created with the Chart Wizard to any chart type, including a radar, surface, or combination chart.