How to update a chart?

Question

I have a PowerPoint presentation with ~200 slides. Each slide has one chart, with data that is updated monthly by a link to a master xlsx file.

To not show empty values (future months) in the charts, I open the data editor (chart right click > Edit data...) of every chart and select the range until the current month.

I wrote a macro for it in PowerPoint:

Sub Refresh_slides()

    For i = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides.Count

        Set ObjSlide = ActivePresentation.Slides(i)

        On Error Resume Next

        Set mychart = ObjSlide.Shapes("Chart 3").Chart
        mychart.Select
        mychart.ChartData.Activate
        Set wb = mychart.ChartData.Workbook
        Set ws = wb.Worksheets(1)

        Application.Run "Refresh_slides_AUX.xlsm!atual_slide"

        wb.Close True

    Next

End Sub

Refresh_slides_AUX.xlsm is an auxiliary macro worksheet to select the correct range of each chart (because PowerPoint VBA, as far as I know, don't have an option to do it):

Sub atual_slide()

    Windows("Gráfico no Microsoft PowerPoint").Activate
    ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Table1").Resize Range("$A$1:$I$23")
    ActiveWindow.Close SaveChanges:=True


End Sub

The result is:

BEFORE: AFTER:

It works, but after the range is resized the charts don’t change, they still looking like the BEFORE picture.

I know the process is right because if I do the resizing manually (right corner of the dotted line) the chart is updated correctly.

Answer 1

This is an old question but I had trouble finding an answer and this question came up as the first hit for my search.

I'd like to post a powerpoint vba routine that has an ActivateChartDataWindow method that I found was necessary to refresh the chart after I had updated the data.

Private Sub RefreshChart(slideName As String, shapeName As String, spName As String, dataRange As String)
    'Add reference to Microsoft ActiveX Data Object 6.x Library
    'Read data point info from SQL
    Dim conn As ADODB.Connection
    Dim rs As ADODB.Recordset
    Dim connStr As String
    Dim query As String
    Dim sld As Slide
    Dim shp As Shape
    Dim xlWB As Excel.Workbook
    Dim xlWS As Excel.Worksheet

    Set sld = ActivePresentation.Slides(slideName)
    Set shp = sld.Shapes(shapeName)
    Set xlWB = shp.Chart.ChartData.Workbook
    Set xlWS = xlWB.Sheets(1)
    xlWS.Range(dataRange).Clear
    Set conn = New ADODB.Connection 'CreateObject("adodb.connection")
    connStr = "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source='" & SQLServer & "';Initial Catalog=WVCore;Integrated Security=SSPI;"
    conn.Open connStr
    Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset 'CreateObject("adodb.recordset")
    query = "exec " & spName 'usp_WVCRevenue
    With rs
        .ActiveConnection = conn
        .Open query
        xlWS.Range("A2").CopyFromRecordset rs 'Leave headings in tact
        .Close
    End With
    shp.Chart.ChartData.ActivateChartDataWindow
    xlWB.Close
    conn.Close
    Set rs = Nothing
    Set conn = Nothing
End Sub

Answer 2

Add wb.Application.Update before wb.Close

See if that helps.