"Invalid External Reference" Using ChartWizard Method

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the Source argument that you use with the ChartWizard method contains a number of nonadjacent range references. Note that the number of the range references that will cause this error message depends on the length of the name of the worksheet that the chart is created on.

For example, the following procedure correctly creates a chart on the active sheet, Sheet1, (assuming that the range A1:B14 on Sheet1 contains data):

   Sub CreateChart()
      ActiveSheet.ChartObjects.Add(100, 40, 300, 200).Select
      Application.CutCopyMode = False
      ActiveChart.ChartWizard Source:= Range( _
        "A1:B1,A2:B2,A3:B3,A4:B4,A5:B5,A6:B6,A7:B7," _
        & "A8:B8,A9:B9,A10:B10,A11:B11,A12:B12,A13:B13")
   End Sub
				

If you add another reference in the Range object for the Source argument, you receive the error message described above when you run the procedure.

This problem occurs because Visual Basic converts the range string ("A1:C1,A2:C2,...") into a parsed reference. When you use the ChartWizard method with this reference, the ChartWizard method converts this reference to a string. When this occurs, the reference is converted to R1C1 format, and the sheet name is added to each individual reference. This causes the reference string to exceed the allotted buffer, and to be cut off. Because the reference is cut off, you receive the error message above when the ChartWizard method attempts to create the chart.

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