Yesterday we have a post on using thermometer charts to quickly compare actual values with targets. Today we follow up the post with 10 charting ideas you can use to compare actual values with targets.
I have added my comments to each option along with useful links to learn how to make such a chart.
There is a poll too, at the end.
(1) Gauge / Speedometer Chart
What is good about this approach?
- Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
- Easy to construct
- Good for communicating one data point
What is bad?
- Takes too much space
- Bad design choice for most professional situations
Tutorials to make Gauge / Speedometer Chart
(2) Thermometer Chart
What is good about this approach?
- Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
- Easy to construct
- Good data to ink ratio
What is bad?
- Do not say anything about trends
- Not appropriate when actual values exceed targets
Tutorials to make Thermometer Chart
(3) Bullet Chart
What is good about this approach?
- Comprehensive
- Aesthetic and very good data to ink ratio
What is bad?
- Difficult to construct in Excel
- Takes time to read the first time
Tutorials to make Bullet Chart
Tutorial 1 | A bullet chart alternative
(4) Area Chart
What is good about this approach?
- Shows trend along with current status
- Easy to construct
- Easy to compare
What is bad?
- Not good for small data sets
(5) Line Charts
What is good about this approach?
- Easy to construct
- Shows trend along with current status
- Easy to read and understand
What is bad?
- Looks too simple
(6) Column Chart with Markers
What is good about this approach?
- Easy to compare & read
- Easy to construct
What is bad?
- Not good for small data sets
Tutorials to make Column Chart with Markers
(7) Partially Overlapped Chart
What is good about this approach?
- Easy to construct
What is bad?
- Difficult to compare
(8) Traffic Lights
What is good about this approach?
- Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
- Easy to construct (with Excel 2007 Conditional Formatting)
- Good for tables
What is bad?
- Do not tell the entire story, so should be used only in tables or with other displays
(9) Pie Charts
What is good about this approach?
- Familiar metaphor thus easy to understand
- Easy to construct (with Excel 2007 Conditional Formatting)
- Good for tables
What is bad?
- Works when targets are 100%
- Cannot show when actual values are more than targets
- Pie charts can be hard to read
Tutorials to make Pie Charts
(10) Using Text – Just say the thing
What is good about this approach?
- Easy to read
- Highest Data to ink ratio
- Very easy to construct
What is bad?
- Too simple
- Leaves the finer details out
If you are reading this post on email or feed reader, please click here to access the poll.
6 Responses to “Make VBA String Comparisons Case In-sensitive [Quick Tip]”
Another way to test if Target.Value equal a string constant without regard to letter casing is to use the StrCmp function...
If StrComp("yes", Target.Value, vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
' Do something
End If
That's a cool way to compare. i just converted my values to strings and used the above code to compare. worked nicely
Thanks!
In case that option just needs to be used for a single comparison, you could use
If InStr(1, "yes", Target.Value, vbTextCompare) Then
'do something
End If
as well.
Nice tip, thanks! I never even thought to think there might be an easier way.
Regarding Chronology of VB in general, the Option Compare pragma appears at the very beginning of VB, way before classes and objects arrive (with VB6 - around 2000).
Today StrComp() and InStr() function offers a more local way to compare, fully object, thus more consistent with object programming (even if VB is still interpreted).
My only question here is : "what if you want to binary compare locally with re-entering functions or concurrency (with events) ?". This will lead to a real nightmare and probably a big nasty mess to debug.
By the way, congrats for you Millions/month visits 🙂
This is nice article.
I used these examples to help my understanding. Even Instr is similar to Find but it can be case sensitive and also case insensitive.
Hope the examples below help.
Public Sub CaseSensitive2()
If InStr(1, "Look in this string", "look", vbBinaryCompare) = 0 Then
MsgBox "woops, no match"
Else
MsgBox "at least one match"
End If
End Sub
Public Sub CaseSensitive()
If InStr("Look in this string", "look") = 0 Then
MsgBox "woops, no match"
Else
MsgBox "at least one match"
End If
End Sub
Public Sub NotCaseSensitive()
'doing alot of case insensitive searching and whatnot, you can put Option Compare Text
If InStr(1, "Look in this string", "look", vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
MsgBox "woops, no match"
Else
MsgBox "at least one match"
End If
End Sub