how to wait for form to do calculations before proceeding with vba code

Try this for some help.  It's Visual basic.

http://www.programmershelp.co.uk/vbprogress.php

You could try the following solution

'In your form
Private Sub OpenChart()
    Dim stDocName As String
    stDocName = "ifrmDBarChart"
    Forms!frmDBarChart.OnUpdate = "ExportToExcel" 'Tell the chart to run this procedure after updating
    DoCmd.OpenForm stDocName
End Sub

Public Property Get ExcelDoc() As Object
    Set ExcelDoc = mobjDoc
End Property


'In a module
Public Sub ExportToExcel
   Dim intRangeEnd As Integer
   Dim frm As Form
   Dim objRange As Excel.Range
   Set frm = Forms!<Name of you main form here>
   'You'll need to get hold of your form Excel range object here
   Forms!ifrmDBarChart.SetFocus
   Forms!ifrmDBarChart!BarChart.ChartArea.Copy
   intRangeEnd = frm.ExcelDoc.Range.End
   Set objRange = frm.ExcelDoc.Range(intRangeEnd - 1, intRangeEnd)
   objRange.PasteSpecial , , , , wdPastePicture

   Set frm=nothing
   set objRange=nothing
End Sub

It's probably not ideal, but worth a try!

Apologies my previous example contains an error.

It seems you cannot set the OnUpdate method to point directly to a sub procedure, or for that matter a function.

In order to get this example to work you'll need to do the following
Create a Macro in Access and call it ExportToExcel
In side the macro choose the "RunCode" option and then enter "ExportToExcel()" in the Function Name box

Now change the Sub procedure titled
Public Sub ExortToExcel()
..to ....

Public Function ExportToExcel()

and ensure the End Sub line becomes End Function (this should happen automatically)

Here is some code that I have used with great success.  Thanks to Dev.

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
'***************** Code Start *******************
' This code was originally written by Dev Ashish.
' It is not to be altered or distributed,
' except as part of an application.
' You are free to use it in any application,
' provided the copyright notice is left unchanged.
'
' Code Courtesy of
' Dev Ashish
'
Private Declare Sub sapiSleep Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "Sleep" _
(ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
Sub sSleep(lngMilliSec As Long)
If lngMilliSec > 0 Then
Call sapiSleep(lngMilliSec)
End If
End Sub
Sub sTestSleep()
Const cTIME = 1000 'in MilliSeconds
Call sSleep(cTIME)
MsgBox "Before this Msgbox, I was asleep for " _
& cTIME & " Milliseconds."
End Sub
'***************** Code End *********************

‘************Code to be inserted where the Wait is to occur************
'Pause to allow the strLetter to be added to Word
Const cTIME = 1500 'in MilliSeconds
 Call sSleep(cTIME)
'Continue with Populating Word Template

Good Luck.

Dawn

Apparently this is more difficult than I expected, so I'm increasing points...thanks for the various suggestions, but I do not yet have a working solution.  Some good ideas here, but not quite the answers I need.  Somehow there has got to be a way to allow the form to finish its calculations before I copy the bar chart.

The timer/progress bar solution helped me set up a progress bar on the form with the bar chart.  However, the subroutine that opens that form continued its processing, so again, the bar chart had not finished calculating.  Is there a way to release control to a form until an event is triggered?  If I could prevent the subroutine from continuing until the timer reaches a certain value, I might have a solution.  

The exporttoexcel solution basically copied the same non-updated bar chart to Excel that is currently being copied into Word.  Taking the time to do that did not seem to allow the bar chart form to finish its updates.  

The sleep solution is one that I had already tried.  It pauses the entire application, so it doesn't work either.

What I need:
from the middle of a very long and complex subroutine, I open a form that instantiates a bar chart.  When I open the form, I need the application/subroutine to wait long enough for the bar chart to completely calculate, and then the application can resume the subroutine processing.  Basically, in the code above, where I need the pause, can anyone figure out some sort of "wait until the form is ready" calculation?

I've tried using various events on the form itself to do the copying that I need, and none of those has worked either.  The "update" event on the chart control has come closest - but it seems to be right before the finished calculation, and I need it to be right after.  But if anyone can figure out a way to do this from the form directly, I can use bookmarks to insert the chart into Word at the right position.  

Thanks again for the help.

Wendy