iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI · error · ArgumentException

Invalid 'tickLabelPos' value: '{value}'. Valid: none, high,

Error message

Invalid 'tickLabelPos' value: '{value}'. Valid: none, high, low, nextTo.

What it means

Thrown when 'tickLabelPos'/'tickLabelPosition' does not match any switch arm. OOXML ST_TickLblPos is {none, high, low, nextTo}; the setter also accepts 'top' (high) and 'bottom' (low) aliases. Any other token is rejected rather than silently defaulted.

Source

Thrown at src/officecli/Core/Chart/ChartHelper.Setter.cs:1869

                    var tickVal = ParseTickMark(value);
                    foreach (var ax in plotArea2.Elements<C.ValueAxis>().Where(a => !IsDeletedAxis(a)))
                    { ax.RemoveAllChildren<C.MinorTickMark>(); InsertAxisChildInOrder(ax, new C.MinorTickMark { Val = tickVal }); }
                    foreach (var ax in plotArea2.Elements<C.CategoryAxis>().Where(a => !IsDeletedAxis(a)))
                    { ax.RemoveAllChildren<C.MinorTickMark>(); InsertAxisChildInOrder(ax, new C.MinorTickMark { Val = tickVal }); }
                    break;
                }

                case "ticklabelpos" or "ticklabelposition":
                {
                    var plotArea2 = chart.GetFirstChild<C.PlotArea>();
                    if (plotArea2 == null) { unsupported.Add(key); break; }
                    var tlPos = value.ToLowerInvariant() switch
                    {
                        "none" => C.TickLabelPositionValues.None,
                        "high" or "top" => C.TickLabelPositionValues.High,
                        "low" or "bottom" => C.TickLabelPositionValues.Low,
                        "nextto" => C.TickLabelPositionValues.NextTo,
                        _ => throw new ArgumentException($"Invalid 'tickLabelPos' value: '{value}'. Valid: none, high, low, nextTo.")
                    };
                    foreach (var ax in plotArea2.Elements<C.ValueAxis>().Where(a => !IsDeletedAxis(a)))
                    { ax.RemoveAllChildren<C.TickLabelPosition>(); InsertAxisChildInOrder(ax, new C.TickLabelPosition { Val = tlPos }); }
                    foreach (var ax in plotArea2.Elements<C.CategoryAxis>().Where(a => !IsDeletedAxis(a)))
                    { ax.RemoveAllChildren<C.TickLabelPosition>(); InsertAxisChildInOrder(ax, new C.TickLabelPosition { Val = tlPos }); }
                    break;
                }

                case "axisposition" or "axispos":
                {
                    var plotArea2 = chart.GetFirstChild<C.PlotArea>();
                    if (plotArea2 == null) { unsupported.Add(key); break; }
                    var axPos = value.ToLowerInvariant() switch
                    {
                        "top" or "t" => C.AxisPositionValues.Top,
                        "bottom" or "b" => C.AxisPositionValues.Bottom,
                        "left" or "l" => C.AxisPositionValues.Left,
                        "right" or "r" => C.AxisPositionValues.Right,

View on GitHub (pinned to 1ced45e900)

Solutions

Use none, high (or top), low (or bottom), or nextTo.
Trim and ToLowerInvariant user input before passing.
Whitelist the value against the four schema values.

Example fix

// before
SetChartProperties(part, new() { ["tickLabelPos"] = "outside" });
// after
SetChartProperties(part, new() { ["tickLabelPos"] = "nextTo" });

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

static readonly HashSet<string> TickLabelPos =
    new[]{"none","high","top","low","bottom","nextto"}, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

static bool IsValidTickLabelPos(string v) =>
    !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(v) && TickLabelPos.Contains(v.Trim().ToLowerInvariant());

Type guard

static bool IsKnownTickLabelPos(string v) =>
    (v?.Trim().ToLowerInvariant()) is "none" or "high" or "top" or "low" or "bottom" or "nextto";

Try / catch

try { SetChartProperties(part, props); }
catch (ArgumentException ex) when (ex.Message.StartsWith("Invalid 'tickLabelPos'"))
{ /* default to nextTo and retry */ }

Prevention

Bind tick label position to the four schema values (none/high/low/nextTo).
Do not reuse labelPos vocabulary for tick labels.
Trim and lowercase free-text input.

When it happens

Trigger: SetChartProperties with { ["tickLabelPos"] = "middle" }, "outside", or a misspelled token.

Common situations: Generic 'outside'/'middle' vocabulary from another charting library; trailing whitespace or wrong case; copy from a config that used long-form 'nextTo' as 'next'.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI@1ced45e900 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/412b42dfedaa26f2. Report an issue: GitHub.