title: How to set x-axis data plotting a pandas dataframe using xlsxwriter
body: <p>I am trying to create a plot in excel using xlsxwriter with python3 and pandas.  How do I get xlsxwriter to use the pubyear column for the x_axis values?</p>
  
  <p>I can plot successfully using matplotlib, but I am required to produce excel-charts.</p>
  
  <p>This code </p>
  
  <pre><code>n [248]: df1.describe
  Out[248]: 
  &lt;bound method NDFrame.describe of          africa
  pubyear        
  2018      57371
  2017      70838
  2016      66250
  2015      58572
  2014      52453
  2013      46733
  2012      42521
  2011      38851
  2010      33463
  2009      29603
  2008      25947
  2007      22573
  2006      19188
  2005      16701&gt;
  
  writer = pd.ExcelWriter('/tmp/pandas_simple.xlsx', engine='xlsxwriter')
  
  # Convert the dataframe to an XlsxWriter Excel object.
  df.to_excel(writer, sheet_name='Sheet1')
  workbook  = writer.book
  worksheet = writer.sheets['Sheet1']
  chart = workbook.add_chart({'type': 'column'})
  
  # Configure the series of the chart from the dataframe data.
  chart.add_series({'values': '=Sheet1!$D$1:$D$15'})
  chart.set_x_axis({'name': 'Pubyear', 'min': '=Sheet1!$A$2', 
                    'max':  '=Sheet1!$A$14', 
                    "date_axis" : "=Sheet1!$A$2:$A15$" })
  chart.set_y_axis({'name': 'Output'})
  worksheet.insert_chart('I2', chart)
  
  writer.save()
  
  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>produced an file containing this data in the spreadsheet where pubyear is in column A and africa in column B:</p>
  
  <pre><code>  A       B
  pubyear africa
  2018    57371
  2017    70838
  2016    66250
  2015    58572
  2014    52453
  2013    46733
  2012    42521
  2011    38851
  2010    33463
  2009    29603
  2008    25947
  2007    22573
  2006    19188
  2005    16701
  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The plot shows a bar chart with 
  x-axis: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15</p>
  
  <p>I want pubyear as in column A to be the x-labels.</p>