.net CHARTING Support & Knowledge Base » Knowledgebase » Development & Usage

How to maximize Pie chart layout.

Support — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:51:29 GMT

SYMPTOM

How to maximize Pie chart layout.

SOLUTION

There are a number of features that can help improve this scenario.

Labels
When labels are length, label smart wraping can make them smaller as in this example:
http://www.dotnetcharting.com/gallery/view.aspx?id=PieLabelSmartWraping

Pie Sizes
If the pies are in one chart area, the chart will ensure they all end up being the same size. However, to ensure the pies remain the same size across different chart areas despite the labels, a static size can be applied as in this sample:
http://www.dotnetcharting.com/gallery/view.aspx?id=PieCustomSize

Legend
The legend can also interfere with pie sizes. To minimize the impact of the legend try the following

Put the legend in the title
http://www.dotnetcharting.com/gallery/view.aspx?id=PyramidCentered

Float the legendBox:
http://www.dotnetcharting.com/gallery/view.aspx?id=SplineTension

Position the legend on top or bottom so it's laid out horizontally:
http://www.dotnetcharting.com/gallery/view.aspx?id=LegendHeaderStyling

How can the format of values on a chart be controlled?

Support — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:33:42 GMT

QUESTION

How can the format of values on a chart be controlled?

ANSWER

These tutorials will explain the formatting methods:
Formatting Values
Formatting Advanced

How can 2 different axes have the same range?

Support — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:33:09 GMT

QUESTION

How can 2 different axes have the same range?

ANSWER

Scales can be synchronized as detailed in this help topic.

How can each element be shown in the legend box?

Support — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:29:47 GMT

QUESTION

How can each element be shown in the legend box?

ANSWER

One way to do this is to specify the element's legend entry visibility.

[C#]

Chart.DefaultSeries.DefaultElement.LegendEntry.Visible = true;

[Visual Basic]

Chart.DefaultSeries.DefaultElement.LegendEntry.Visible = True

Another way is to specify a palette for the element. For more information on this, please see this help topic.

How can the element label show its name and other information.

Support — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:28:36 GMT

QUESTION

How can the element label show its name and other information.

ANSWER

The element's text string behaves like a template and uses tokens to represent information. This also applied to virtually all labels. Tokens can be used to represent most object's attributes.

Example
This code demonstrates how to show the element's name and value:

[C#]

Chart.DefaultElement.SmartLabel.Text = "%Name %Value";

[Visual Basic]

Chart.DefaultElement.SmartLabel.Text = "%Name %Value"

See also Tokens Reference for a list of available tokens.

To use other custom information with tokens, custom attributes can be used. Please see the custom attributes tutorial for more information.

How can the label color and fonts be changed on the chart?

Support — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:27:39 GMT

QUESTION

How can the label color and fonts be changed on the chart?

ANSWER

The label tutorial located at [http://www.dotnetcharting.com/documentation/v6_0/Labels.html] shows a chart labels diagram which notes how to access each label through the chart object.

The Label/SmartLabel objects have a Font and Color property which can be set.

Please see the following tutorials for more info:

Colors
Demonstrates how colors are created.
Fonts
Demonstrates how fonts are created

Embedding chart images in emails, word documents and other applications.

Support — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:53:58 GMT

QUESTION

How can I embed a chart image in an email or word document without referencing the URL?

ANSWER

Right click on the image, select 'save picture as' and save it to some location like your desktop. You can then drag and drop the image into emails, word documents and other applications. For more information on emailing charts, see this kb.

Where can ShapeFiles be found.

Support — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:38:05 GMT

QUESTION

Where can ShapeFiles be found.

ANSWER

Below is a list of websites that offer shapefiles that can be used with dotnetCHARTING. Many others can also be found online as this is a widely used format.

NOAA's National Weather Service	http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/
NationalAtlas.gov	http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html
U.S. Census Cartographic Boundary Files	http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/index.html

ESRI Census 2000 TIGER/Line Data	http://www.esri.com/data/download/census2000_tigerline/index.html
DIVA-GIS DataServer	http://www.diva-gis.org/data/DataServer.htm

Massachusetts Geographic Information System	http://www.mass.gov/mgis/massgis.htm
ESRI Geography Network	http://www.geographynetwork.com/

AGIS - Links to sources of free map and geographic name data	http://www.agismap.com/webgis.html
Canadian GIS Resources	http://gislounge.com/ll/canadianresources.shtml
GIS Data Depot	http://data.geocomm.com
UNC University Libraries - GIS Data Finder	http://www.lib.unc.edu/reference/gis/datafinder/index.html
North American Transportation Atlas Data	http://www.bts.gov/publications/north_american_transportation_atlas_data
WebGIS US one degree data- DLG and DEMs	http://www.webgis.com/dlg_shplatlong.html

Shapefiles for EPI Info	http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/shape.htm
Arizona GeoServer	http://sco.az.gov/website/geoserver/
Penn State University Map Library	http://www.libraries.psu.edu/maps/

How do I migrate my code to use the DataEngine?

Support — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:08:19 GMT

QUESTION

How do I migrate my code to use the DataEngine?

ANSWER

The DataEngine object has the same properties as its Chart/Series data property counterparts and is simple to change.

Code without the DataEngine.
This process does not allow access to the individual elements. The chart accesses the database when it begins generating.

[C#]

Chart.DefaultSeries.ConnectionString = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["DNCConnectionString"];
Chart.Series.Type = SeriesType.Spline;
Chart.Series.StartDate=new System.DateTime(2002,1,1,0,0,0);
Chart.Series.EndDate = new System.DateTime(2002,1,1,23,59,59);
Chart.Series.SqlStatement= @"SELECT OrderDate,Sum(Total) FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate >= #STARTDATE# AND OrderDate <= #ENDDATE# GROUP BY Orders.OrderDate ORDER BY Orders.OrderDate";
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add();

[Visual Basic]

Chart.DefaultSeries.ConnectionString = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("DNCConnectionString")
Chart.Series.Type = SeriesType.Spline
Chart.Series.StartDate = New System.DateTime(2002,1,1,0,0,0)
Chart.Series.EndDate = New System.DateTime(2002,1,1,23,59,59)
Chart.Series.SqlStatement= "SELECT OrderDate,Sum(Total) FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate >= #STARTDATE# AND OrderDate <= #ENDDATE# GROUP BY Orders.OrderDate ORDER BY Orders.OrderDate"
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add()

Code with the DataEngine.
This process uses very similar code as above, but it accesses the database when the de.GetSeries() method is called.

[C#]

DataEngine de = new DataEngine();
de.ConnectionString = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["DNCConnectionString"];
de.StartDate=new System.DateTime(2002,1,1,0,0,0);
de.EndDate = new System.DateTime(2002,1,1,23,59,59);
de.SqlStatement= @"SELECT OrderDate,Sum(Total) FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate >= #STARTDATE# AND OrderDate <= #ENDDATE# GROUP BY Orders.OrderDate ORDER BY Orders.OrderDate";
SeriesCollection sc = de.GetSeries();
sc[0].Type = SeriesType.Spline;
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(sc);

[Visual Basic]

Dim de As DataEngine = New DataEngine()
de.ConnectionString = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("DNCConnectionString")
de.StartDate = New System.DateTime(2002,1,1,0,0,0)
de.EndDate = New System.DateTime(2002,1,1,23,59,59)
de.SqlStatement= "SELECT OrderDate,Sum(Total) FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate >= #STARTDATE# AND OrderDate <= #ENDDATE# GROUP BY Orders.OrderDate ORDER BY Orders.OrderDate"
Dim sc As SeriesCollection = de.GetSeries()
sc(0).Type = SeriesType.Spline
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(sc)

As you can see all the same properties are available with the DataEngine as are with Chart.Series. However, using the DataEngine object allows you to get a fully populated series collection with elements that can be manipulated before they are added to the chart.

For more information, please see this kb:
How do I access series and element generated from my database or data table?

How to get the r-squared value or a trend line.

Support — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:32:08 GMT

TASK

How to get the r-squared value or a trend line.

SOLUTION

The statistical engine can be used to calculate this value.

Getting the r-squared value of a trend line.
The r-squared value of mySeries will be stored int r2.

[C#]

double r2 = StatisticalEngine.CorrelationCoefDeterminantion("",mySeries).YValue;

[Visual Basic]

Dim r2 As Double = StatisticalEngine.CorrelationCoefDeterminantion("",mySeries).YValue

Disabling the Chart Mentor.

Support — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:52:28 GMT

QUESTION

How can the chart mentor be disabled?

ANSWER

The chart mentor only shows up when Chart.Debug = true. For production environments, it is recommended to disable debug mode. However, to disable the mentor and stay in debug mode the following code can be used in the code section.

[C#]

Chart.Mentor = false;

[Visual Basic]

Chart.Mentor = False

Are chart images with transparent backgrounds possible?

Support — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:11:15 GMT

QUESTION

Can I make the background of a chart image transparent so the color or pattern underneath shows through?

ANSWER

Yes, simply setting Chart.Background.Color = Color.Transparent will work.

Note: The color structure is available in the System.Drawing namespace

Is exporting the chart to excel possible?

Support — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:08:54 GMT

QUESTION

Is exporting the chart to excel possible?

ANSWER

.netCHARTING can supply a bitmap object of the chart, then the bitmap can be inserted into an excel spreadsheet, however, this procedure must be done manually and may require a 3rd party component to interact with the excel API if it's to be done programatically.

Ordering chart elements

Support — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:15:22 GMT

QUESTION

How can the order of various chart elements be changed?

ANSWERS

Ordering Series
Series orders can be changed in a number of ways.

[C#]

//By specifying the order number for a series:
Series s = (...);
s.Position = 1;
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(s);

// Reversing the series order
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeries = true;
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

// Reversing the series order but not the legend
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeriesPositions = true;
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

[Visual Basic]

//By specifying the order number for a series:
Series s = [...]
s.Position = 1
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(s)

// Reversing the series order
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeries = True
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

// Reversing the series order but not the legend
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeriesPositions = True
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

Order Legend Entries
Legend order can be reversed by setting the two following properties to true.

[C#]

// Reversing the series order
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeries = true;
// Reversing the series order but not the legend
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeriesPositions = true;
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

[Visual Basic]

// Reversing the series order
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeries = True
// Reversing the series order but not the legend
Chart.YAxis.ReverseSeriesPositions = True
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

Order Stacks
Stacked objects such as stacked cylinders can be reversed like so:

[C#]

// Reversing the stack order
Chart.YAxis.ReverseStack = true;
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

[Visual Basic]

// Reversing the stack order
Chart.YAxis.ReverseStack = True
// Note: For horizontal charts, the XAxis would be used.

How can I stack columns?

Support — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:10:51 GMT

QUESTION

How can I stack columns?

ANSWER

First the scale for the y axis must be set to Scale.Stacked: (Chart.YAxis.Scale = Scale.Stacked). If using a horizontal combo chart the scale must be set for the x axis.

Columns that are stacked must be in different series. When an element shares a name or x value with an element in another series it will be stacked.

[Stacked] [Not Stacked]
Series 1: Element 1 | Element 2
Series 2: Element 1 | Element 3

A realworld examle would be stacking two values for a given month per department. The series would represent different departments and all elements for any given month would stack. Using a different y axis for any given series would exclude it from being stacked with the others.

Create a chart without rendering it within the calling page.

Support — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:44:16 GMT

QUESTION

Can a chart image file be created without rendering the chart in the calling ASP.NET page?

ANSWER

Yes, you can even have .netCHARTING save and manage the removal of the files on your server. The easiest way to do this is shown below and works with all formats.

[C#]

Chart chart = new Chart();
[ .. set chart properties .. ]
chart.ImageFormat = dotnetCHARTING.ImageFormat.Jpg;

string fileName = chart.FileManager.SaveImage();

[Visual Basic]

Dim chart As New Chart()
[ .. set chart properties .. ]
chart.ImageFormat = dotnetCHARTING.ImageFormat.Jpg;

Dim fileName As New String
fileName = chart.FileManager.SaveImage()

Getting Image Objects

Alternatively, if access to a bitmap or metafile object is required the following methods can be used to achieve the same.

ONLY FORMATS: Jpg, Png, Bmp, Tif

[C#]

Chart chart = new Chart();
[ .. set chart properties .. ]
Bitmap bmp = chart.GetChartBitmap();

// Now the chart can be saved as a file on the server as well.
string fileName = chart.FileManager.SaveImage(bmp);

[Visual Basic]

Dim chart As New Chart()
[ .. set chart properties .. ]
Dim bmp As New Bitmap()
bmp = chart.GetChartBitmap()

// Now the chart can be saved as a file on the server as well.
Dim fileName As New String
fileName = chart.FileManager.SaveImage(bmp)

FORMATS: Emf, Swf, Pdf, Svg, Xaml

For these formats you can have .netCHARTING save and manage the files on your server.

[C#]

Chart chart = new Chart();
[ .. set chart properties .. ]
chart.ImageFormat = ImageFormat.Swf;
MemoryStream ms = chart.GetChartStream();

[Visual Basic]

Dim chart As New Chart()
[ .. set chart properties .. ]
chart.ImageFormat = ImageFormat.Swf;
Dim ms As New MemoryStream()
ms = chart.GetChartStream()

Vector file types (SVG, VML, Flash)

Support — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:38:10 GMT

QUESTION

Does .netCHARTING support vector based output such as SVG, Flash, VML etc.

ANSWER

Yes, SVG, SVGZ, SWF, EMF, XAML, and PDF are supported.

Usage:

[C#]

Chart.ImageFormat = dotnetCHARTING.ImageFormat.Pdf;

[Visual Basic]

Chart.ImageFormat = dotnetCHARTING.ImageFormat.Pdf

How do I print a chart?

Support — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:37:20 GMT

QUESTION

How do I print a chart?

ANSWER [WebForms]

The chart can be printed using the browser's 'Print Page' functionality. For improved printing quality, set the following property:

[C#]

Chart.PrinterOptimizedText = true;

[Visual Basic]

Chart.PrinterOptimizedText = True

The following article Build Printable ASP.NET Pages in Visual Studio Magazine September 2003 issue is a helpful resource for printing web pages.

ANSWER [WinForms]

Below is sample project that demonstrates printing a chart in WinForms. (Atricle attachment PrintingWinFormsChart.zip)

How can .netCHARTING be used with MS Reporting Services (SSRS).

Support — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:33:47 GMT

QUESTION

How can .netCHARTING be used with MS Reporting Services (SSRS).

ANSWER

The SSRS system allows .netCHARTING generated bitmaps added to it's reports.

The following MS article describes how objects can be used within reports:
Jazz Up Your Data Using Custom Report Items In SQL Server Reporting Services

What is required from .netCHARTING in order for this to work is being able to get a bitmap object of the chart image. This process is described in the following KB article.
Creating a Chart without Rendering it

Using Series.Line.Color does not work.

Support — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:27:50 GMT

SYMPTOM

Using Series.Line.Color does not work.

SOLUTION

The Series.Line object can be used to set a line style and width, however, because the colors can be different for each element on the line, they are set through the Element.Color property. To set a series line color Series.DefaultElement.Color should be used instead.

How can the location of the saved chart image be retrieved?

Support — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:22:45 GMT

QUESTION

How can the location of the saved chart image be retrieved?

ANSWER

Location of the saved image.
This code snippet demonstrates getting the location of the saved chart image. (Versions 4.1+)

[C#]

string filePath = Chart.FileManager.SaveImage();

[Visual Basic]

Dim filePath as String
filePath = Chart.FileManager.SaveImage()

Chart shows ''No Data'' after post back.

Support — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 03:48:01 GMT

PROBLEM

Chart shows 'No Data' after post back.

SOLUTION

Due to the large amount of data utilized by .netCHARTING, the chart does not depend on view state which can result in very large page returns. For a sample working with a chart with postback please see the postback.aspx page included with the bundle.

In this sample, the originally generated chart is displayed again without the overhead of generating the chart again. It is also possible to set the chart properties again on postback to create a new chart or refreshed version of the originally generated chart on postback.

Accessing elements generated from a database or data table.

Support — Thu, 18 May 2006 01:15:33 GMT

QUESTION

How do I access series and element objects generated from my database or data table?

ANSWER

Using the method below is quick and easy however the data is not accessible until after it is pulled from the database and populated in the chart. The PostDataProcessing event can be used to manipulate any chart data after processing but before the chart is rendered from it. See the sample postdataprocessing.aspx for an example.

[C#]

Chart.Series.Data = myDataTable;
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add();

// Element e = Chart.SeriesCollection[0].Elements[0];
// This Will Not Work here. This code could be used in the OnPostDataProcessing event.

// To use the event, the following line would need to be added the page load
Chart.PostDataProcessing +=new PostDataProcessingEventHandler(OnPostDataProcessing);

// The same code would work in this event as the data is populated
void OnPostDataProcessing(Object sender)
{
Element e = Chart.SeriesCollection[0].Elements[0];
}

[Visual Basic]

Chart.Series.Data = myDataTable
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add()

' Element e = Chart.SeriesCollection(0).Elements(0)
' This Will Not Work here. This code could be used in the OnPostDataProcessing event.

'To use the event, the following line would need to be added the page load
AddHandler Chart.PostDataProcessing, AddressOf OnPostDataProcessing

'The same code would work in this event as the data is populated
Sub OnPostDataProcessing(sender As [Object])
Element e = Chart.SeriesCollection(0).Elements(0)
End Sub 'OnPostDataProcessing

To get access to series and element data without using the OnPostDataProcessing event you can also use the the DataEngine object directly. It has the same data acquisition related properties as Chart.Series but it will return a fully populated SeriesCollection you can manipulate in any way.

Note: The generated elements will not have colors specified. This is determined at runtime. If you would like to access the color used see property: Chart.Palette.

This code will get the first element of the series generated from the data table.

[C#]

DataEngine de = new DataEngine();
de.Data = myDataTable;

SeriesCollection sc = de.GetSeries();
Element e = sc[0].Elements[0];

[Visual Basic]

Dim de As New DataEngine()
de.Data = myDataTable

Dim sc As SeriesCollection = de.GetSeries()
Element e = sc(0).Elements(0)

For more information on using the data engine and it's features, see:

Help file (included in download) > Getting Started > Data Tutorials > Data Engine
Sample (included in download) > features/dataEngine.aspx

How can a chart be shown when there is no data?

Support — Tue, 16 May 2006 03:12:07 GMT

QUESTION

How can a chart be shown when there is no data?

ANSWER

A chart cannot be drawn when there is no data so first we must determine of no data exists. See kb Q10621 for more info on how to do this.

Now we will trick the chart into thinking that there is data by adding an empty element.

[C#]

if(noData)
{
Element e1 = new Element("",0,0);
e1.Color = Color.Empty;
e1.LegendEntry.Visible = false;
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(new Series("",e1));
}

[Visual Basic]

If noData Then
Dim e1 As Element = new Element("",0,0)
e1.Color = Color.Empty
e1.LegendEntry.Visible = false
Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(new Series("",e1))
End If

Manipulate the axis origin.

Support — Mon, 15 May 2006 06:08:08 GMT

QUESTION

How can I change the origin of the y axis. For instance, make columns start at 1 instead of 0?

ANSWER

This can be accomplished by giving your elements a starting value similar to Gantt charts.

In this example we get a SeriesCollection of data, then iterate each element giving it a new starting value.

Please Note: The series collection must be populated in order for this to work. See this kb for more information.

[C#]

DataEngine de = new DataEngine(ConnectionString,SqlStatement);
SeriesCollection sc = de.GetSeries();

foreach(Series s in sc)
{
foreach(Element e in s.Elements)
{
e.YValueStart = 1;
}
}

Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(sc);

[Visual Basic]

Dim de As New DataEngine(ConnectionString,SqlStatement)
Dim sc As New SeriesCollection()
sc = de.GetSeries()

Dim s As Series
Dim e As Element
For Each s In sc
For Each e in s.Elements
e.YValueStart = 1
Next e
Next s

Chart.SeriesCollection.Add(sc);