WinForms Chart Control

DotNetBar Charts control is an easy to use, versatile control that helps you present your data in visually pleasing format and highlight its inherent relational properties.

In latest version of DotNetBar we have expanded Charts control with new horizontal and vertical bar chart type. You can create bar charts with multiple series of data with data labels, axis labels and many other formatting options.

Here is a list of some of the highlights / features available through the Chart Control:

• Each Chart (and/or each individual Series) can be associated with bound or unbound data. Each Bound Chart data store can be used to define and create a single series or multiple series, as fully determined by the application.
• Each Chart is capable of displaying multiple sub-charts, all arranged (either automatically or per application definition) in a vertically or horizontally driven Matrix.
• Each chart can display multiple Series, with each Series associated with the primary X/Y Axes or associated with application defined and configured Ancillary Axes.
• Each Series can display automatic Regression Line and user defined Trend Lines. A Convex Hull, encompassing the entire series data, can automatically be displayed as well.
• Each Series can be dynamically set to a Point Plot (Scatter Plot), Line Plot (which can display simultaneous points, lines, and splines), Dot Plot (vertical or horizontal), or Bubble plot.
• Each chart axis (Primary Axes X/Y, Ancillary Axes X/Y) can have associated Reference Lines and Axis Stripes, which can be used to uniquely highlight and label important areas of the chart.
• Each chart axis can represent DateTime data (years, days, hours, etc), Quantitative data (numerical data - int, double, etc), or Qualitative data (string data - ie "NorthWest").
• Each chart can display its own Legend, optionally displaying each defined Series, Regression Lines, Reference Lines, Axis Stripes, etc. Checkboxes or Markers can be shown for each item in the Legend, optionally permitting user interaction with the checkboxes for selective display of each item.
• Each Legend can be optionally displayed at the application's discretion. Each Legend can contain items from its own Chart, but may also contain Legend items from any nested Charts. Chart Legends can be shown inside or outside the associated BaseChart/ChartPanel, arranged vertically or horizontally, and oriented (top, bottom, left, ...) as desired.
• Each Chart and Chart Axis can optionally present an unrestricted number of defined Titles - each extensively aligned, oriented and styled as the application chooses.
• Panning (clicking and dragging the surface of the chart area to scroll its contents) can be optionally enabled for each Chart and Legend.
• Each major chart element can have an associated Image, aligned and oriented as the user chooses, which can be set to pan/scroll with the chart surface, or to remain fixed.
• Each element in the Chart is extremely customizable, permitting the change of Fonts, colors, spacing, layout, user interaction, event processing, etc.

Here are couple of screen-shots from sample applications included with DotNetBar which show just few Chart control features:

Dot Plot chart type:

Bubble Plot chart type:

Pie Charts

DotNetBar Charts controls includes powerful Pie chart type. This kind of chart provides a 'Pie' display of the chart data, which can be extensively tailored to provide a variety of chart displays (such as Donut charts, exploded charts, charts with multiple series and multiple rings, extended pies, etc).

A Pie Chart is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportions. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice (and consequently its central angle and area), is proportional to the quantity it represents. It is named for its resemblance to a pie which has been sliced.

DotNetBar Chart control Pie Charts can present regular, industry standard pie charts, as well as the less common Polar (or Extended) Chart and Ring Chart displays. Each Pie Chart layout can also be displayed as a ‘Donut’ chart (pie chart with an interior hole or center area).

DotNetBar Chart control Pie Charts are extremely flexible, and are easily configured and stylized, through both the designer and through code. They can be pretty much as simple or as complex as you need them to be.

Each Pie Chart is made up of one or more Pie Series (defining multiple Points or Slices of the pie), with each pie Series containing one of more ‘Rings’, enabling the further division (or consolidation) of the data presented in an adjacent ring. The rings can be presented as defined (from the outer to the inner area of the pie), or reversed in their display (from the inner to outer area).

Each Pie Chart can be configured (via simple ShowAllRings property) to enable/disable the display of all defined rings concurrently – or to only display a single ring at a time, giving the user the ability to “drill” up or down into various levels of pie data.

Multiple pie Series can also be displayed as individual groups of concentric rings, or displayed overlaid over each other, enabling a more detailed comparison of multiple series data with a single glance.

Each defined pie Series can be tailored to show all defined slices, or to aggregate some of them into the “Other” slice, based upon Minimum Percentage of pie, or Max Slice count values. The “Other” slice is fully configurable and stylize-able, and offers all the properties and methods presented by all ‘normal’ pie slices.

Each Pie Series (and each series ring) can have an associated ‘Ring Weight’, which is used to proportionally (or relatively) size the associated element with respect to all other defined elements in that group. Thus, for instance, you can define multiple series (or rings) where one series (or ring) is twice as big as another, or where 2/3 of them are only half as big as the first one, etc.

The Pie Chart can be started at any given angle, with each series being able to set a new starting angle if needed. You can also set the sweep angle (0 – 360 degrees) as well as the sweep direction (the direction in which defined slices are logically displayed in the pie). Again, these values can be individually set for each defined Pie Series.

Each pie Series (or ring, or slice) can have an associated ‘AngleMargin’ set for each point (or slice) of that group. The AngleMargin permits the start and ending angle of a slice to be adjusted by the set margin amount, to further highlight or accentuate the given slice(s).

Each defined Pie (and series) can be displayed as normal Pie Charts (where the slice ‘value’ is used to calculate the slice width (arc length), or degree percentage of the total pie), or it can simultaneously be displayed as a ‘Polar’ chart, where the relative ‘length’ (or extent) of the pie slice (length from inner to outer radius of the slice) can also be specified, thus displaying 2 levels of relational data for each defined slice.

Pie Slices can optionally be selected by the user. Pie selection can be tailored for single or multi-select mode. The level, or granularity, of user selections can be set to permit individual point, entire slice, entire ring, or the entire pie to be selected upon user click.

The pie can be ‘Exploded’, where each slice is offset from the center by the ‘ExplodedOffset’ amount (in order to highlight or enhance the display of the entire pie). The user can optionally be allowed to control exploding the pie via single click, double click, or shift+click and drag – or not at all.

Each pie slice can also be individually ‘detached’ from the pie (a per slice offset from the pie origin – an addition to the optionally set ‘ExplodedOffset’). This can be used to highlight, or enhance the display of individual pie slices. The user can optionally be allowed to control this via single click, double click, or shift and drag – or not at all.

Each chart slice can have its border, background, image, Symbol, labels, etc. set and stylized as needed. Backgrounds can be anything from transparent to multi positioned gradients, to hatched. Images can be aligned, rotated, inscribed or circumscribed, and scaled.

Pie labels can be inner and/or outer, with several built-in format specifiers to tailor the labels to your needs. Inner Pie labels can be Horizontal, Parallel, Perpendicular, Adaptive (‘adapting’ to the curvature of the outer slice arc), or Custom (where you totally define the positioning, rotation, and overall layout of the label). Label display can also be set to only display labels for Selected items, Detached items, MousedOver items, or All items – or any combination thereof.

Inner labels can be set to be Hidden or Clipped when they don’t fully fit within the given slice. Outer labels can, likewise, be set to Never display, Always display, or only display if the slice’s Inner label was hidden due to the lack of space to fully display the label.

Tooltips can be set for each pie slice, and enabled or disabled as needed.

Each pie chart can have a radial grid displayed for it, with optional alternating concentric backgrounds. The grid minimum, maximum, and interval can be specified, as well as whether it is presented as a full grid (when the pie sweep angle is less than 360), or whether it is presented on top (or underneath) the pie slices.

The Pie Center (or inner donut hole of the pie - if so configured via its InnerRadius setting) can have various backgrounds, borders, label text (even Mini-Markup hyperlinks), and center image definitions. The Pie Center image (either Bitmap Image or Symbol Definition) can be left/right/center/etc aligned, or Zoomed, Stretched, or Tiled as needed.

Each Pie Chart element can be “tracked” with the displayed Legend. You can either highlight the pie element when the associated Legend item is MousedOver, or you can highlight the associated Legend item when the pie element is MousedOver – or both (or neither).

As stated earlier, most every part of the Pie Chart can be extensively stylized, and if (per chance) there is a need not provided by the system, the chart itself can have most every part rendered, or provided for, or monitored, by the user.

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