Chart Control in Visual Studio 2010 (Web and Windows Explained)

.Net Framework 4.0 developers can omit the steps which we are done for the downloading and installation process since the control is also included in the latest framework. Now let us jump start to see the example of using this chart control.

We have downloaded some samples from the MSDN archive (3^rd download). Let us see the samples by opening the project and running it. We need to navigate to where we downloaded the samples and open the solution as shown in the screen below:



It will open the solution with pre-loaded samples as shown in the screen below:



Now we will build the solution and execute the project to see the result. To do this press F5; you will see the output in IE as shown in the screen below. When its building the project we will see the various chart types build as shown in the screen below.





The left side menu contains the different types of charts and for binding data and some common features required to be used for developing the application as shown in the following screen:



Each chart type is given with a tree view menu which has different types inside it like with normal chart view, 3D chart view and some other properties which developer needs to take care as per their requirements. Upon selecting each chart the sample will be opened in the right side portion with the code as well for C# and VB.Net as shown in the following screen:





With this help of data and the code, developers can develop a chart with ease. Now we will create an application and develop our own chart applications for a windows and a web application.

Chart Control in Web Application:

In this section we are going to see how to use the chart control in a web application. We are going to create a new application in C# and name it WebDashboard as shown in the following screen:



Now once the project solution is opened you can drag and drop the chart control as shown in the screen below:



If we want to change the chart type as per our interest we need to select the tab which appears at the top right corner of the control as shown in the screen below:



In our example I have selected the Doughnut type as shown in the following screen:



Here we have an option to select the data source as well; say if we want to use an XML as a source for the chart we can directly provide the XML path which takes data and show the result in the chart view. In our example we will fetch the data from the database and show the result in a chart. For getting the data from the database using a Wizard we can configure the data source as shown in the screen below.



Just follow the following steps to configure the data source.



Here the pop-up shows the list of data source providers available, since in our example we are going to get the data from the SQL Server we are going to select SQL from the list available as shown in the screen below:



Now click on ok to do the configuration of the server and the database from where we need to pull the data for the chart. It will open a window for taking the connection as shown in the screen below:



Here I have connected to a Northwind database in my local server to fetch the data for the chart. To make a new connection use the New Connection button at the right side and fetch the connection. Once the connection is selected click on NEXT to go to the next window where we need to select the table from which we need to pull the data as shown in the screen below:



Here we can select as per the requirement on the different table or a combination of tables with joins as per the requirement. Here I have selected a product table which has some basic product details as shown in the screen below:



Now after having selected the data required from the window, click on the NEXT button to move to the next screen where we can run the query and test the result set which we are going to show with the pictorial representation using the Chart control as shown in the screen below:



Now after having configured everything we need to click on the FINISH button to complete the configuration and we will see some configuration popups in the base version as shown in the screen below:



The X value member and the Y value member are the places where we need to provide the x axis and y axis like data upon which the chart will be created. Here in our sample we are going to select Product name and Product Id as shown in the screen below:



Now we are half done with the configuration, to see some sample results we will execute the project. To execute the solution press F5 to see the screen with the chart in it as shown in the screen below:



This is our expected output out of the chart control we tried to create. Now we will do some enhancements on making the chart as 3D and some good look and feel to make the end users very attractive. To do some enhancements just select the chart and go to properties and go to the Chart Areas as shown in the following screen:



Select the tool box to open the configuration window for the chart as shown below:



This is the window where we need to make the configuration enhancements for making the chart look better to the end users. We will see the major properties used in order to make the chart look presentable. First enable a 3D view as shown in the following screen:



Now we need to select the Inclination on how much the 3D view should be shown to the user; the best option to show the chart in 3D view to the user will be something around 30 to 60. Here we will select 50 and we will see the inclination in the background chart as shown in the screen below:



Next section is the Rotation; we need to set the rotation something between 30 to 70 to show the majority of our output in the chart as per our requirements. Here in our example we have set it to 50 and we will see the change in the chart as shown in the screen below:



The Next property is the Background Color; we can change the background color of the chart as per the requirement using the property as shown in the screen below:



Upon completion of these configurations, click the OK button to complete the first section of the configuration and we will immediately see the changes onto the chart as shown in the screen below: