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BoxPlot Chart Type in ASP.Net

Background
 
ASP.Net Chart is a powerful control for creating interactive charts. Today we will discuss the BoxPlot chart type of ASP.Net. So let us start to learn about this chart type control step-by-step.

Let us explain it with a practical example by creating a simple web application.

Step 1
 
Use the following script to create and insert data into the table for the chart:
  1. SET ANSI_NULLS ON          
  2. GO          
  3. SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON          
  4. GO          
  5. SET ANSI_PADDING ON          
  6. GO          
  7. CREATE TABLE [dbo].[orderdet](          
  8.     [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,          
  9.     [Month] [varchar](50) NULL,          
  10.     [Orders] [int] NULL,          
  11.  CONSTRAINT [PK_Order Table] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED           
  12. (          
  13.     [id] ASC          
  14. )WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]          
  15. ) ON [PRIMARY]          
  16.           
  17. GO          
  18. SET ANSI_PADDING OFF          
  19. GO          
  20. SET IDENTITY_INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ON           
  21.           
  22. GO          
  23. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (1, N'Jan', 0)          
  24. GO          
  25. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (2, N'Feb', 5)          
  26. GO          
  27. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (3, N'March', 20)          
  28. GO          
  29. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (4, N'April', 40)          
  30. GO          
  31. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (5, N'May', 15)          
  32. GO          
  33. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (6, N'Jun', 60)          
  34. GO          
  35. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (7, N'July', 75)          
  36. GO          
  37. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (8, N'Aug', 80)          
  38. GO          
  39. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (9, N'Sep', 85)          
  40. GO          
  41. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (10, N'Oct', 100)          
  42. GO          
  43. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (11, N'Nov', 2)          
  44. GO          
  45. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (12, N'Dec', 90)          
  46. GO          
  47. SET IDENTITY_INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] OFF          
  48. Go       
After running the preceding script the records in the table will look as follows:
 
 
Step 2

Create a Stored Procedure to fetch the records from the database.
  1. Create procedure [dbo].[GetCharData]        
  2. (        
  3. @id int =null        
  4.         
  5. )        
  6. as        
  7. begin        
  8. Select Month,Orders from Orderdet        
  9. End    
Step 3

Create a Web Application. Create the website with:
  1. "Start" - "All Programs" - "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010".

  2. "File" - "New Project" - "C#" - "Empty Website" (to avoid adding a master page).

  3. Provide the project a name such as "UsingBoxPlotChart" or another as you wish and specify the location.

  4. Then right-click on the Solution Explorer and select "Add New Item" then select Default.aspx page.

  5. Drag and Drop a Chart control from the ToolBox onto the Default.aspx page.
Now the Default.aspx source code will be as follows:
  1. <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>    
  2.     
  3. <%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.DataVisualization, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"    
  4.     Namespace="System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting" TagPrefix="asp" %>    
  5. <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">    
  6. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">    
  7. <head runat="server">    
  8.     <title>Article by Vithal Wadje</title>    
  9. </head>    
  10. <body bgcolor="Navy">    
  11.     <form id="form1" runat="server">    
  12.     <h4 style="color: White;">    
  13.         Article for C#Corner    
  14.     </h4>    
  15.     <asp:Chart ID="Chart1" runat="server" BackColor="192, 64, 0" BackGradientStyle="LeftRight"    
  16.         BorderlineWidth="0" Height="360px" Palette="None" PaletteCustomColors="128, 64, 0"    
  17.         Width="380px" BorderlineColor="255, 128, 0">    
  18.         <Series>    
  19.             <asp:Series Name="Series1"  YValuesPerPoint="12" ChartType="BoxPlot">    
  20.             </asp:Series>    
  21.         </Series>    
  22.         <ChartAreas>    
  23.             <asp:ChartArea Name="ChartArea1">    
  24.             </asp:ChartArea>    
  25.         </ChartAreas>    
  26.     </asp:Chart>    
  27.     </form>    
  28. </body>    
  29. </html> 
Step 4

Create a method to bind the chart control. Then open the default.aspx.cs page and create the following function named Bindchart to bind the Chart Control as in the following:
  1. private void Bindchart()
  2. {
  3.     connection();
  4.     com = new SqlCommand("GetCharData", con);
  5.     com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
  6.     SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);
  7.     DataSet ds = new DataSet();
  8.     da.Fill(ds);
  9.     DataTable ChartData = ds.Tables[0];
  10.     //storing total rows count to loop on each Record
  11.     string[] XPointMember = new string[ChartData.Rows.Count];
  12.     int[] YPointMember = new int[ChartData.Rows.Count];
  13.     for (int count = 0; count < ChartData.Rows.Count; count++)
  14.     {
  15.         //storing Values for X axis
  16.         XPointMember[count] = ChartData.Rows[count]["Month"].ToString();
  17.         //storing values for Y Axis
  18.         YPointMember[count] = Convert.ToInt32(ChartData.Rows[count]["Orders"]);
  19.     }
  20.     //binding chart control
  21.     Chart1.Series[0].Points.DataBindXY(XPointMember, YPointMember);
  22.     //Setting width of line
  23.     Chart1.Series[0].BorderWidth = 10;
  24.     //setting Chart type
  25.     Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.BoxPlot;
  26.     //Hide or show chart back GridLines
  27.     // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
  28.     // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
  29.     //Enabled 3D
  30.     // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;
  31.     con.Close();
  32. }
Now, call the preceding function on page load as in the following:
  1. protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)      
  2. {      
  3.     if (!IsPostBack)      
  4.     {      
  5.         Bindchart();      
  6.       
  7.     }      
  8. }     
The entire code of the default.aspx.cs page will look as follows:
  1. using System;  
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;  
  3. using System.Linq;  
  4. using System.Web;  
  5. using System.Web.UI;  
  6. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;  
  7. using System.Data.SqlClient;  
  8. using System.Configuration;  
  9. using System.Data;  
  10. using System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting;  
  11.   
  12. public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page  
  13. {  
  14.     private SqlConnection con;  
  15.     private SqlCommand com;  
  16.     private string constr, query;  
  17.     private void connection()  
  18.     {  
  19.         constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["getconn"].ToString();  
  20.         con = new SqlConnection(constr);  
  21.         con.Open();  
  22.   
  23.     }  
  24.     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  25.     {  
  26.         if (!IsPostBack)  
  27.         {  
  28.             Bindchart();  
  29.   
  30.         }  
  31.     }
  32.     private void Bindchart()  
  33.     {  
  34.         connection();  
  35.         com = new SqlCommand("GetCharData", con);  
  36.         com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;  
  37.         SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);  
  38.         DataSet ds = new DataSet();  
  39.         da.Fill(ds);  
  40.   
  41.         DataTable ChartData = ds.Tables[0];  
  42.   
  43.         //storing total rows count to loop on each Record  
  44.         string[] XPointMember = new string[ChartData.Rows.Count];  
  45.         int[] YPointMember = new int[ChartData.Rows.Count];  
  46.   
  47.         for (int count = 0; count < ChartData.Rows.Count; count++)  
  48.         {  
  49.             //storing Values for X axis  
  50.             XPointMember[count] = ChartData.Rows[count]["Month"].ToString();  
  51.             //storing values for Y Axis  
  52.             YPointMember[count] = Convert.ToInt32(ChartData.Rows[count]["Orders"]);
  53.         }  
  54.         //binding chart control  
  55.         Chart1.Series[0].Points.DataBindXY(XPointMember, YPointMember);  
  56.   
  57.         //Setting width of line  
  58.         Chart1.Series[0].BorderWidth = 10;  
  59.         //setting Chart type   
  60.         Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.BoxPlot;  
  61.        
  62.         //Hide or show chart back GridLines  
  63.         // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
  64.         // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
  65.   
  66.         //Enabled 3D  
  67.         // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;  
  68.         con.Close();  
  69.   
  70.     }  
  71. } 
Now, we have the entire logic to bind the chart from the database, let us run the application. The BoxPlot Chart will look as follows:
 
 
Now hide the chart Grid Lines as:
  1. //Hide or show chart back GridLines      
  2. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;      
  3. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
Then the BoxPlot chart will look as follows:
 
 
Now enable the 3D Style as in the following:
  1. //Enabled 3D      
  2.  Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;    
 
Now let us hide the GridLines in 3D Style Mode as:
  1. //Hide or show chart back GridLines      
  2. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;      
  3. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;    
Now the BoxPlot Chart will look as follows::
 
 
Now from all the preceding explanations we saw how to create and use a BoxPlot chart.

Notes
  • Download the Zip file from the attachment for the full source code of the application.

  • Change the connection string in the web.config file to specify your server location.
Summary

My next article explains another chart type of ASP.Net. I hope this article is useful for all readers, if you have any suggestion then please contact me including beginners also.


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