Point and FastPoint Charts in ASP.Net

Background

ASP.Net Chart is a powerful control that creates interactive charts. Today we will discuss the Point and FastPoint charts of ASP.Net. So let us start to learn about these chart type controls step-by-step.

Now let us learn about the properties of the Point and FastPoint charts:

• AlternetText: Sets the alternate text when the image is not available.
  
  
• Annotation: Stores the chart annotations.
  
  
• AntiAliasing: Sets a value that determines whether anti-aliasing is used when text and graphics are drawn.
  
  
• BackGradientStyle: Sets the orientation for the background gradient for the Chart control. Also determines whether a gradient is used, the default is None.
  
  
• Backcolor: Sets the background color for a chart, the default color is White.
  
  
• BackImage: Sets the background image for the chart control.
  
  
• BackHatchStyle: Sets the hatching style for the chart control, the default is None.
  
  
• Height: Sets the height for the chart control.
  
  
• Width: Sets the width for the chart control.
  
  
• Palette: Sets the style with the color for the chart control, the default style is Chocolate.
  
  
• PaletteCustomColors: Sets the custom color for the chart control.
  
  
• Series: Sets the series collection for the chart control.
  
  
• Legends: Sets the series of legends to the chart.

Now let us show the preceding explanation 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:

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
SET ANSI_PADDING ON
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[orderdet](
    [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [Month] [varchar](50) NULL,
    [Orders] [int] NULL,
 CONSTRAINT [PK_Order Table] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
    [id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

GO
SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO
SET IDENTITY_INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ON

GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (1, N'Jan', 0)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (2, N'Feb', 5)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (3, N'March', 20)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (4, N'April', 40)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (5, N'May', 15)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (6, N'Jun', 60)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (7, N'July', 75)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (8, N'Aug', 80)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (9, N'Sep', 85)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (10, N'Oct', 100)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (11, N'Nov', 2)
GO
INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (12, N'Dec', 90)
GO
SET IDENTITY_INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] OFF
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.

Create procedure [dbo].[GetCharData]
(
@id int =null

)
as
begin
Select Month,Orders from Orderdet
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 "UsingPointAndFastpoint" 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:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>

<%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.DataVisualization, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
    Namespace="System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting" TagPrefix="asp" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>Article by Vithal Wadje</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="blue">
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <h4 style="color: White;">
        Article for C#Corner
    </h4>
    <asp:Chart ID="Chart1" runat="server" BackColor="128, 64, 0" BackGradientStyle="LeftRight"
        BorderlineWidth="0" Height="340px" Palette="None" PaletteCustomColors="Red"
        Width="360px" BorderlineColor="192, 64, 0">
        <Series>
            <asp:Series Name="Series1"  YValuesPerPoint="6">
            </asp:Series>
        </Series>
        <ChartAreas>
            <asp:ChartArea Name="ChartArea1">
            </asp:ChartArea>
        </ChartAreas>
    </asp:Chart>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Step 4

 

Create a method to bind the chart control. Now, open the default.aspx.cs page and create the following function named Bindchart to bind the Chart Control as in the following:   

private void Bindchart()
{
    connection();
    com = new SqlCommand("GetCharData", con);
    com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
    SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);
    DataSet ds = new DataSet();
    da.Fill(ds);
    DataTable ChartData=ds.Tables[0];
    //storing total rows count to loop on each Record
    string[] XPointMember = new string[ChartData.Rows.Count];
    int[] YPointMember = new int[ChartData.Rows.Count];
    for (int count = 0; count < ChartData.Rows.Count;count++ )
    {
        //storing Values for X axis
        XPointMember[count] = ChartData.Rows[count]["Month"].ToString();
        //storing values for Y Axis
        YPointMember[count] = Convert.ToInt32(ChartData.Rows[count]["Orders"]);
    }
    //binding chart control
    Chart1.Series[0].Points.DataBindXY(XPointMember, YPointMember);
    //Setting width of line
    Chart1.Series[0].BorderWidth =20;
    //setting Chart type
    Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.Point ;
    //Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.FastPoint;
    //Hide or show chart back GridLines
    //Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
    //Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
    //Enabled 3D
    //Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;
    con.Close();
}

Now, call the preceding function on page load as in the following:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!IsPostBack)
    {
        Bindchart();

    }
}

The entire code of the default.aspx.cs page will look as follows: 

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting;

public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    private SqlConnection con;
    private SqlCommand com;
    private string constr, query;
    private void connection()
    {
        constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["getconn"].ToString();
        con = new SqlConnection(constr);
        con.Open();

    }
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (!IsPostBack)
        {
            Bindchart();

        }
    }
    private void Bindchart()
    {
        connection();
        com = new SqlCommand("GetCharData", con);
        com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
        SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);
        DataSet ds = new DataSet();
        da.Fill(ds);

        DataTable ChartData=ds.Tables[0];

        //storing total rows count to loop on each Record
        string[] XPointMember = new string[ChartData.Rows.Count];
        int[] YPointMember = new int[ChartData.Rows.Count];

        for (int count = 0; count < ChartData.Rows.Count;count++ )
        {
            //storing Values for X axis
            XPointMember[count] = ChartData.Rows[count]["Month"].ToString();
            //storing values for Y Axis
            YPointMember[count] = Convert.ToInt32(ChartData.Rows[count]["Orders"]);
        }
        //binding chart control
        Chart1.Series[0].Points.DataBindXY(XPointMember, YPointMember);

        //Setting width of line
        Chart1.Series[0].BorderWidth =20;
        //setting Chart type
        Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.Point ;
        //Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.FastPoint;

        //Hide or show chart back GridLines
        //Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
        //Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;

        //Enabled 3D
        //Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;
        con.Close();

    }
}

Now, we have the entire logic to bind the chart from the database, let us run the application. The Point Chart will look as follows: 

 

 

Now let us hide the Grid Lines as in the following: 

//Hide or show chart back GridLines
Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;

Now the point chart will be as follows:

 

 

The preceding is the Normal Point chart. Now let us enable the 3D style as in the following:

//Enabled 3D
 Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;

Now the 3D style point chart will be as:

 

 

Now let us switch to a FastPoint chart as in the following: 

//setting Chart type
Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.FastPoint;

Now run the application. The FastPoint chart will look such as follows: 

 

 

Now let us hide the Grid Lines as in the following:

//Hide or show chart back GridLines
Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;
Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;

Now the FastPoint chart will look such as follows:

 

 

The preceding is the Normal FastPoint chart. Now let us enable the 3D style as in the following:

//Enabled 3D
 Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;

Now the 3D style FastPoint chart will look such as:

 

 

Now from all the preceding explanations we saw how to create and use Point and FastPoint charts.

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.