Our changes for this version targeted code refactoring, basically recreating the code and the classes and renaming mainly everything, making it more flexible to adding new graphs and in the same time easier to understand and use by the final user.
Also we have added tooltips to all the graphs, so in case you draw a bar chart or column chart and you position your mouse over one of the bars you’ll get instant details regarding that bar value and series name.

For more information regarding the graphs, please check the Gallery and Download sections of the website.

Also we have syncronised the demo version of our library and the sample applicaton with the latest version.

We will soon release another version with 2 more graphs.

It includes 3 more graphics:

1. Funnel Chart
2. Radar Chart
3. Circular Gauge Chart

For more information regarding the graphs, please check the Gallery section of the site.

For using it in a Windows Forms project, for starters we need to do the same basic steps as in the previous post How to integrate the library.

After that, we need to include 3 more references (Project->Add Reference->.NET component) to our project so that we can “sustain” the WPF core inner mechanisms:

1. PresentationCore
2. PresentationFramework
3. WindowsBase

Don’t forget about adding the main library reference: SoftwareGFX_Library.

Imagine we have a simple form with a PictureBox control. For displaying a nice graph inside that Picturebox we can use solely this code, that is perfectly compatible with SoftwareGFX Library:

private void afiseazaGrafic()
{
SoftwareGFX_Library.Lines_Chart graph = new SoftwareGFX_Library.Lines_Chart();
string tempFile="";

graph.graphType = 0;
graph.showItemsMarker = true;
graph.marker_size = 10;
graph.marker_type = 0;
graph.showLegend = false;

System.Windows.Controls.Canvas cv = new System.Windows.Controls.Canvas();
cv.Height = 350;
cv.Width = 700;

graph.drawLines(ref cv);

// save the picture
tempFile = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName();

SoftwareGFX_Library.GlobalTools.ExportToPng(tempFile, ref cv);

pctGrafic.Image = System.Drawing.Bitmap.FromFile(tempFile);
}

The same principle applies when trying to integrate the library to an ASP.NET project.

As you have noticed, there are 2 functions in GlobalTools: setRegisteredEmail and setLicenseNO. These functions apply only to clients who bought the full version of the software.
If you have the demo version, you don’t need to do any changes or assigments.

' save the image
SoftwareGFX_Library.GlobalTools.ExportToPng("chart_sample.png", Canvas1)

All you need is Visual Studio 2008 (C# or VB.NET), no matter the edition. If you are interested in downloading the Express editions (that are free of charge) you can find them available here. If you are interested in the Professional editions you can download the trial versions from here.

Now that we are all set, all we need to do is open a normal VB.NET or C# project with .NET 3.5 framework selected and add a reference to the SoftwareGFX charts library.

1. Open Visual Studio 2008 and select New WPF Application, using .NET Framework 3.5.

2. Add a canvas control and a button on the form.

3. Add a reference to the SoftwareGFX charts library Lite Edition, by going to Project -> Add Reference menu.

4. Finally let’s draw the default splines chart. For that, all you need to write is:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim niceGraph As New SoftwareGFX_Library.Lines_Chart()
niceGraph.graphType = 1 ' splines type
niceGraph.drawLines(Canvas1) ' pass the drawing canvas as an argument

End Sub

You can easily customize the data array, the axis names, axis divisions, background colors, axis brushes and so on. So in less than 10 minutes you can display your own data using SoftwareGFX charts library.
For more information please check the User’s Manual in the Download section of the site.

We are proud to announce the official release of SoftwareGFX Library v1.0 at 26th October 2009.

SoftwareGFX Library is a powerful charting component for small and medium sized companies and individuals, used to create the most attractive and innovative 2D charts for desktop applications and web pages using .NET technology and making use of the new Window Presentation Foundation from .NET Framework 3.5.

Different chart types support multiple modes, meaning that literally hundreds of different styles and types are available for developers. The legend can be flexible integrated to the chart area. All the text headers and labels can be easily rotated and customized. The chart layout (titles, fonts, colors, etc) can be defined using rich and powerful API, so you can easily manage the style of your chart by changing the parameters.

It currently includes the following graphics:

1. Area Chart
2. Bar Chart
3. Bubbles Chart
4. Columns Chart
5. Inverted Columns Chart
6. Lines Chart
7. Pie Chart
8. Doughnut Chart

Each type of graph has several types inside of it, making it a total of 22 available 2D graphics.

For more information regarding the graphs, please check the Gallery section of the site.