The integration and use of the SoftwareGFX chart library it’s a doddle.
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.