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Used when creating stand-alone
client-side EXEs to be distributed and ran on an end-users
machine. This Bar Chart Walk-through is in the C++ language for Visual Studio.NET / VS2008 / VS2010 / VS2012. Many other examples exist on this website. Our Windows one-click online demo also shows source code for MFC C++ that directly interfaces with our DLL.
Prerequisites:
It is recommended that the namespace: Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums
be included at the top of your source code files utilizing
ProEssentials. In C++, use the using keyword.
For example:
using namespace Gigasoft::ProEssentials::Enums;
The WinForm interfaces support adapting to changes
in the parent form's font and background color. They
are designed so that the grid number text size matches
that of the other standard controls such as TextBox,
Radio Button, and Labels. As long as you don't explicitly
change the font and background color, you will be able
to change the form's font size and backcolor and all
controls on the form will adapt to match. Note that
the default form text size of 8 points is fairly small.
You may want to increase it to 9 or 10 points depending
on your needs. This feature results in a clean
looking user interface where the graphing
control appears to be a true sibling of the other standard
controls.
Our .NET interfaces currently have limited design time
functionality. You will have to write a little code (simple, see below)
to develop your graphing solutions. In the end, you'll
prefer our .NET (property, method, event) interface. 99% of your code will set simple properties.
Bar Chart Walk-Through:
1) Start Visual Studio.NET and create a new project
targeting a [Windows
Forms Application (.NET)]
using C++ as your language. Provide the project name
[HelloWorld]. .
2) Under the Project menu, select "Project Properties". From the Build tab / Compile tab, select the "Advanced Compile Options..." button. Change the "Target CPU" Platform Target setting to x86. This is necessary as the following ProEssentials assembly links to a native 32 bit DLL. This setting will allow the resulting exe to run on both 32 and 64 bit systems and provide the easiest deployment. For native 64 bit, see our ReadMe.txt files in the ProEssentials7/DotNetAnyCpu or ProEssentials7/x64/DotNet64 directories where ProEssentials is installed.
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3) Installing WinForm interfaces into Visual Studio.NET
- Under the Tools menu, select [Choose Toolbox Items...],
- If not selected, left click the [.NET Framework Components] tab,
- Left click the [Browse...] button and find the file "Gigasoft.ProEssentials.dll" found in the DotNet20 subdirectory where you installed ProEssentials. By default, this should be located at "C:\ProEssentials7\DotNet20\", (Note Dll supports Framework 2 and beyond)
- Select the file "Gigasoft.ProEssentials.dll" and close the [Open File] dialog,
- The [Choose Toolbox Items] dialog should now show 5 highlighted controls: Pe3do, Pego, Pepco, Pepso, and Pesgo.
- Close the dialog and the 5 new ProEssentials components will be at the bottom of the toolbox. The Pego control will look like a small bar chart.
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4) Double click the [Pego]
tool within the toolbox. This places an instance
of the Pego Bar Chart component within "Form1.h".
Left click bottom-right corner of control and
drag down-right to fill up client area of Form1.
The adjacent image shows what you see.
This
represents the default state of a ProEssentials
Graph. The default state has one subset with four
data points. In the course of constructing your
own graphs, you'll set the properties PeData.Subsets
and PeData.Points which define the quantity of data your graph will
hold. You'll then pass data via the PeData.Y[subset,
point]
two dimensional property array. The following
section shows example code of passing data.
ProEssentials uses the terms Subsets and Points
but you can think of these as Rows and Columns.
Passing data is as simple as filling each Subset
with Points worth of data.
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5) ProEssentials currently has limited point-and-click
programmability so you'll have to write a tiny
bit a code. Note, when setting color and font
size attributes, we recommend setting the parent
Form's versions as these properties as ProEssentials
will use the parent form's settings to help facilitate
a uniform look among sibling controls.
If new to Visual Basic or visual
programming, the
(Name) property is probably the most
fundamental property as its name is reflected
in all code. Example: Pego1->PeData->Subsets = 1; is
a line of code, and it shows how the (Name) property
(Pego1) starts the line.
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6) Double click Form1's Title/Caption Bar to open
the code view for "Form1.h" with default System::Void
Form1_Load event initialized.
The
cursor will be within the Form1_Load code section, enter
the following code into this section.
You can copy and paste if you must, but
hand-typing at least some of this code will really help
familiarize yourself with the Gigasoft.ProEssentials
namespace.
Note:
adding the following using
declaration at the top of the namespace HelloWorld implementation
will shorten enumeration syntax and is required for this example code.
using namespace Gigasoft::ProEssentials::Enums;
Note: Intellisense within C++ may not provide much help.
This
makes WinForm/C++ development the most tedious compared to VB and C#.
For example,
after typing...
[pego1->PeFont->FontSize]you
will need help determining the possible options.
You
may want to reference this help file to learn that the FontSize property is of type Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.FontSize.
So typing
[= Fontsize::] will show available options for this property (assuming
you've added the above using declaration).
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// Creating a Bar Chart //
pego1->PeString->MainTitle = "Hello .NET";
pego1->PeString->SubTitle = "";
pego1->PeData->Subsets = 1;
pego1->PeData->Points = 6;
pego1->PeData->Y[0,0] = 10.0F;
pego1->PeData->Y[0, 1] = 30.0F;
pego1->PeData->Y[0, 2] = 20.0F;
pego1->PeData->Y[0, 3] = 40.0F;
pego1->PeData->Y[0, 4] = 30.0;
pego1->PeData->Y[0, 5] = 50.0;
pego1->PeString->PointLabels[0] = "Jan";
pego1->PeString->PointLabels[1] = "Feb";
pego1->PeString->PointLabels[2] = "Mar";
pego1->PeString->PointLabels[3] = "Apr";
pego1->PeString->PointLabels[4] = "May";
pego1->PeString->PointLabels[5] = "June";
pego1->PeString->SubsetLabels[0] = "Framework";
pego1->PeString->YAxisLabel = "Microsoft";
pego1->PeColor->SubsetColors[0] = System::Drawing::Color::Red;
pego1->PeColor->BitmapGradientMode = true;
pego1->PeColor->QuickStyle = Gigasoft::ProEssentials::Enums::QuickStyle::LightInset;
pego1->PeTable->Show = GraphPlusTable::Both;
pego1->PeData->Precision = DataPrecision::NoDecimals;
pego1->PeFont->Label->Bold = true;
pego1->PePlot->Method = GraphPlottingMethod::Bar;
pego1->PePlot->Option->GradientBars = 8;
pego1->PeFont->FontSize = FontSize::Large;
pego1->PeUserInterface->HotSpot->Data = true;
pego1->PeFunction->ReinitializeResetImage();
pego1->Refresh(); // call standard .NET Refresh method to force paint
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7) The code above enabled the DataHotSpot event. This allows users to click the bars within the bar chart. So
we should place some appropriate code in the DataHotSpot
event.
Left click the pego control within
Form1 to give it the focus.
From the main menu select [View]
and [Properties
Window]
Within the [Properties Window], click the event
icon.
Within the available events, double-click PeDataHotSpot
This opens the code view of "Form1.h"
with cursor within the pego1_PeDataHotSpot event
handler.
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Add the following code to the pego1_PeDataHotSpot event.
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// Event code when a user clicks the bar chart data //
System::String ^ps;
ps = "Point ";
ps += e->PointIndex.ToString();
ps += " has a value of ";
ps += pego1->PeData->Y[0, e->PointIndex].ToString();
System::Windows::Forms::MessageBox::Show(ps);
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8) Save
and run the project. Your project will show an image
as follows. Move the mouse over a bar chart and click to trigger
the DataHotSpot event.
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This
completes this simple Bar Chart walkthrough.
Please
read the remaining sections within Chapter 2 and
review the demo code and documentation that's
installed with the eval/product.
Once installed, the demo program
can be accessed via shortcut...
Start / All Programs / ProEssentials
v7 / PEDemo
Note that our main demo is replicated in VC MFC, VB.NET,
C#.NET, and VB6 projects all accessible
from the start menu. These are great for
modifying an existing demo to test potential modifications
before implementing within your applications.
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Complete online technical reference to the ProEssentials
product. Chapter 2's .NET Reference is the best mechanism
to navigate the large quantity of properties and features.
Walk-Throughs of .NET charting in VB.NET, C#.NET, ASP, VC,
VB6, and Delphi get you started quickly.
learn
more about creating Bar Charts
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Bar Charts, Financial, Engineering, Scientific, and Business
examples give you an instant taste of ProEssentials' power.
Bar Charts and much more
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