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ProEssentials
WinForm interfaces are used when creating stand-alone
client-side EXEs to be distributed and ran on an end-users
machine. This C#.NET Charting Walk-through includes instructions for Visual Studio.Net. For
VB.NET developers, click here: VB.NET Charting.
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 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 very clean
and professional looking user interface where the charting
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.
Walk-Through:
The
following information demonstrates how to create your
first .NET ProEssentials implementation using the C#
language. It discusses using the WinForm .NET interfaces
to add interactive charting content to your EXEs. Other
examples are provided within the
product/evaluation.
Also refer to the "ReadMe.htm", "AspReadMe.htm",
and "AspReadMe.htm" files installed onto your
system with the eval/product (accessible via Start menu).
1) Start Visual Studio.NET and create a new project
targeting a [Windows
Application] using C# as your language. Accept the default
name of [WindowsApplication1].
2) When the new project opens, you will be presented
the design view of "Form1.cs".
3) Installing WinForm interfaces into Visual Studio.NET
VS2005 Instructions
- 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:\ProEssentials6\DotNet20\",
- 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.
VS2003 and Earlier Instructions
- Double check that the [Windows Forms] tab on the tool box is active (Pointer, Label, should be visible)
- Right click anywhere in the toolbox and select [Add/Remove Items... or Customize Toolbox...],
- Left click the [.NET Framework Components] tab,
- Left click the [Browse...] button and find the file "Gigasoft.ProEssentials.dll" found in the DotNet subdirectory where you installed ProEssentials. By default, this should be located at "C:\ProEssentials6\DotNet\",
- Select the file "Gigasoft.ProEssentials.dll" and close the [Open File] dialog,
- The [Customize Toolbox] dialog should now show 5 highlighted controls: Pe3do, Pego, Pepco, Pepso, and Pesgo.
- Close the [Customize Toolbox] dialog and the 5 new ProEssentials components will be at the bottom of the toolbox.
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4) Double click the [Pego]
tool within the toolbox. This places an instance
of the Pego component within "Form1.cs".
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 charts, you'll set the properties PeData.Subsets
and PeData.Points which define the quantity of data your chart 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, the
(Name) property is probably the most
fundamental property as its name is reflected
in all code. For 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.cs" with default
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 "Form1.cs"
will shorten enumeration syntax.
using Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums;
Note:
Intellisense within C# does not provide help when entering
the [=] assignment operator. For example, after
typing... [pego1.PeFont.FontSize]you
will need help determining the possible options.
After entering FontSize,
enter [Ctrl+K and
Ctrl+I] to view [Quick Info] or click the
[Quick Info] icon under menu bar. The [Quick
Info] will show 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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pego1.PeString.MainTitle
= "Hello .NET";
pego1.PeString.SubTitle = "";
pego1.PeData.Subsets = 1;
pego1.PeData.Points = 6;
pego1.PeData.Y[0, 0] = 10; pego1.PeData.Y[0,
1] = 30;
pego1.PeData.Y[0, 2] = 20 ; pego1.PeData.Y[0,
3] = 40;
pego1.PeData.Y[0, 4] = 30 ; pego1.PeData.Y[0,
5] = 50;
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 = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.GraphPlusTable.Both;
pego1.PeData.Precision = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.DataPrecision.NoDecimals;
pego1.PeFont.Label.Bold = true;
pego1.PePlot.Method = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.GraphPlottingMethod.Bar;
pego1.PePlot.Option.GradientBars = 8;
pego1.PeFont.FontSize = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.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, 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.cs"
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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System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Point
" + e.PointIndex.ToString() + "
with a value of " + pego1.PeData.Y[0, e.PointIndex].ToString());
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8) Save
and run the project. Your project will show an image
as follows. Move the mouse over a bar and click to trigger
the DataHotSpot event.
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This
completes this 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
v6 / PeDemo
Note that the demo is replicated in native VB.NET,
C#.NET, VB6, and VC6 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 c# charting, see Chapter 2
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Interactive Financial, Engineering, Scientific, and Business
examples give you an instant taste of ProEssentials' power.
view our .Net Charting Demo
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