| Chapter 2: C# .NET80 NUGET WinForms Walk-Through VS2022 - vs2019 |
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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.
Thank you for reading this and above FAQ section as it will speed your development and maximize your implementation's overall quality. Knowing our demo and demo project will be your best source of info.
See .NET Overview, for additional info.
Walk-Through:
The following information demonstrates how to create your first .NET80 or .NET60 ProEssentials implementation using the C# language. It discusses using the WinForm interfaces to add interactive charting content to your EXEs. Other examples are provided within the product/evaluation.
1) Start Visual Studio.NET and create a new project targeting [C#] [Windows] [Desktop] and [Windows Forms App]. Accept the default name of [WinFormsApp]. Note, Do not select Windows Forms App [.NET Framework]. We recommend selecting .Net80 for this tutorial. We optionally have assemblies for .Net 4.8 but that is a different Walkthough.
When the new project opens, you will be presented the design view of "Form1.cs".
| Form1.cs [Design]... |
Adding charting controls via NuGet.Org... |
2) Installing WinForms charts into Visual Studio.NET via Nuget Package. Note our evaluation setup program will install a local nuget source [ Gigasoft (Local) ] as an easier location to find our nuget packages. If you installed our eval, then use the [Package Source] drop-down list box (the green 1. below) and select Gigasoft (Local).
VS2022 VS2019 Instructions
- 1. Within the Solution Explorer window, Right Click [Dependencies] and select [Manage NuGet Packages...],
 - 2. Within the NuGet Package Manager window,
- 1. check source is nuget or Gigasoft (Local), we recommend Local
- 2. select Browse and optionally enter "Gigasoft Net80" in the search box if on Nuget.org,
- 3. select ProEssentials.Chart.Net80.Winforms, optionally ProEssentials.Chart.Net80.x64.Winforms is recommended for VS2022.
- 4. select Install
- 3. Accept installing the package,
- 4. ProEssentials components will now show within the ProEssentials tab within your toolbox as seen in this image.
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| Form1.cs [Design]... Adding ProEssentials to a Form... |
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3) Select the [Pego] tool within the toolbox and then draw a rectangle within your Window. This places an instance of the Pego component within "Form1.cs".
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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Adjusting design time settings... |
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4) Note, when setting color and font size attributes, we recommend setting the parent Form's versions as ProEssentials will use the parent form's settings to help facilitate a uniform look among sibling controls.
If new to C#, 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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To enable the chart to match the size of it's container, let us change the chart's Dock setting.
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], scroll and locate the Layout section and then the Dock item.
Modify the Dock setting by clicking the center section or 'Fill' mode.
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| Form1.cs [Code]... |
Adding Form Load event... |
5) 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, but hand-typing a few lines of this code will 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;
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// Simple to code = simple to implement and maintain //
pego1.PeString.MainTitle = "Hello World";
pego1.PeString.SubTitle = "";
pego1.PeData.Subsets = 2;
// Subsets = Rows //
pego1.PeData.Points = 6;
// Points = Columns //
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.PeData.Y[1, 0] = 15; pego1.PeData.Y[1, 1] = 63;
pego1.PeData.Y[1, 2] = 74; pego1.PeData.Y[1, 3] = 54;
pego1.PeData.Y[1, 4] = 25; pego1.PeData.Y[1, 5] = 34;
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] = "For .Net Framework";
pego1.PeString.SubsetLabels[1] = "or MFC, ActiveX, VCL";
pego1.PeString.YAxisLabel = "Simple Quality Rendering";
pego1.PeColor.SubsetColors[0] = Color.FromArgb(60, 0, 180, 0);
pego1.PeColor.SubsetColors[1] = Color.FromArgb(180, 0, 0, 130);
pego1.PeColor.BitmapGradientMode = false;
pego1.PeColor.QuickStyle = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.QuickStyle.LightShadow;
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.PePlot.Option.BarGlassEffect = true;
pego1.PeLegend.Location = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.LegendLocation.Left;
pego1.PePlot.DataShadows = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.DataShadows.ThreeDimensional;
pego1.PeFont.FontSize = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.FontSize.Large;
pego1.PePlot.SubsetLineTypes[0] = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.LineType.MediumSolid;
pego1.PePlot.SubsetLineTypes[1] = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.LineType.MediumDash;
// This enables data hot spots, But we need to define code in the HotSpot event //
pego1.PeUserInterface.HotSpot.Data = true;
// These settings will be used for all charts //
pego1.PeConfigure.RenderEngine = Gigasoft.ProEssentials.Enums.RenderEngine.Direct2D;
pego1.PeConfigure.PrepareImages = true;
pego1.PeConfigure.CacheBmp = true;
pego1.PeConfigure.AntiAliasGraphics = true;
pego1.PeConfigure.AntiAliasText = true;
// Call this at end of setting properties //
pego1.PeFunction.ReinitializeResetImage();
pego1.Refresh();
// call standard .NET Refresh method to force paint
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Your project code should look like...
| Form1.cs [Design]... |
Adding a DataHotSpot event... |
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6) 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[e.SubsetIndex, e.PointIndex].ToString());
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7) 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.
| Congratulations... |
Success!!! |
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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 v10 / PEDemo
Note that our main demo is replicated in C#.NET, VB.NET, Visual C++ MFC 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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