How to create Excel doughnut chart in C#, VB.NET?

3 mins read

This article explains how to create a doughnut chart in Excel using Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library.

What is doughnut chart?

Just like a pie chart, a doughnut chart shows the relationship of parts to a whole, but a doughnut chart can contain more than one data series. Each data series that you plot in a doughnut chart adds a ring to the chart. The first data series is displayed in the center of the chart.

Create Doughnut Chart in Excel

Doughnut Chart

To create a doughnut chart in Excel using XlsIO, you need to do the following steps.

Steps to create doughnut chart:

Step 1: Initialize chart

Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method and specify the chart type to ExcelChartType.Doughnut enum value.

            //Create the chart
            IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
 
            //Set chart type to Doughnut
            chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Doughnut;

Step 2: Assign data

Set a range of data from the worksheet to chart’s DataRange property. To plot the series values in column and categories in row, set chart’s IsSeriesInRows property to false.

            //Set region of Chart data
            chart.DataRange = worksheet["A2:C7"];
 
            //Set chart series in column for assigned data region
            chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;

Step 3: Apply basic chart elements

Add the basic elements like chart title, data labels and legend.

ChartTitle of chart object.
Set DataLabels via DefaultDataPoint.
Set TRUE to chart’s HasLegend property, to show the legend.

              //Apply chart elements
              //Set Chart Title
              chart.ChartTitle = "Doughnut Chart";
 
              //Set Legend
              chart.HasLegend = true;
              chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
 
              //Set Datalabels
              IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
              IChartSerie serie2 = chart.Series[1];
              serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
              serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;

Applicable Properties of doughnut chart

Below is the list of other properties that is applicable for a doughnut chart.

Percent (Doughnut Explosion)
First Slice Angle
DoughnutHoleSize
IsVaryColor (All slices are represented with same color if IsVaryColor is FALSE)
Note:
Applying properties apart from the mentioned list might throw exception or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because those properties are not related to doughnut chart.

Download Complete Sample

Download input file with data

To know more about creating charts with various settings using Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library, please refer the documentation.

The following C#/ VB.NET complete code snippet shows the creation of doughnut chart using XlsIO.

using Syncfusion.XlsIO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;
 
namespace ChartSample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine())
            {
                IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
                application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Excel2016;
 
                //Open existing workbook with data entered
                Assembly assembly = typeof(Program).GetTypeInfo().Assembly;
                Stream fileStream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("ChartSample.InputTemplate.xlsx");
                IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileStream);
                IWorksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
 
                //Initialize chart
                IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
                chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Doughnut;
 
                //Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet["A2:C7"];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
 
                //Apply chart elements
                //Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Doughnut Chart";
 
                //Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = true;
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
 
                //Set Datalabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                IChartSerie serie2 = chart.Series[1];
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
 
                //Positioning the chart in the worksheet
                chart.TopRow = 8;
                chart.LeftColumn = 1;
                chart.BottomRow = 23;
                chart.RightColumn = 8;
 
                //Saving and closing the workbook
                Stream stream = File.Create("Output.xlsx");
                workbook.SaveAs(stream);
            }
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports Syncfusion.XlsIO
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.IO
 
Namespace ChartSample
 
    Class Program
 
        Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
            Using excelEngine As ExcelEngine = New ExcelEngine()
                Dim application As IApplication = excelEngine.Excel
                application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Excel2016
 
 
                'Open existing workbook with data entered
                Dim assembly As Assembly = GetType(Program).GetTypeInfo().Assembly
                Dim fileStream As Stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("ChartSample.InputTemplate.xlsx")
                Dim workbook As IWorkbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileStream)
                Dim worksheet As IWorksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)
 
                'Initialize chart
                Dim chart As IChartShape = worksheet.Charts.Add()
                chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Doughnut
 
                'Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet("A2:C7")
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
 
                'Apply chart elements
                'Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Doughnut Chart"
 
                'Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = True
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom
 
                'Set Datalabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0]
                IChartSerie serie2 = chart.Series[1]
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True                
 
                'Positioning chart in the worksheet
                chart.TopRow = 8
                chart.LeftColumn = 1
                chart.BottomRow = 23
                chart.RightColumn = 8
 
                'Saving and closing the workbook
                Dim stream As Stream = File.Create("Output.xlsx")
                workbook.SaveAs(stream)
            End Using
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace