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

3 mins read

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

What is a bubble chart?

A bubble chart represents data points with bubbles along with an additional dimension of the data, the size of bubbles. Just like a scatter chart, a bubble chart does not use a category axis. Both x (horizontal) and y (vertical) axes are value axes in addition with z (size) values.

Create bubble chart in Excel

Bubble Chart

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

Steps to create bubble chart:

Step 1: Initialize chart

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

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

Step 2: Assign data and chart elements

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

ChartTitle of chart object.
Set DataLabels via DefaultDataPoint.
Add CategoryLabels and Values.
Set TRUE to chart’s HasLegend property, to show the legend. Else FALSE.

              //Apply chart elements
              //Set Chart Title
              chart.ChartTitle = "Bubble Chart";
 
              //Set Legend
              chart.HasLegend = false;
              
              //Set Datalabels, CategoryLabels and Values
              IChartSerie serie = chart.Series.Add();
              serie.CategoryLabels = worksheet.Range["A2:A11"];
              serie.Values = worksheet.Range["B2:B11"];
              serie.Bubbles = worksheet.Range["C2:C11"];
              serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
              serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position =          ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center;

Applicable properties of bubble chart

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

SizeRepresents
BubbleScale
ShowNegativeBubbles
Note:

1)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 bubble chart.

2)Bubbles with negative size are said to be the negative bubbles.

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 bubble 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.input.xlsx");
                IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileStream);
                IWorksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
 
                //Initialize chart
                IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
                chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bubble;
 
                //Apply chart elements
                //Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Bubble Chart";
 
                //Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = false;
 
                //Set Datalabels, CategoryLabels and Values
                IChartSerie serie = chart.Series.Add();
                serie.CategoryLabels = worksheet.Range["A2:A11"];
                serie.Values = worksheet.Range["B2:B11"];
                serie.Bubbles = worksheet.Range["C2:C11"];
                serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;                                                                                                          
                serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center;
 
                //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.input.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.Bubble
 
            'Apply chart elements
            'Set Chart Title
            chart.ChartTitle = "Bubble Chart"
 
            'Set Legend
            chart.HasLegend = False
 
            'Set Datalabels, CategoryLabels and Values
            Dim serie As IChartSerie = chart.Series.Add
            serie.CategoryLabels = worksheet.Range("A2:A11")
            serie.Values = worksheet.Range("B2:B11")
            serie.Bubbles = worksheet.Range("C2:C11")
            serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
            serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center
 
            'Positioning the 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

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