How to create Excel contour chart in C#, VB.NET?
This article explains how to create a contour chart in Excel using Syncfusion .NET Excel (XlsIO) library.
What is a contour chart?
Contour charts represent the 2-D top view of surface charts. The color bands represent specific range of values and the lines connect the interpolated points of equal value.
Contour Chart
To create a contour chart in Excel using XlsIO, you need to do the following steps.
Steps to create contour chart
Step 1: Initialize chart
Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method.
C#
//Create the chart
IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
Step 2: Assign data and select chart type
1)To plot the series values in column and categories in row, set chart’s IsSeriesInRows property to false.
2)Set a range of data from the worksheet to chart’s DataRange property before specifying the chart type.
3)Specify the chart type to ExcelChartType.Surface_Contour enum value.
C#
//Set chart series in column for assigned data region
chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
//Set region of Chart data
chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:D7"];
//Set chart type to Surface_Contour
chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Surface_Contour;
For creating a contour chart, the series count must be greater than or equal to 2. The series should be set before selecting the chart type.
Step 3: Apply basic chart elements
Add the basic elements like chart title, data labels and legend.
- ChartTitle of chart object.
- Set TRUE to chart’s HasLegend property, to show the legend.
C#
//Apply chart elements
//Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "Contour Chart";
//Set Legend
chart.HasLegend = true;
chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
Additional applicable properties of contour chart in Excel
To modify the depth axis of contour chart, use the PrimarySerieAxis (Depth Axis) property.
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 contour chart using XlsIO.
C#
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 and assign data
IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:D7"];
chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Surface_Contour;
chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
//Apply chart elements
//Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "Contour Chart";
//Set Legend
chart.HasLegend = true;
chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
//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 and assign data
Dim chart As IChartShape = worksheet.Charts.Add
chart.DataRange = worksheet("A1:D7")
chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Surface_Contour
chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
'Apply chart elements
'Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "Contour Chart"
'Set Legend
chart.HasLegend = True
chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom
'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
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed learning about how to create Excel contour chart in C#, VB.NET.
You can refer to our .NET Excel library page to know about its other groundbreaking feature representations and documentation, and how to quickly get started for configuration specifications. You can also explore our .NET Excel library example to understand how to create and manipulate data.
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