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

3 mins read

This article explains how to create an Exploded Doughnut Chart in Excel using Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library.

What is an Exploded Doughnut Chart?

A doughnut chart with doughnut explosion can be considered as an exploded doughnut chart. You can change the doughnut explosion setting for either all slices or individual slice.

Create Exploded Doughnut Chart in Excel

Exploded Doughnut Chart

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

Steps to create Exploded 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_Exploded enumeration value.

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

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["A3:B7"];
//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 with below list of properties.

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

//Set chart title
chart.ChartTitle = "Exploded Doughnut Chart";
//Set data labels
IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
//Set legend
chart.HasLegend = true;
chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;

Applicable properties for Exploded Doughnut Chart

Below is the list of other common properties applicable for Exploded Doughnut Chart.

Percent (Doughnut Explosion)
First Slice Angle
DoughnutHoleSize
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 exploded doughnut chart.
2. In XlsIO, the default doughnut explosion for an exploded doughnut chart is 25%.

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 exploded 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_Exploded;
 
                //Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet["A3:B7"];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
 
                //Apply chart elements
                //Set chart title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Exploded Doughnut Chart";
 
                //Set legend
                chart.HasLegend = true;
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
 
                //Set data labels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0]; 
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
 
                //Positioning the chart in the worksheet
                chart.TopRow = 8;
                chart.LeftColumn = 1;
                chart.BottomRow = 23;
                chart.RightColumn = 8;
 
                //Saving 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
 
        Private 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_Exploded
 
                'Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet("A3:B7")
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
 
                'Apply chart elements
                'Set chart title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Exploded Doughnut Chart"
 
                'Set legend
                chart.HasLegend = True
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom
 
                'Set data labels
                Dim serie1 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(0) 
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
 
                'Positioning the chart in the worksheet
                chart.TopRow = 8
                chart.LeftColumn = 1
                chart.BottomRow = 23
                chart.RightColumn = 8
 
                'Saving the workbook
                Dim stream As Stream = File.Create("Output.xlsx")
                workbook.SaveAs(stream)
             End Using
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace