A chart series is the key to showing a chart. All data is plotted in a chart as a series and all charts contain at least one series. The bars in the image below depict two series in a simple bar chart.

Each series is made up of a set of data points consisting of an X value that can determine where on the X axis the data is plotted, and one or more Y values. Most chart use one Y value but a few charts such as the Bubble, BubbleXY, and the financial graphs take multiple Y values.

When data is bound to a series, the X value is bound using the ValueMembersX property on the Series object and the Y value is bound using the ValueMembersY property. The Series object also contains properties for the particular series, including chart type, custom chart properties, annotations, containing chart area, and more. Each chart type in the ActiveReports Chart control contains series-specific properties that apply to it. You can set the chart type and these series-specific properties in the Series Collection Editor dialog via the Series (Collection) property in the Properties Window of Visual Studio, and manipulate each data point in the DataPoint Collection dialog box via the Points (Collection) property in the Series dialog box.

When a specific property is set on the Series object, it is applied to all data points objects in the series unless a different value for the property has been set on a specific data point. In that case, the data point property setting overrides the series property setting for that particular data point. Note that for charts bound to a data source, you do not have access to the DataPoint collection in the dialog.

If you specify the value for any of the custom properties, this value is not cleared when you change the ChartType. Although this will show properties that do not apply to certain ChartTypes, it has the advantage of keeping your settings in case you accidentally change the ChartType.

Setting chart and series-specific properties at run time

To set custom properties for a chart on the series programmatically, reference the series by name or index and use the string Properties attribute name you wish to set.

' Visual Basic
' Sets the shape for bubbles on a bubble chart to diamond
Me.ChartControl1.Series(0).Properties("Shape") = Chart.MarkerStyle.Diamond

// C#
// Sets the shape for bubbles on a bubble chart to diamond
this.chartControl1.Series[0].Properties["Shape"] = DataDynamics.ActiveReports.Chart 
	.MarkerStyle.Diamond;

To set custom properties for a chart on the data points object programmatically, reference the series by name or index, reference the data point by index, and use the string Properties attribute name you wish to set.

' Visual Basic
' Sets the explode factor on a doughnut chart for the second point in the series
Me.ChartControl1.Series(0).Points(1).Properties("ExplodeFactor") = 0.5F

// C#
// Sets the explode factor on a doughnut chart for the second point in the series
this.chartControl1.Series[0].Points[1].Properties["ExplodeFactor"] = .5f;

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Chart Series
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Setting chart and series-specific properties at run time

See Also