BoxPlot Chart Type in ASP.Net

NBackground
 
ASP.Net Chart is a powerful control for creating interactive charts. Today we will discuss the BoxPlot  chart type of ASP.Net. So let us start to learn about this chart type control step-by-step.

Let us explain it with a practical example by creating a simple web application.

Step 1
 
Use the following script to create and insert data into the table for the chart:
  1. SET ANSI_NULLS ON          
  2. GO          
  3. SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON          
  4. GO          
  5. SET ANSI_PADDING ON          
  6. GO          
  7. CREATE TABLE [dbo].[orderdet](          
  8.     [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,          
  9.     [Month] [varchar](50) NULL,          
  10.     [Orders] [intNULL,          
  11.  CONSTRAINT [PK_Order TablePRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED           
  12. (          
  13.     [id] ASC          
  14. )WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ONON [PRIMARY]          
  15. ON [PRIMARY]          
  16.           
  17. GO          
  18. SET ANSI_PADDING OFF          
  19. GO          
  20. SET IDENTITY_INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ON           
  21.           
  22. GO          
  23. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (1, N'Jan', 0)          
  24. GO          
  25. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (2, N'Feb', 5)          
  26. GO          
  27. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (3, N'March', 20)          
  28. GO          
  29. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (4, N'April', 40)          
  30. GO          
  31. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (5, N'May', 15)          
  32. GO          
  33. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (6, N'Jun', 60)          
  34. GO          
  35. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (7, N'July', 75)          
  36. GO          
  37. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (8, N'Aug', 80)          
  38. GO          
  39. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (9, N'Sep', 85)          
  40. GO          
  41. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (10, N'Oct', 100)          
  42. GO          
  43. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (11, N'Nov', 2)          
  44. GO          
  45. INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] ([id], [Month], [Orders]) VALUES (12, N'Dec', 90)          
  46. GO          
  47. SET IDENTITY_INSERT [dbo].[orderdet] OFF          
  48. Go       
After running the preceding script the records in the table will look as follows:
 
 
Step 2

Create a Stored Procedure to fetch the records from the database.
  1. Create procedure [dbo].[GetCharData]        
  2. (        
  3. @id int =null        
  4.         
  5. )        
  6. as        
  7. begin        
  8. Select Month,Orders from Orderdet        
  9. End    
 Step 3

Create a Web Application.
Create the website with:
  1. "Start" - "All Programs" - "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010".

  2. "File" - "New Project" - "C#" - "Empty Website" (to avoid adding a master page).

  3. Provide the project a name such as "UsingBoxPlotChart" or another as you wish and specify the location.

  4. Then right-click on the Solution Explorer and select "Add New Item" then select Default.aspx page.

  5. Drag and Drop a Chart control from the ToolBox onto the Default.aspx page.
Now the Default.aspx source code will be as follows:
  1. <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>  
  2.   
  3. <%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.DataVisualization, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"  
  4.     Namespace="System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting" TagPrefix="asp" %>  
  5. <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">  
  6. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">  
  7. <head runat="server">  
  8.     <title>Article by Vithal Wadje</title>  
  9. </head>  
  10. <body bgcolor="Navy">  
  11.     <form id="form1" runat="server">  
  12.     <h4 style="color: White;">  
  13.         Article for C#Corner  
  14.     </h4>  
  15.     <asp:Chart ID="Chart1" runat="server" BackColor="192, 64, 0" BackGradientStyle="LeftRight"  
  16.         BorderlineWidth="0" Height="360px" Palette="None" PaletteCustomColors="128, 64, 0"  
  17.         Width="380px" BorderlineColor="255, 128, 0">  
  18.         <Series>  
  19.             <asp:Series Name="Series1"  YValuesPerPoint="12" ChartType="BoxPlot">  
  20.             </asp:Series>  
  21.         </Series>  
  22.         <ChartAreas>  
  23.             <asp:ChartArea Name="ChartArea1">  
  24.             </asp:ChartArea>  
  25.         </ChartAreas>  
  26.     </asp:Chart>  
  27.     </form>  
  28. </body>  
  29. </html> 
Step 4

Create a method to bind the chart control. Then open the default.aspx.cs page and create the following function named Bindchart to bind the Chart Control as in the following:
  1. private void Bindchart()  
  2.    {  
  3.        connection();  
  4.        com = new SqlCommand("GetCharData", con);  
  5.        com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;  
  6.        SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);  
  7.        DataSet ds = new DataSet();  
  8.        da.Fill(ds);  
  9.   
  10.        DataTable ChartData = ds.Tables[0];  
  11.   
  12.        //storing total rows count to loop on each Record  
  13.        string[] XPointMember = new string[ChartData.Rows.Count];  
  14.        int[] YPointMember = new int[ChartData.Rows.Count];  
  15.   
  16.        for (int count = 0; count < ChartData.Rows.Count; count++)  
  17.        {  
  18.            //storing Values for X axis  
  19.            XPointMember[count] = ChartData.Rows[count]["Month"].ToString();  
  20.            //storing values for Y Axis  
  21.            YPointMember[count] = Convert.ToInt32(ChartData.Rows[count]["Orders"]);  
  22.   
  23.   
  24.        }  
  25.        //binding chart control  
  26.        Chart1.Series[0].Points.DataBindXY(XPointMember, YPointMember);  
  27.   
  28.        //Setting width of line  
  29.        Chart1.Series[0].BorderWidth = 10;  
  30.        //setting Chart type   
  31.         Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.BoxPlot;  
  32.       
  33.        //Hide or show chart back GridLines  
  34.  // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
  35.  // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
  36.   
  37.        //Enabled 3D  
  38.      // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;  
  39.        con.Close();  
  40.   
  41.    } 
 Now, call the preceding function on page load as in the following:
  1. protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)      
  2.     {      
  3.         if (!IsPostBack)      
  4.         {      
  5.             Bindchart();      
  6.       
  7.         }      
  8.     }     
The entire code of the default.aspx.cs page will look as follows:
  1. using System;  
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;  
  3. using System.Linq;  
  4. using System.Web;  
  5. using System.Web.UI;  
  6. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;  
  7. using System.Data.SqlClient;  
  8. using System.Configuration;  
  9. using System.Data;  
  10. using System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting;  
  11.   
  12. public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page  
  13. {  
  14.     private SqlConnection con;  
  15.     private SqlCommand com;  
  16.     private string constr, query;  
  17.     private void connection()  
  18.     {  
  19.         constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["getconn"].ToString();  
  20.         con = new SqlConnection(constr);  
  21.         con.Open();  
  22.   
  23.     }  
  24.     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)  
  25.     {  
  26.         if (!IsPostBack)  
  27.         {  
  28.             Bindchart();  
  29.   
  30.         }  
  31.     }  
  32.   
  33.   
  34.     private void Bindchart()  
  35.     {  
  36.         connection();  
  37.         com = new SqlCommand("GetCharData", con);  
  38.         com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;  
  39.         SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);  
  40.         DataSet ds = new DataSet();  
  41.         da.Fill(ds);  
  42.   
  43.         DataTable ChartData = ds.Tables[0];  
  44.   
  45.         //storing total rows count to loop on each Record  
  46.         string[] XPointMember = new string[ChartData.Rows.Count];  
  47.         int[] YPointMember = new int[ChartData.Rows.Count];  
  48.   
  49.         for (int count = 0; count < ChartData.Rows.Count; count++)  
  50.         {  
  51.             //storing Values for X axis  
  52.             XPointMember[count] = ChartData.Rows[count]["Month"].ToString();  
  53.             //storing values for Y Axis  
  54.             YPointMember[count] = Convert.ToInt32(ChartData.Rows[count]["Orders"]);  
  55.   
  56.   
  57.         }  
  58.         //binding chart control  
  59.         Chart1.Series[0].Points.DataBindXY(XPointMember, YPointMember);  
  60.   
  61.         //Setting width of line  
  62.         Chart1.Series[0].BorderWidth = 10;  
  63.         //setting Chart type   
  64.          Chart1.Series[0].ChartType = SeriesChartType.BoxPlot;  
  65.        
  66.         //Hide or show chart back GridLines  
  67.   // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
  68.   // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
  69.   
  70.         //Enabled 3D  
  71.       // Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;  
  72.         con.Close();  
  73.   
  74.     }  

Now, we have the entire logic to bind the chart from the database, let us run the application. The BoxPlot Chart will look as follows:
 
 
Now hide the chart Grid Lines as:
  1. //Hide or show chart back GridLines      
  2. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;      
  3. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;  
Then the BoxPlot chart will look as follows:
 
 
Now enable the 3D Style as in the following:
  1. //Enabled 3D      
  2.  Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;    
 
 
Now Let us hide the GridLines in 3D Style Mode as:
  1. //Hide or show chart back GridLines      
  2. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisX.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;      
  3. Chart1.ChartAreas["ChartArea1"].AxisY.MajorGrid.Enabled = false;    
Now the BoxPlot Chart will look as follows::
 
 
Now from all the preceding explanations we saw how to create and use a BoxPlot chart.

Notes
  • Download the Zip file from the attachment for the full source code of the application.

  • Change the connection string in the web.config file to specify your server location.
Summary

My next article explains another chart type of ASP.Net. I hope this article is useful for all readers, if you have any suggestion then please contact me including beginners also.

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