Introduction to Charts & its Types - Aspose.Cells for .NET and Java

A chart is a visual display of information. Aspose.Cells allows developers to visualize their information in terms of charts just as Microsoft Excel. Presenting information in the form of charts is always helpful to decision makers to make quick and timely decisions. It's a better way to have a quick look of the comparisons, patterns and trends in data. It is one of the most powerful features of Aspose.Cells to create charts at runtime depending upon the spreadsheet data.

Types of Charts

Aspose.Cells supports almost all those types of charts, which are supported in Microsoft Excel. All types of charts are categorized in two major categories as follows:

Standard Types
Custom Types

Standard Types

Standard Types charts are those standard charts that we normally use with standard formatting such as:

Column
Bar
Line
Pie
Scatter
Area
Doughnut
Radar
Surface 3D
Bubble
Stock
Cylinder
Cone
Pyramid

Column Charts

Column charts use vertical bars (that are called columns) to display different values of one or more data items. Column charts are mostly used to compare values across different categories. They are ideal for showing the variations in the value of an item over time such as Budget Analysis.

Figure: Column charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following column charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Clustered Column Chart
Stacked Column Chart
100% Stacked Column Chart
3D Colustered Column Chart
3D Stacked Column Chart
3D 100% Stacked Column Chart
3D Column Chart

Bar Charts

Bar charts are almost the same type as column charts. The difference is that they use horizontal bars instead of vertical ones.

Figure: Bar charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following bar charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Clustered Bar Chart
Stacked Bar Chart
100% Stacked Bar Chart
3D Clustered Bar Chart
3D Stacked Bar Chart
3D 100% Stacked Bar Chart

Line Charts

Line charts make use of lines to display information. These charts are very useful to show a temporal trend over time and are often used to show variations in the value of more than one item over time.

Figure: Line charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following line charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Line Chart
Stacked Line Chart
100% Stacked Line Chart
Line Chart with Data Markers
Stacked Line Chart with Data Markers
100% Stacked Line Chart with Data Markers
3D Line Chart

Note: Data markers are used to represents data points, which are the individual values plotted in a chart. Data markers of the same color constitute a data series.

Pie Charts

Pie charts are mostly used to display information when you want to represent the different parts of a whole, or the percentages of a total.

Figure: Pie charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following pie charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Pie Chart
3D Pie Chart
Pie of Pie Chart
Exploded Pie Chart
3D Exploded Pie Chart
Bar of Pie Chart

Scatter Charts

Scatter charts are mostly used in statistics to visually display and compare two sets of related quantitative or numerical data by displaying only finitely many points, each having a coordinate on a horizontal ("X") and a vertical ("Y") axis.

Figure: Scatter charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following scatter charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Scatter Chart
Scatter Chart Connected by Curves, with Data Markers
Scatter Chart Connected by Curves, without Data Markers
Scatter Chart Connected by Lines, with Data Markers
Scatter Chart Connected by Lines, without Data Markers

Area Charts

An area chart is a kind of line chart in which each area is given a solid color or pattern to emphasize the relationships between the pieces of charted information.

Figure: Area charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following area charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Area Chart
Stacked Area Chart
100% Stacked Area Chart
3D Area Chart
3D Stacked Area Chart
3D 100% Stacked Area Chart

Doughnut Charts

A doughnut chart is similar to a pie chart and is mostly used to show that how proportions of data contribute to the whole.

Figure: Doughnut charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following doughnut charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Doughnut Chart
Exploded Doughnut Chart

Radar Charts

Radar charts are mostly useful when you want to look at several different factors, which are related to one item. These charts have multiple axes along which data can be plotted.

Figure: Radar charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following radar charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Radar Chart
Radar Chart with Data Markers
Filled Radar Chart

Surface 3D Charts

Like other 3D charts, Surface 3D charts are also based on X, Y and Z axes. These charts are more useful to show a variation in the "Z" variable according to the other two variables, "X" and "Y".

Figure: Surface 3D charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following surface 3D charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

3D Surface Chart
Wireframe 3D Surface Chart
Surface Contour Chart
Wireframe Contour Chart

Bubble Charts

A bubble chart is a variation of a scatter chart in which the data points are replaced with bubbles. A Bubble chart can be used instead of a Scatter chart if your data has three data series, each of which contains a set of values. Bubble charts are mostly used to display financial data.

Figure: Bubble charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following bubble charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Bubble Chart
3D Bubble Chart

Stock Charts

Stock charts are mostly used for stock price data, but can also be used for scientific data.

Figure: Stock charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following stock charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

High-Low-Close Stock Chart
Open-High-Low-Close Stock Chart
Volume-High-Low-Close Stock Chart
Volume-Open-High-Low-Close Stock Chart

Cylinder Charts

These chart types use cylinder data markers to lend a dramatic effect to column, bar, and 3D column charts.

Figure: Cylinder charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following cylinder charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Cylinder Chart
Stacked Cylinder Chart
100% Stacked Cylinder Chart
Cylinderical Bar Chart
Stacked Cylinderical Bar Chart
100% Stacked Cylinderical Bar Chart
3D Cylinderical Column Chart

Cone Charts

These chart types use cone data markers to lend a dramatic effect to column, bar, and 3D column charts.

Figure: Cone charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following cone charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Cone Chart
Stacked Cone Chart
100% Stacked Cone Chart
Conical Bar Chart
Stacked Conical Bar Chart
100% Stacked Conical Bar Chart
3D Conical Column Chart

Pyramid Charts

These chart types use pyramid data markers to lend a dramatic effect to column, bar, and 3D column charts.

Figure: Pyramid charts supported in Microsoft Excel

Following pyramid charts are supported in Aspose.Cells:

Simple Pyramid Chart
Stacked Pyramid Chart
100% Stacked Pyramid Chart
Pyramid Bar Chart
Stacked Pyramid Bar Chart
100% Stacked Pyramid Bar Chart
3D Pyramid Column Chart

Custom Types

Custom Types charts allow you to create charts with custom formatting that can be applied to other charts also. In this topic, the types of standard charts are discussed only. If you want to know more details about custom charts then please Click Here .

Describes how to create custom charts.

6/12/2006 7:56:39 PM - -222.190.3.23