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Create a Chart Using ASP.NET in FusionCharts

FusionCharts.NET

We have released FusionCharts.NET which brings the seamless support of FusionCharts JavaScript charting library to Microsoft .NET Framework. Download it now to take advantage of the following powerful features:

  • Provide raw data and FusionCharts.NET automatically converts the data into JSON.
  • Dynamically slice and dice data to derive insights using the data engine.
  • All methods and properties are available in Visual Studio intellisense.
  • ...and many more. Get it now. Click here!

Overview

FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting library that enables you to create interactive charts, gauges, maps and dashboards in JavaScript. We have built a simple server-side ASP.NET wrapper for FusionCharts. The FusionCharts server-side ASP.NET wrapper lets you easily add rich and interactive charts to any ASP.NET project. Using the wrapper, you can create charts in your browsers, without writing any JavaScript code.

FusionCharts allows you to follow two different approaches to render charts using ASP.NET:

  • ASP.NET wrapper

  • FusionCharts.NET Visualization library

We recommend you to use FusionCharts.NET library over ASP.NET wrapper, as the library comes with some advantages listed below:

  • FusionCharts.NET library is compatible with ASP.NET Framework, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET Standard, Mono/Xamarin whereas ASP.NET wrapper is only compatible with ASP.NET Framework.

  • FusionCharts.NET library has the ability to accept data from different sources.

  • FusionCharts.NET library accepts remote data.

  • FusionCharts.NET library allows operations on data.

  • FusionCharts.NET library has the ability to handle chart structure-specific json.

  • FusionCharts.NET library has the ability of conditional data plot formatting.

  • Using FusionCharts.NET library you can specify a page-level theme.

  • You can write fully object-oriented c#/VB code when using the FusionCharts.NET library.

In this page, we'll see how to install FusionCharts and render a chart using the FusionCharts server-side ASP.NET wrapper.

Installation

In this section, we will show you how to install FusionCharts Suite XT and the FusionCharts ASP.NET wrapper and all the other dependencies on your system.

The FusionCharts ASP.NET server-side wrapper requires .NET Framework 3.5 or higher.

  • Include the FusionCharts JavaScript files, which can be downloaded from here.

  • Copy the FusionCharts.cs or FusionCharts.vb class (C#/VB) file from integrations > asp.net-cs >fusioncharts-wrapper-source (for C#) or integration > asp.net-vb > fusioncharts-wrapper-source (for VB) to App_Code folder inside your project.

  • Include the FusionCharts theme file to apply the style to the charts.

The consolidated code is shown below:


// Include FusionCharts core file
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.fusioncharts.com/fusioncharts/latest/fusioncharts.js"></script>

// Include FusionCharts Theme file
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.fusioncharts.com/fusioncharts/latest/themes/fusioncharts.theme.fusion.js"></script>




// Include FusionCharts core file
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/local/fusioncharts.js"></script>

// Include FusionCharts Theme file
<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/local/themes/fusioncharts.theme.fusion.js"></script>

That completes the installation of FusionCharts Suite and the asp-net-wrapper.

Create Your First Chart

Let's create a Column 2D chart using the asp-net-wrapper showing the "Countries with Most Oil Reserves".

FusionCharts Suite has 95+ chart types for you to explore. Find the complete list of chart types here.

FusionCharts will load here..

To understand the chart components, click here.

Chart data

The data to render the above chart is shown in the table below:

Country No. of Oil Reserves
Venezuela 290K
Saudi 260K
Canada 180K
Iran 140K
Russia 115K
UAE 100K
US 30K
China 30K

FusionCharts accepts data in JSON format. Following code is the JSON representation of the above table with the required attributes to render the above chart.

{
  // Chart Configuration
  "chart": {
    "caption": "Countries With Most Oil Reserves [2017-18]",
    "subCaption": "In MMbbl = One Million barrels",
    "xAxisName": "Country",
    "yAxisName": "Reserves (MMbbl)",
    "numberSuffix": "K",
    "theme": "fusion"
  },
  // Chart Data
  "data": [
    {
      "label": "Venezuela",
      "value": "290"
    },
    {
      "label": "Saudi",
      "value": "260"
    },
    {
      "label": "Canada",
      "value": "180"
    },
    {
      "label": "Iran",
      "value": "140"
    },
    {
      "label": "Russia",
      "value": "115"
    },
    {
      "label": "UAE",
      "value": "100"
    },
    {
      "label": "US",
      "value": "30"
    },
    {
      "label": "China",
      "value": "30"
    }
  ]
}

Different types of charts in FusionCharts expect different JSON formats, based on their grouping. Explore different JSON formats, for example, single-series,multi-series, combination charts.

In the above JSON data:

  • Create the chart object to define the elements of the chart.

  • Set the caption and subcaption of the chart.

  • Set the value of xAxisName attribute to Country(first column of the table).

  • Set the value of yAxisName attribute to Reserves(second column of the table).

  • In the data array, create objects for each row and specify the label attribute to represent the Country. For example, Venezuela.

  • Similarly, specify the value attribute to set the value of Oil Reserves in respective countries. For example, 290K for Venezuela.

  • Set the numberSuffix attribute to set the unit of the values.

  • Set the theme attribute to apply the predefines themes to the chart.

Both the chart object and the data array contain a set of key-value pairs known as attributes. These attributes are used to set the functional and cosmetic properties of the chart.

Now that you have the data in JSON format, let's see how to render the chart.

Render the Chart

  1. Include the FusionCharts asp-net-wrapper (for C#) OR FusionCharts vb-net-wrapper (for VB) in your project.

  2. Include the fusioncharts library.

  3. Include the FusionCharts theme file to apply the style to the charts.

  4. Store label-value pairs in an object.

  5. Store the chart configurations in an object.

  6. Convert the final chart configuration to JSON string.

  7. Create the chart instance and set the following:

    • Set the chart type as column2d. Each chart type is represented with a unique chart alias. For Column 2D chart, the alias is column2d. Find the complete list of chart types with their respective alias here.

    • Set the chart id.

    • Set the width and height (in pixels).

    • Set the container for the chart.

    • Set the dataFormat as JSON.

    • Embed the json data as the value of the dataSource.

  8. Finally, use a container using <div> to render the chart.

The consolidated code is shown below:


    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Text;
    using FusionCharts.Charts;

    namespace asp_test {
        public partial class index: System.Web.UI.Page {

            protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
                //store label-value pair
                var dataValuePair = new List < KeyValuePair < string, double >> ();

                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("Venezuela", 290));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("Saudi", 260));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("Canada", 180));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("Iran", 140));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("Russia", 115));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("UAE", 100));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("US", 30));
                dataValuePair.Add(new KeyValuePair < string, double > ("China", 30));

                StringBuilder jsonData = new StringBuilder();
                StringBuilder data = new StringBuilder();
                // store chart config name-config value pair

                Dictionary < string, string > chartConfig = new Dictionary < string, string > ();
                chartConfig.Add("caption", "Countries With Most Oil Reserves [2017-18]");
                chartConfig.Add("subCaption", "In MMbbl = One Million barrels");
                chartConfig.Add("xAxisName", "Country");
                chartConfig.Add("yAxisName", "Reserves (MMbbl)");
                chartConfig.Add("numberSuffix", "k");
                chartConfig.Add("theme", "fusion");

                // json data to use as chart data source
                jsonData.Append("{'chart':{");
                foreach(var config in chartConfig) {
                    jsonData.AppendFormat("'{0}':'{1}',", config.Key, config.Value);
                }
                jsonData.Replace(",", "},", jsonData.Length - 1, 1);

                // build  data object from label-value pair
                data.Append("'data':[");

                foreach(KeyValuePair < string, double > pair in dataValuePair) {
                    data.AppendFormat("{{'label':'{0}','value':'{1}'}},", pair.Key, pair.Value);
                }
                data.Replace(",", "]", data.Length - 1, 1);

                jsonData.Append(data.ToString());
                jsonData.Append("}");
                //Create chart instance
                // charttype, chartID, width, height, data format, data

                Chart MyFirstChart = new Chart("column2d", "first_chart", "800", "550", "json", jsonData.ToString());
                // render chart
                Literal1.Text = MyFirstChart.Render();
            }

        }
    }





    Imports FusionCharts.Charts
    Partial Class first_chart
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
    Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load 'store label-value pair

    Dim dataValuePair As New Dictionary(Of String, Double)
    dataValuePair.Add("Venezuela", 290)
    dataValuePair.Add("Saudi", 260)
    dataValuePair.Add("Canada", 180)
    dataValuePair.Add("Iran", 140)
    dataValuePair.Add("Russia", 115)
    dataValuePair.Add("UAE", 100)
    dataValuePair.Add("US", 30)
    dataValuePair.Add("China", 30)

    Dim jsonData As New StringBuilder
    Dim data As New StringBuilder

    'store chart config name-config value pair
    Dim chartConfig As New Dictionary(Of String, String)
    chartConfig.Add("caption", "Countries With Most Oil Reserves [2017-18]")
    chartConfig.Add("subCaption", "In MMbbl = One Million barrels")
    chartConfig.Add("xAxisName", "Country")
    chartConfig.Add("yAxisName", "Reserves (MMbbl)")
    chartConfig.Add("numberSuffix", "k")
    chartConfig.Add("theme", "fusion")

'json data to use as chart data source
jsonData.Append("{'chart':{")
For Each config In chartConfig
jsonData.AppendFormat("'{0}':'{1}',", config.Key, config.Value)
Next
jsonData.Replace(",", "},", jsonData.Length - 1, 1)
'build data object from label-value pair
data.Append("'data':[")
For Each pair In dataValuePair
data.AppendFormat("{{'label':'{0}','value':'{1}'}},", pair.Key, pair.Value)
Next
data.Replace(",", "]", data.Length - 1, 1)
jsonData.Append(data.ToString())
jsonData.Append("}")

    'Create chart instance
    'charttype, chartID, width, height, data format, data
     Dim MyFirstChart As New Chart("column2d", "first_chart", "600", "350", "json", jsonData.ToString())

     Literal1.Text = MyFirstChart.Render()

     End Sub

     End Class

The HTML template is shown below:


    <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="index.aspx.cs" Inherits="asp_test.index" %>

    <!DOCTYPE html>

    <html xmlns=" http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

    <head runat="server">
        <title>fusioncharts</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.fusioncharts.com/fusioncharts/latest/fusioncharts.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.fusioncharts.com/fusioncharts/latest/themes/fusioncharts.theme.fusion.js"></script>
        <div style="text-align:center">
            <asp:Literal ID="Literal1" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
        </div>
    </body>

    </html>





    <%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="index.aspx.vb" Inherits="index" %>
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html xmlns=" http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head runat="server">
        <title>fusioncharts</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.fusioncharts.com/fusioncharts/latest/fusioncharts.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.fusioncharts.com/fusioncharts/latest/themes/fusioncharts.theme.fusion.js"></script>
        <form id="form1" runat="server">
            <div>
                <asp:Literal ID="Literal1" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
            </div>
        </form>
    </body>
    </html>

That's it! Your first chart using the FusionCharts asp-net-wrapper is ready.

Problem rendering the chart?

In case there is an error, and you are unable to see the map, check for the following:

  • If you are getting a JavaScript error on your page, check your browser console for the exact error and fix accordingly. If you're unable to solve it, click here to get in touch with our support team.

  • If the chart does not show up at all, but there are no JavaScript errors, check if the FusionCharts Suite XT JavaScript library has loaded correctly. You can use developer tools within your browser to see if fusioncharts.js was loaded.

  • If you get a Loading Data or Error in loading data message, check whether your JSON data structure is correct, or there are conflicts related to quotation marks in your code.