FusionCharts ASP.NET with VB Wrapper

What is FusionCharts .NET wrapper?

The FusionCharts server-side ASP.Net wrapper lets you create charts in your ASP.NET website without having to write any JavaScript code.

How does the wrapper work?

Conventionally, FusionCharts Suite XT uses JavaScript and HTML to generate charts in the browser. The ASP.Net vb wrapper lets you generate the required JavaScript and HTML code as a string on the server. This string is then inserted in the web page for generating charts.

Version

1.3

Requirements

.NET Framework 3.5 or higher

Installation

** Download the fusioncharts-suite-xt

• Unzip the archive and move to "integrations > asp.net-vb > fusioncharts-wrapper-source" to get the "FusionCharts.vb" file.
• Copy "FusionCharts.vb" to App_Code folder inside your project.

Or

You can add dll file reference in your project

• Download the fusioncharts-suite-xt
• Unzip the archive and move to "integrations > asp.net-vb > fusioncharts-wrapper-assembly" to get the "FusionCharts.dll" file.
• Add reference to your project.

Using FusionCharts CDN

Write a script tag in the section of the page where you want to add the source of the FusionCharts library link from the official CDN:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.fusioncharts.com/code/latest/fusioncharts.js"></script>

Using library files placed in a folder of your project

You can download the trial version of FusionCharts.

Next assuming you have the FusionCharts library placed inside the "fusioncharts" folder in your project, write a script tag in the section of the page where you add the src of FusionCharts libary link from local folder

<script type="text/javascript" src="fusioncharts/fusioncharts.js"></script>

Now, you are ready to prepare the chart using our ASP-vb-wrapper.

Using the wrapper

Step 1:

Include the wrapper source file (FusionCharts.vb) or wrapper dll file (FusionCharts.dll) to your VB page:

• Include the package inside your project (See Installation Guide)
• Add the reference of the file to the page where you want to display FusionCharts. To do so write the following code befor the class description begins of your page.

Imports FusionCharts.charts

Step 2:

Add a asp literal to the aspx page where FusionCharts will be displayed

 <asp:Literal ID="Literal1" runat="server"></asp:Literal>

Step 3:

Create a chart object that consists of the information required to render the chart. check Constructor Parameters Also set the information needed for a chart

        Dim sales As New Chart()

        ' Setting chart id
        sales.SetChartParameter(Chart.ChartParameter.chartId, "myChart")

        ' Setting chart type to Column 3D chart
        sales.SetChartParameter(Chart.ChartParameter.chartType, "column3d")

        ' Setting chart width to 500px
        sales.SetChartParameter(Chart.ChartParameter.chartWidth, "600")

        ' Setting chart height to 400px
        sales.SetChartParameter(Chart.ChartParameter.chartHeight, "350")

        ' Setting chart data as JSON String 
        sales.SetData("{'chart':{'caption':'Monthly','xaxisname':'Month','yaxisname':'Revenue','numberprefix':'$','showvalues':'1','animation':'0'},'data':[{'label':'Jan','value':'420000'},{'label':'Feb','value':'910000'},{'label':'Mar','value':'720000'},{'label':'Apr','value':'550000'},{'label':'May','value':'810000'},{'label':'Jun','value':'510000'},{'label':'Jul','value':'680000'},{'label':'Aug','value':'620000'},{'label':'Sep','value':'610000'},{'label':'Oct','value':'490000'},{'label':'Nov','value':'530000'},{'label':'Dec','value':'330000'}],'trendlines':[{'line':[{'startvalue':'700000','istrendzone':'1','valueonright':'1','tooltext':'AYAN','endvalue':'900000','color':'009933','displayvalue':'Target','showontop':'1','thickness':'5'}]}],'styles':{'definition':[{'name':'CanvasAnim','type':'animation','param':'_xScale','start':'0','duration':'1'}],'application':[{'toobject':'Canvas','styles':'CanvasAnim'}]}}", Chart.DataFormat.json)

Step 4:

Render the chart

Literal1.Text = sales.Render()

Chart Class (FusionCharts.Charts)

Represent the FusionCharts class that can be initialized to create a chart.

Constructor parameters:

The following parameters can be used in the constructor in the order as they are described in the table. All parameters are optional, and can be configured later.

Parameter	Type	Description
chartType	String	The type of chart that you intend to plot. e.g. column3D, column2D, pie2D etc.
chartId	String	Unique ID for the chart, using which it will be recognized in the HTML page. Each chart on the page needs to have a unique ID.
chartWidth	String	Intended width for the chart (in pixels). e.g. 400
chartHeight	String	Intended height for the chart (in pixels). e.g. 300
dataFormat	String	Type of data that will be given to the chart. e.g. json, jsonurl, xml, xmlurl
dataSource	String	Actual data for the chart. e.g. {"chart":{},"data":[{"label":"Jan","value":"420000"}]}
bgColor	String	Background color of the chart container. e.g. cccccc
bgOpacity	String	Background opacity of the chart container. e.g. 1

Methods under Chart class

SetChartParameter

This method can be used to set or modified various chart paramerers like chartType, chartWidth, chartHeight etc. The method has following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
param	enum	Name of chart parameter. e.g. Chart.ChartParameter.chartType.
value	String	Value of chart parameter. e.g. column2d

GetChartParameter

This method is used to get the value of any chart parameter.The parameter value is returned as a string. This method takes the following parameter:

Parameter	Type	Description
param	enum	Name of chart parameter. e.g. Chart.ChartParameter.chartType.

SetData

This method is used to set the data for the chart. It takes the following argumets.

Parameter	Type	Description
dataSource	String	Data for the chart. e.g. data/data.xml
format	enum	Format of the data (optional). e.g. Chart.DataFormat.xmlurl

Render

This is a public method used to generate the html code for rendering a chart. This function assumes that you've already included the FusionCharts JavaScript class in your page. Optionally, the following parameters can also be passed to the chart in the order as they are described below.

Parameter	Type	Description
chartType	String	The type of chart that you intend to plot. e.g. column3D.
chartId	String	Unique ID for the chart, using which it will be recognized in the HTML page. Each chart on the page needs to have a unique ID.
chartWidth	String	Intended width for the chart (in pixels). e.g. 400
chartHeight	String	Intended height for the chart (in pixels). e.g. 300
dataFormat	String	Type of data that is given to the chart. e.g. json, jsonurl, xml, xmlurl
dataSource	String	Data for the chart. e.g. {"chart":{},"data":[{"label":"Jan","value":"420000"}]}
bgColor	String	Background color of the chart container. e.g. cccccc
bgOpacity	String	Background opacity of the chart container. e.g. 1

AddEvent

This is a public method used to generate the html code to add an event to a chart. This function assumes that you've already included the FusionCharts JavaScript class in your page. The following parameters have to be passed in order to attach event function.

Parameter	Type	Description
eventName	String	which event you want to bind. e.g. dataLoaded.
funcName	String	javascript function, which is written in your client side code

chartObj.AddEvent("dataLoaded", "onDataLoaded")

AddMessage

This is a public method used to generate the html code to attach an event to a chart. This function assumes that you’ve already included the FusionCharts JavaScript class in your page. The following parameters have to be passed in order to attach event through addEvent function.

Parameter	Type	Description
messageAttribute	String	parameter want to customize. e.g. loadMessage.
messageAttributeValue	String	Your custom message

chartObj.AddMessage("loadMessage", "please wait data is being loaded")

Clone

This method is used to clone an existing chart instance. All properties except the chartId of the parent chart instance will be cloned into the child instance.

Chart sales = new Chart("column3d", "myChart", "400", "300", "xmlurl", "data/data.xml");
//Render the column3D chart
Literal1.Text = sales.Render();
Chart salesClone = (Chart)sales.clone();
salesClone.SetChartParameter(Chart.ChartParameter.chartType, "column2d");
//Render the column2D chart
Literal2.Text = salesClone.Render();

License

The FusionCharts VB.NET integration component is open-source and distributed under the terms of the MIT/X11 License. However, you will need to download and include FusionCharts library in your page separately, which has a separate license.