Questions re: Chart capabilities

Hello,

I'm looking for a charting component to integrate into a WPF XBAP solution.  I will be using it to draw single-series line charts, but it must also be able to meet the following requirements:

1) Chart between 75K-100K data points (I've seen your 2 million data point demo, so I know that shouldn't be a problem)

2) Handle discontiguous or discontinuous data series (what happens if nulls are encountered in the series data?)

3) Add annotations to the chart by clicking on a data point

Can the Mindscape chart meet these requirements?

Thanks!

John @ PCG

Hello John

1) Indeed the chart can easily handle 100K data points.

2) At the moment null data points are not supported. I have been implementing this today and will get back to you tomorrow when this feature becomes available with more info and a sample.

3) Displaying annotations when clicking on a data point is possible. The easiest way to do this is with a custom chart symbol style that displays the annotation when the data point is selected. Here is a simple code example of doing this:

<ms:FormattingConverter x:Key="Format" FormatString="{}{0:0.00}" />

<Style x:Key="SymbolStyle" TargetType="ms:ChartSymbol">
    <Setter Property="Margin" Value="-3,-3,3,3" />
    <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="ms:ChartSymbol">
                <Grid>
                    <Ellipse Fill="{TemplateBinding Background}" Width="6" Height="6" />
                    <Popup Name="Popup" Placement="Top" HorizontalOffset="-20" VerticalOffset="-5">
                        <Border Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Width="40" Height="20" BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="1">
                            <TextBlock Foreground="White" HorizontalAlignment="Center"
                                       Text="{Binding LogicalPoint.Y, Converter={StaticResource Format}, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}}" />
                        </Border>
                    </Popup>
                </Grid>
                <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                    <Trigger Property="IsSelected" Value="True">
                        <Setter TargetName="Popup" Property="IsOpen" Value="True" />
                    </Trigger>
                </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

You can then use this style to set the SymbolStyle property of a LineSeries. This will also be included in the sample comming tomorrow. The annotation (found within the Popup area) can be visually customized and display any data for the data point.

Please let us know if you have further questions.
 - Jason 

Hello John

The chart control now supports null data points. To see this, start by downloading and installing the latest nightly builds: http://assets.mindscape.co.nz/Trial/Nightlies/20111103/WpfElements4Trial-20111103.msi. Next, get the sample attached to this forum post and include a reference to your copy of the Mindscape.WpfElements.dll. When you run up the sample, you will see a line chart with 3 gaps in the data where null data points have been added. By clicking on a data point, a simple annotation will appear displaying the Y axis value. The chart will automatically put a gap in the line when it encounters a null value in the ItemsSource collection. Note that this is only currently supported by LineSeries. Other series will be supported later. Let me know if there are any other series that you need this feature supported by so I can implement it earlier.

Please let us know how this sample goes and if there is any more functionality you need added to the chart controls.
 - Jason