ASP.NET MVC Chart Overview

The Telerik UI Chart HtmlHelper for ASP.NET MVC is a server-side wrapper for the Kendo UI Chart widget.

The Chart uses modern browser technologies to render high-quality data visualizations. All graphics are rendered on the client by using Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) with a fallback to Canvas. The Charts support a set of series types such as Bar, Line, Area, Bullet, Pie, Scatter, Bubble, Polar, and other.

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The Chart contains the following building block elements:

  • Title
  • Legend
  • Chart Area
  • Plot Area
  • Axes
  • Series

The following image displays the structure of the Chart.

UI for ASP.NET MVC Chart Structure

To see the component in action, check the examples:

Initializing the Chart

The following example demonstrates how to define the Chart.

   @(Html.Kendo().Chart(Model)
      .Name("internetUsersChart") // The name of the Chart is mandatory. It specifies the "id" attribute of the widget.
      .Title("Internet Users")
      .Series(series => {
          series.Bar(model => model.Value) // Create a Bar Chart series bound to the "Value" property.
                .Name("United States");
      })
      .CategoryAxis(axis => axis
          .Categories(model => model.Year)
      )
    )
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View(ChartDataRepository.InternetUsers());
    }

Basic Configuration

To configure the Chart, pass the configuration options as attributes:

@(Html.Kendo().Chart()
    .Name("chart")
    .Title("Gross domestic product growth /GDP annual %/")
    .Legend(legend => legend
        .Position(ChartLegendPosition.Top)
    )
    .ChartArea(chartArea => chartArea
        .Background("transparent")
    )
    .Series(series =>
    {
        series.Column(new double[] { 3.907, 7.943, 7.848, 9.284, 9.263, 9.801, 3.890, 8.238, 9.552, 6.855 }).Name("India");
        series.Column(new double[] { 4.743, 7.295, 7.175, 6.376, 8.153, 8.535, 5.247, -7.832, 4.3, 4.3 }).Name("Russian Federation");
        series.Column(new double[] { 0.010, -0.375, 1.161, 0.684, 3.7, 3.269, 1.083, -5.127, 3.690, 2.995 }).Name("Germany");
        series.Column(new double[] { 1.988, 2.733, 3.994, 3.464, 4.001, 3.939, 1.333, -2.245, 4.339, 2.727 }).Name("World");
    })
    .CategoryAxis(axis => axis
        .Name("series-axis")
        .Line(line => line.Visible(false))
    )
    .CategoryAxis(axis => axis
        .Name("label-axis")
        .Categories("2002", "2003", "2004", "2005", "2006", "2007", "2008", "2009", "2010", "2011")
    )
    .ValueAxis(axis => axis
        .Numeric()
            .Labels(labels => labels.Format("{0}%"))

            // Move the label-axis all the way down the value axis.
            .AxisCrossingValue(0, int.MinValue)
    )
    .Tooltip(tooltip => tooltip
        .Visible(true)
        .Format("{0}%")
        .Template("#= series.name #: #= value #")
    )
)

Axis Title

You can also add a title to clearly indicate the role of the axis.

    @(Html.Kendo().Chart()
        .Name("chart")
        .Title("Average temperature and humidity")
        .Legend(legend => legend
            .Position(ChartLegendPosition.Bottom)
        )
        .Series(series => {
            series.Column(new double[] { 20, 25, 32 }).Name("Temperature").Axis("temperature");
            series.Column(new double[] { 45, 50, 80 }).Name("Humidity").Axis("humidity");
        })
        .CategoryAxis(axis => axis            
            .Categories("Aug", "Sep", "Oct")
            .AxisCrossingValue(0, 3)
        )
        .ValueAxis(axis => axis
            .Numeric()
            .Name("temperature")
            .Title(t=>t.Text("Temperature, Celsius"))
        )
        .ValueAxis(axis => axis
            .Numeric()
            .Name("humidity")
            .Title(t=>t.Text("Relative Humidity"))
        )
    )

UI for ASP.NET MVC Chart with axis titles

Plot Bands

The Chart enables you to configure each axis to display bands with different colors for predefined value ranges. The category index (zero-based) is used as a value for the category axis.

    .ValueAxis(axis => axis.Numeric()
        .Labels(labels => labels.Format("{0:N0}"))
        .MajorUnit(10000)
        .Max(70000)
        .Line(line => line.Visible(false))
        .PlotBands(bands => {
            bands.Add().From(10000).To(30000).Color("#c00").Opacity(0.3);
            bands.Add().From(30000).To(30500).Color("#c00").Opacity(0.8);
        })
    )

UI for ASP.NET MVC Chart with axis plot bands

Global Settings

You may also need to apply global settings that affect all axes. In such cases, use AxisDefaults.

    .AxisDefaults(a=> a
        .Labels(l=>l.Font("16px Verdana"))
    )

Functionality and Features

Events

You can subscribe to all Chart events. For a complete example on basic Chart events, refer to the demo on using the events of the Chart.

Handling by Handler Name

The following examples demonstrates how to subscribe to events by a handler name.

    @(Html.Kendo().Chart<Kendo.Mvc.Examples.Models.ElectricityProduction>()
        .Name("chart")
        .Events(events => events
            .SeriesClick("onSeriesClick")
            .DataBound("onDataBound")
        )
    )
    <script>
        function onSeriesClick(e) {
            // Handle the seriesClick event
        }

        function onDataBound(e) {
            // Handle the dataBound event
        }
    </script>

Handling by Template Delegate

    @(Html.Kendo().Chart<Kendo.Mvc.Examples.Models.ElectricityProduction>()
        .Name("chart")
        .Events(events => events
            .SeriesClick(@<text>
                function() {
                    // Handle the seriesClick event
                }
            </text>)
            .DataBound(@<text>
                function() {
                    // Handle the dataBound event
                }
            </text>)
        )
    )

Referencing Existing Instances

To reference an existing Chart instance, use the jQuery.data() configuration option. Once a reference is established, use the Chart client-side API to control its behavior.

    // Place the following after the Chart for ASP.NET MVC declaration.
    <script>
        $(function() {
            // The Name() of the Chart is used to get its client-side instance.
            var chart = $("#internetUsersChart").data("kendoChart");
        });
    </script>

See Also

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