Creating a BulletGraph Programmatically

The following article will demonstrate how to create a simple Horizontal Bullet graph programmatically but the approach is the same for the Vertical Bullet graph too.

1. The first thing you have to do is to create a new instance of the RadHorizontalBulletGraph class in the code and add it to a parent control.

   Example 1: Creating a new instance of RadHorizontalBulletGraph and adding it to the parent container

   • C#
   • VB.NET

       RadHorizontalBulletGraph horizontalBulletGraph = new RadHorizontalBulletGraph(); 
       this.LayoutRoot.Children.Add(horizontalBulletGraph); 

       Dim horizontalBulletGraph As New RadHorizontalBulletGraph() 
       Me.LayoutRoot.Children.Add(horizontalBulletGraph) 

2. Configure the BulletGraph by setting sample values for it's properties.

   Example 2: Setting up the bullet graph

   • C#
   • VB.NET

       horizontalBulletGraph.AutoRange = false; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Width = 300; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Height = 60; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Minimum = 0; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Maximum = 100; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.FeaturedMeasure = 60d; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.ComparativeMeasure = 65d; 
       horizontalBulletGraph.ProjectedValue = 75d; 
       QualitativeRange range = new QualitativeRange(); 
       range.Value = 50; 
       range.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#A8A8A8"); 
       horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range); 
       QualitativeRange range1 = new QualitativeRange(); 
       range1.Value = 70; 
       range1.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#C6C8C8"); 
       horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range1); 
       QualitativeRange range2 = new QualitativeRange(); 
       range2.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#E8E8E8"); 
       horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range2); 

       horizontalBulletGraph.AutoRange = False 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Width = 300 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Height = 60 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Minimum = 0 
       horizontalBulletGraph.Maximum = 100 
       horizontalBulletGraph.FeaturedMeasure = 60.0 
       horizontalBulletGraph.ComparativeMeasure = 65.0 
       horizontalBulletGraph.ProjectedValue = 75.0 
       Dim range As New QualitativeRange() 
       range.Value = 50 
       range.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#A8A8A8") 
       horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range) 
       Dim range1 As New QualitativeRange() 
       range1.Value = 70 
       range1.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#C6C8C8") 
       horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range1) 
       Dim range2 As New QualitativeRange() 
       range2.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#E8E8E8") 
       horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range2) 

   The Colors for the qualitative ranges are set with Hex Values and are converted to SolidColorBrush using the method provided in this forum post.

The full source code for creating Horizontal BulletGraph in code-behind.

Example 3: The full code of the example

• C#
• VB.NET

public MainPage() 
{ 
    InitializeComponent(); 
    RadHorizontalBulletGraph horizontalBulletGraph = new RadHorizontalBulletGraph(); 
    horizontalBulletGraph.AutoRange = false; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Width = 300; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Height = 60; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Minimum = 0; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Maximum = 100; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.FeaturedMeasure = 60d; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.ComparativeMeasure = 65d; 
    horizontalBulletGraph.ProjectedValue = 75d; 
    QualitativeRange range = new QualitativeRange(); 
    range.Value = 50; 
    range.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#A8A8A8"); 
    horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range); 
    QualitativeRange range1 = new QualitativeRange(); 
    range1.Value = 70; 
    range1.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#C6C8C8"); 
    horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range1); 
    QualitativeRange range2 = new QualitativeRange(); 
    range2.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#E8E8E8"); 
    horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range2); 
    this.LayoutRoot.Children.Add(horizontalBulletGraph); 
} 
protected static SolidColorBrush CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(double opacity, string color) 
{ 
    SolidColorBrush theAnswer = new SolidColorBrush(); 
    // deal with opacity 
    if (opacity > 1.0) 
        opacity = 1.0; 
    if (opacity < 0.0) 
        opacity = 0.0; 
    // get the hex value of the alpha chanel (opacity): 
    byte a = (byte)(Convert.ToInt32(255 * opacity)); 
    // deal with the color 
    try 
    { 
        byte r = (byte)(Convert.ToUInt32(color.Substring(1, 2), 16)); 
        byte g = (byte)(Convert.ToUInt32(color.Substring(3, 2), 16)); 
        byte b = (byte)(Convert.ToUInt32(color.Substring(5, 2), 16)); 
        theAnswer.Color = Color.FromArgb(a, r, g, b); 
    } 
    catch 
    { 
        theAnswer.Color = Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 0, 0); 
    } 
    return theAnswer; 
} 

Public Sub New() 
    InitializeComponent() 
    Dim horizontalBulletGraph As New RadHorizontalBulletGraph() 
    horizontalBulletGraph.AutoRange = False 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Width = 300 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Height = 60 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Minimum = 0 
    horizontalBulletGraph.Maximum = 100 
    horizontalBulletGraph.FeaturedMeasure = 60.0 
    horizontalBulletGraph.ComparativeMeasure = 65.0 
    horizontalBulletGraph.ProjectedValue = 75.0 
    Dim range As New QualitativeRange() 
    range.Value = 50 
    range.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#A8A8A8") 
    horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range) 
    Dim range1 As New QualitativeRange() 
    range1.Value = 70 
    range1.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#C6C8C8") 
    horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range1) 
    Dim range2 As New QualitativeRange() 
    range2.Brush = CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(1, "#E8E8E8") 
    horizontalBulletGraph.QualitativeRanges.Add(range2) 
    Me.LayoutRoot.Children.Add(horizontalBulletGraph) 
End Sub 
Protected Shared Function CombineAlphaAndColorInSolidColorBrush(opacity As Double, color__1 As String) As SolidColorBrush 
    Dim theAnswer As New SolidColorBrush() 
    ' deal with opacity ' 
    If opacity > 1.0 Then 
        opacity = 1.0 
    End If 
    If opacity < 0.0 Then 
        opacity = 0.0 
    End If 
    ' get the hex value of the alpha chanel (opacity): ' 
    Dim a As Byte = CByte(Convert.ToInt32(255 * opacity)) 
    ' deal with the color ' 
    Try 
        Dim r As Byte = CByte(Convert.ToUInt32(color__1.Substring(1, 2), 16)) 
        Dim g As Byte = CByte(Convert.ToUInt32(color__1.Substring(3, 2), 16)) 
        Dim b As Byte = CByte(Convert.ToUInt32(color__1.Substring(5, 2), 16)) 
        theAnswer.Color = Color.FromArgb(a, r, g, b) 
    Catch 
        theAnswer.Color = Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 0, 0) 
    End Try 
    Return theAnswer 
End Function 

The result: