DevExpress Presentation API: Get Started with ChartEx (Office 2016 and later)

• Jun 05, 2026
• 4 minutes to read

This topic describes how to create a ChartEx, add it to a presentation, and customize its settings.

Add a ChartEx with a Data Series to a Presentation

• Add a ChartEx object to a slide’s Shapes collection.

• Specify the chart’s Width and Height properties.

• Specify the chart’s Data property to define the data source for the chart. For more information on how to load data to a chart, refer to the following help topic: Load Data to Charts.

• Create a series of the required type and add it to the chart’s Series collection.

• Specify the series Arguments and Values properties to define the series data points.

The following code snippet creates a chart with a title, adds a series, and specifies the series data:

C#

using DevExpress.Docs.Office;
using DevExpress.Docs.Presentation;
using System.Drawing;

namespace PresentationApiSample;

public class Program {
    public static async Task Main(string[] _) {

        // Create a presentation.
        Presentation presentation = new Presentation();

        // Reset the slide collection.
        presentation.Slides.Clear();

        // Add a blank slide.
        Slide slide = new Slide(SlideLayoutType.Blank);
        presentation.Slides.Add(slide);

        // Insert a chart on the slide.
        ChartEx chart = new ChartEx();
        slide.Shapes.Add(chart);

        // Set chart size to match the slide.
        chart.Width = presentation.SlideSize.Width;
        chart.Height = presentation.SlideSize.Height;

        // Create a waterfall series and specify data.
        WaterfallSeries series = new WaterfallSeries();
        series.Text = "Cash Flow";
        series.Arguments = new ChartStringData(new[] { "Start", "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "End" });
        series.Values = new ChartNumericData(new[] { 0.0, 12.0, -5.0, 8.0, 15.0 });

        // Add the series to the chart.
        chart.Series.Add(series);

        // Set chart title formatting.
        chart.Title = new ChartTitleEx(new TextArea {
            Text = "Waterfall chart",
            Level1ParagraphProperties = new TextParagraphProperties {
                TextProperties = new TextProperties { FontSize = 30, Fill = new SolidFill(Color.DarkBlue) }
            }
        });
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.Docs.Office
Imports DevExpress.Docs.Presentation
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Threading.Tasks

Namespace PresentationApiSample

    Public Class Program
        Public Shared Async Function Main(ByVal _ As String()) As Task

            ' Create a presentation.
            Dim presentation As New Presentation()

            ' Reset the slide collection.
            presentation.Slides.Clear()

            ' Add a blank slide.
            Dim slide As New Slide(SlideLayoutType.Blank)
            presentation.Slides.Add(slide)

            ' Insert a chart on the slide.
            Dim chart As New ChartEx()
            slide.Shapes.Add(chart)

            ' Set chart size to match the slide.
            chart.Width = presentation.SlideSize.Width
            chart.Height = presentation.SlideSize.Height

            ' Create a waterfall series and specify data.
            Dim series As New WaterfallSeries()
            series.Text = "Cash Flow"
            series.Arguments = New ChartStringData(New String() { "Start", "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "End" })
            series.Values = New ChartNumericData(New Double() { 0.0, 12.0, -5.0, 8.0, 15.0 })

            ' Add the series to the chart.
            chart.Series.Add(series)

            ' Set chart title formatting.
            chart.Title = New ChartTitleEx(New TextArea With {
                .Text = "Waterfall chart",
                .Level1ParagraphProperties = New TextParagraphProperties With {
                    .TextProperties = New TextProperties With {
                        .FontSize = 30,
                        .Fill = New SolidFill(Color.DarkBlue)
                    }
                }
            })
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

Supported Series Types

The ChartExType enumeration lists chart types available for the ChartEx class:

Chart type	Series type
Box and Whisker	BoxAndWhiskerSeries
Funnel	FunnelSeries
Histogram	HistogramSeries
Pareto	ParetoSeries
Filled Map	MapSeries
Sunburst	SunburstSeries
Treemap	TreemapSeries
Waterfall	WaterfallSeries

Customize Chart Axes

For details on how to access chart axes, refer to the following help topic:

Read Tutorial: Chart Axes

Customize Chart Appearance

Use the chart ColorPalette property to specify the chart color palette. Use the chart PlotArea property to specify plot area settings (for example, fill color). Specify the chart Style property to apply one of the predefined styles to the chart. The following code snippet customizes chart appearance:

C#

chart.ColorPalette = ChartColorPalette.Monochromatic1;
chart.PlotArea.Fill = new SolidFill(Color.AliceBlue);
chart.Style = ChartExStyle.Style3;

VB.NET

chart.ColorPalette = ChartColorPalette.Monochromatic1
chart.PlotArea.Fill = New SolidFill(Color.AliceBlue)
chart.Style = ChartExStyle.Style3

Customize Individual Series Points

Use the series CustomDataPoints property to access points you can customize individually. This property is a dictionary that maps data point indices to DataPointEx objects. The following code snippet customizes the first data point of a line series:

C#

series.CustomDataPoints = new DataPointExDictionary { 
    {0, new DataPointEx { Fill = new SolidFill(Color.Red) } } 
};

VB.NET

series.CustomDataPoints = New DataPointExDictionary() From {
    {0, New DataPointEx() With {.Fill = New SolidFill(Color.Red)}}
}