DevExpress Presentation API: Get Started with Chart

May 21, 2026
4 minutes to read

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

Add a Chart with a Data Series to a Presentation

Add a Chart object to a slide’s Shapes collection.
Specify the chart’s Width and Height properties.
Specify the chart’s data source using the ChartData property. 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.

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.Docs.Office;
using DevExpress.Docs.Presentation;

namespace PresentationApiSample;

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

        Presentation presentation = new Presentation();

        presentation.Slides.Clear();

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

        var chart = new Chart();

        chart.Width = 800;
        chart.Height = 600;

        chart.ChartData[0, "A1"].NumericValue = 120;
        chart.ChartData[0, "A2"].NumericValue = 95;
        chart.ChartData[0, "A3"].NumericValue = 140;
        chart.ChartData[0, "B1"].TextValue = "Q1";
        chart.ChartData[0, "B2"].TextValue = "Q2";
        chart.ChartData[0, "B3"].TextValue = "Q3";

        var series = new BarSeries();
        series.Values = new ChartDataReference(sheetIndex: 0, fromCellReference: "A1", toCellReference: "A3");
        series.Arguments = new ChartDataReference(sheetIndex: 0, fromCellReference: "B1", toCellReference: "B3");

        chart.Series.Add(series);
        slide.Shapes.Add(chart);
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Docs.Office
Imports DevExpress.Docs.Presentation

Namespace PresentationApiSample

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

            Dim presentation As New Presentation()

            presentation.Slides.Clear()

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

            Dim chart = New Chart()

            chart.Width = 800
            chart.Height = 600

            chart.ChartData(0, "A1").NumericValue = 120
            chart.ChartData(0, "A2").NumericValue = 95
            chart.ChartData(0, "A3").NumericValue = 140
            chart.ChartData(0, "B1").TextValue = "Q1"
            chart.ChartData(0, "B2").TextValue = "Q2"
            chart.ChartData(0, "B3").TextValue = "Q3"

            Dim series = New BarSeries()
            series.Values = New ChartDataReference(sheetIndex:=0, fromCellReference:="A1", toCellReference:="A3")
            series.Arguments = New ChartDataReference(sheetIndex:=0, fromCellReference:="B1", toCellReference:="B3")

            chart.Series.Add(series)
            slide.Shapes.Add(chart)
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

Series and Views

A Chart object maintains two collections: Chart.Series and Chart.Views. Series objects supply data and define the chart type. Views control rendering settings applicable to one or more series. When you add a series, the Presentation API automatically associates it with an existing view or creates a new one if needed.

The following code snippet creates two series and configures their common settings in the view:

C#
VB.NET

BarSeries barSeries1 = new BarSeries();
barSeries1.Arguments = new ChartStringData(new[] { "Q1", "Q2", "Q3", "Q4", "Q5" });
barSeries1.Values = new ChartNumericData(new double[] { 10, 13, 4, 7, 5});
chart.Series.Add(barSeries1);

BarSeries barSeries2 = new BarSeries();
barSeries2.Arguments = new ChartStringData(new[] { "Q1", "Q2", "Q3", "Q4", "Q5" });
barSeries2.Values = new ChartNumericData(new double[] { 5, 6, 4, 9, 11 });
chart.Series.Add(barSeries2);

BarChartView barView = (BarChartView)chart.Views[0];
barView.DataLabels = new DataLabels { ShowCategoryName = true, ShowValue = true };

Dim barSeries1 As New BarSeries()
barSeries1.Arguments = New ChartStringData(New String() { "Q1", "Q2", "Q3", "Q4", "Q5" })
barSeries1.Values = New ChartNumericData(New Double() { 10, 13, 4, 7, 5 })
chart.Series.Add(barSeries1)

Dim barSeries2 As New BarSeries()
barSeries2.Arguments = New ChartStringData(New String() { "Q1", "Q2", "Q3", "Q4", "Q5" })
barSeries2.Values = New ChartNumericData(New Double() { 5, 6, 4, 9, 11 })
chart.Series.Add(barSeries2)

Dim barView As BarChartView = DirectCast(chart.Views(0), BarChartView)
barView.DataLabels = New DataLabels() With {.ShowCategoryName = True, .ShowValue = True}

Supported Chart Types

The ChartType enumeration lists chart types available for the Chart class:

Enumeration Value	Series Object	View Object
Area Stacked Area 100% Stacked Area	AreaSeries	AreaChartView
3D Area 3D Stacked Area 3D 100% Stacked Area	Area3DSeries	Area3DChartView
Clustered Bar Stacked Bar 100% Stacked Bar Clustered Column Stacked Column 100% Stacked Column	BarSeries	BarChartView
3D Clustered Bar 3D Stacked Bar 3D 100% Stacked Bar 3D Clustered Column 3D Stacked Column 3D 100% Stacked Column 3D Column	Bar3DSeries	Bar3DChartView
Bubble 3D Bubble	BubbleSeries	BubbleChartView
Doughnut	DoughnutSeries	DoughnutChartView
Line Stacked Line 100% Stacked Line	LineSeries	LineChartView
3D Line	Line3DSeries	Line3DChartView
Pie of Pie Bar of Pie	ChartOfPieSeries	ChartOfPieView
Pie	PieSeries	PieChartView
Pie 3D	Pie3DSeries	Pie3DChartView
Radar Filled Radar	RadarSeries	RadarChartView
Scatter	ScatterSeries	ScatterChartView
High-Low-Close Open-High-Low-Close Volume-High-Low-Close Volume-Open-High-Low-Close	StockSeries	StockChartView
Surface	SurfaceSeries	SurfaceChartView
Surface 3D	Surface3DSeries	Surface3DChartView