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Select and Highlight 2D Chart Elements

  • 8 minutes to read

You can use the mouse or touch gestures on touchscreen devices to highlight and select chart elements.

chart-selection-preview

Note

Refer to the Hit Information help document for information on how to define an element under the mouse pointer.

Overview

A user can highlight and select the following 2D chart elements at design time and runtime:

The ChartControl.ObjectHotTracked or ChartControl.ObjectSelected (WebChartControl.ObjectSelected or ChartControlSettings.ObjectSelected) events occur when you highlight or select chart elements. See the Selection and Highlighting’s API section for more information about how to use these events.

Note

You cannot highlight chart element within the WebChartControl as this requires the server to send a lot of information to a client during callbacks every time the mouse pointer is moved.

Selection Modes

The ChartControl.SelectionMode property value defines whether a user can select series or points (depending on the ChartControl.SeriesSelectionMode property value). When the property value is None (default), a user cannot select a chart element. The ElementSelectionMode enumeration lists all possible selection modes. To enable selection, set the SelectionMode property to one of the following modes:

Mode

Example

Description

Single

selection-mode-single

Only one series element can be selected in a chart at the same time. Click or tap a series element to select it.

Set the ChartControl.SelectionMode property to ElementSelectionMode.Single to enable this mode.

Multiple

selection-mode-multiple

chart-selection-rectangle

You can select multiple series elements simultaneously. Click or tap a series element to select it or to clear the selection.

In this mode, you can also use the Selection Rectangle to select multiple series elements. Move the mouse pointer while the Ctrl key and the left mouse button are pressed to mark the series elements to be selected.

Set the ChartControl.SelectionMode property to ElementSelectionMode.Multiple to enable this mode.

Extended

selection-mode-extended

The Extended mode combines the Single and Multiple selection modes’ behaviors.

  • Click an element to select it.
  • To select/deselect multiple elements, click them while the Ctrl key is pressed.

Set the ChartControl.SelectionMode property to ElementSelectionMode.Extended to enable this mode.

Important

Only series and series points support multiple selection.

Note

The series element’s type depends on the ChartControl.SeriesSelectionMode property’s value. In the animations above, the chart’s SeriesSelectionMode property is set to Point mode. See the Series Selection Modes section for more information.

How to Change Mouse Actions Used to Select/Deselect Chart Items

Use the SelectionOptions.MouseAction property to change the mouse action you use to select/deselect a single item in the Single and Extended selection modes, and add/remove an item from a group of selected items in Multiple mode.

chartControl1.SelectionMode = ElementSelectionMode.Single;
chartControl1.SeriesSelectionMode = SeriesSelectionMode.Point;

XYDiagram diagram = chartControl1.Diagram as XYDiagram;

diagram.SelectionOptions.MouseAction.MouseButton = System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Right;
diagram.SelectionOptions.MouseAction.ModifierKeys = ChartModifierKeys.Control;

To change the mouse action used to add/remove an item from a group of selected items in Extended mode, specify the SelectionOptions.ExtendedModeMouseAction property:

chartControl1.SelectionMode = ElementSelectionMode.Extended;
chartControl1.SeriesSelectionMode = SeriesSelectionMode.Point;

XYDiagram diagram = chartControl1.Diagram as XYDiagram;

diagram.SelectionOptions.ExtendedModeMouseAction.MouseButton = System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Right;
diagram.SelectionOptions.ExtendedModeMouseAction.ModifierKeys = ChartModifierKeys.Alt;

In the Cartesian diagram (XYDiagram), you can use the XYSelectionOptions.RectangleSelectionMouseAction property to specify the mouse action used to invoke the selection rectangle:

chartControl1.SelectionMode = ElementSelectionMode.Multiple;
chartControl1.SeriesSelectionMode = SeriesSelectionMode.Point;

XYDiagram diagram = chartControl1.Diagram as XYDiagram;

diagram.SelectionOptions.RectangleSelectionMouseAction.MouseButton = System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Left;
diagram.SelectionOptions.RectangleSelectionMouseAction.ModifierKeys = ChartModifierKeys.None;

Series Selection Modes

The ChartControl.SeriesSelectionMode property specifies a series element that is selected when you click a series point. The SeriesSelectionMode enumeration contains all possible modes.

Mode

Example

Description

Point

series-selection-mode-point

You can select only one series point at a time.

Set the ChartControl.SeriesSelectionMode property to SeriesSelectionMode.Point to enable this mode.

Argument

series-selection-mode-argument

This mode allows you to select points with the same argument simultaneously.

Set the ChartControl.SeriesSelectionMode property to SeriesSelectionMode.Argument to enable this mode.

Series (default mode)

series-selection-mode-series

In this mode, click a series’s point to select the entire series.

Set the ChartControl.SeriesSelectionMode property to SeriesSelectionMode.Series to enable this mode.

Selection and Highlighting API

The Chart Control’s ObjectHotTracked event

The ChartControl.ObjectHotTracked event allows you to perform specific actions when a user hot-tracks a chart element. You can also use the event to prevent users from highlighting certain chart elements. The following code illustrates how to hot-track only series:

chartControl.ObjectHotTracked += new HotTrackEventHandler(chartControl_ObjectHotTracked);
//...
private void chartControl_ObjectHotTracked(object sender, HotTrackEventArgs e) {
    if (!(e.Object is Series)) {
        e.Cancel = true;
    }
}

The table below lists members you can use to handle the ObjectHotTracked event:

Member Description
ChartControl.ObjectHotTracked Occurs before a chart element is hot-tracked at runtime.
HotTrackEventArgs Provides data for the Chart Control’s ChartControl.ObjectHotTracked and ChartControl.ObjectSelected events.

The Chart Control’s ObjectSelected event

The ChartControl.ObjectSelected event allows you to perform specific actions when a user selects a chart element. You can also use the event to prevent users from selecting certain chart elements. The following code illustrates how to select only series:

chartControl.ObjectSelected += chartControl_ObjectSelected;
//...
private void chartControl_ObjectSelected(object sender, HotTrackEventArgs e) {
    if (!(e.Object is Series)) {
        e.Cancel = true;
    }
}

The following table lists the API members you can use to handle the ObjectSelected event:

Member Description
ChartControl.ObjectSelected Occurs before a chart element is selected at runtime.
HotTrackEventArgs Provides data for the Chart Control’s ChartControl.ObjectSelected and ChartControl.ObjectHotTracked events.

The Chart Control’s SelectedItemsChanging event

The ChartControl.SelectedItemsChanging event occurs before chart elements are selected.

chartControl.SelectedItemsChanging += chartControl_SelectedItemsChanging;
//...
private void chartControl_SelectedItemsChanging(object sender, SelectedItemsChangingEventArgs e) {
      e.Cancel = true;
}

The following table lists the SelectedItemsChanging event-related members:

Member Description
ChartControl.SelectedItemsChanging Occurs before the Chart Control’s selected items collection is changed.
SelectedItemsChangingEventArgs Provides data for the ChartControl.SelectedItemsChanging (WebChartControl.SelectedItemsChanging or ChartControlSettings.SelectedItemsChanging) event.
SelectedItemsChangingEventArgs.Action Gets the action that describes how the selected items’ collection has been changed.
SelectedItemsChangingEventArgs.Cancel Gets or sets the value that identifies whether the selection’s change is canceled.
SelectedItemsChangingEventArgs.OldItems Provides access to previously selected chart elements (series and series points) and business data objects if a Chart Control or a series is bound to a data source.
SelectedItemsChangingEventArgs.NewItems Provides access to a collection of newly selected chart elements (series and series points) and business data objects if a Chart Control or a series is bound to a data source.

The Chart Control’s SelectedItemsChanged event

The ChartControl.SelectedItemsChanged event occurs when a user selects chart items. You can use the ChartControl.SelectedItems property to access the data objects that correspond to the selected series points.

private void pieChart_SelectedItemsChanged(object sender, SelectedItemsChangedEventArgs e) {
    barChart.Series[0].Points.Clear();
    foreach (SeriesPoint piePoint in pieChart.SelectedItems) {
        SeriesPoint barPoint = new SeriesPoint(piePoint.Argument, piePoint.Values[0]);
        barPoint.Tag = pieChart.Series[0].Points.IndexOf(piePoint);
        barChart.Series[0].Points.Add(barPoint);
    }
}

The example above uses the following API members:

Member Description
ChartControl.SelectedItemsChanged Occurs after the Chart Control’s selected items’ collection has been changed.
SelectedItemsChangedEventArgs Provides data for the ChartControl.SelectedItemsChanging (WebChartControl.SelectedItemsChanging or ChartControlSettings.SelectedItemsChanging) event.
ChartControl.SelectedItems Returns the Chart Control’s collection of selected items (chart points, series, or business data objects when the chart is bound to a data source).

How to Change the Selected Items in Code

Use the ChartControl.SetObjectSelection method to specify the selected objects at runtime.

chartControl.SetObjectSelection(chart.Series[seriesIndex].Points[pointIndex]);

Use the ChartControl.ReplaceSelectedItems method to replace the selected items with the specified series or points.

chartControl.SeriesSelectionMode = SeriesSelectionMode.Point;
//...
chartControl.ReplaceSelectedItems(chartControl.Series[seriesIndex].Points[pointIndex]);

The ChartControl.ClearSelection method allows you to deselect all the chart elements at runtime.

chartControl.ClearSelection();

Customize Selected Point Appearance

The following code uses the ChartControl.CustomDrawSeriesPoint event to change the color of selected points:

chartControl1.SelectionMode = ElementSelectionMode.Multiple;
chartControl1.SeriesSelectionMode = SeriesSelectionMode.Point;
chartControl1.CustomDrawSeriesPoint += OnCustomDrawSeriesPoint;
//...
private void OnCustomDrawSeriesPoint(object sender, CustomDrawSeriesPointEventArgs e) {
    if (e.SelectionState == SelectionState.Selected) {
        e.SeriesDrawOptions.Color = Color.Coral;
    }
}
See Also