Area Chart

• Jul 14, 2021
• 3 minutes to read

Short Description

The Area Chart is represented by the AreaSeriesView object, which belongs to Area Series Views. This view displays series as filled areas on a diagram, with each data point displayed as a peak or hollow in the area. This view is useful when you need to show trends for several series on the same diagram, and also show the relationship of the parts to the whole.

An Area chart is shown in the image below. Note that this chart type is based upon the XYDiagram, so it can be rotated to show areas either vertically or horizontally.

Chart Type Characteristics

The table below lists the main characteristics of this chart type.

Feature	Value
Series View type	AreaSeriesView
Diagram type	2D-XYDiagram
Number of arguments per series point	1
Number of values per series point	1

Note

For information on which chart types can be combined with the Area Chart, refer to the Series Views Compatibility document.

Example

The following example demonstrates how to create a ChartControl with two series of the AreaSeriesView type, and add this chart to a form at runtime. Before proceeding with this example, create a Windows Forms Application in Visual Studio, and add all required assemblies to the References list of your project.

Then, add the following code to the Form.Load event handler.

C#

using DevExpress.XtraCharts;
// ...

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    // Create a new chart.
    ChartControl areaChart = new ChartControl();

    // Create two area series.
    Series series1 = new Series("Series 1", ViewType.Area);
    Series series2 = new Series("Series 2", ViewType.Area);

    // Add points to them.
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(1, 15));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(2, 18));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(3, 25));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(4, 33));

    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(1, 10));
    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(2, 12));
    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(3, 14));
    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint(4, 17));

    // Add both series to the chart.
    areaChart.Series.AddRange(new Series[] { series1, series2 });

    // Set the numerical argument scale types for the series,
    // as it is qualitative, by default.
    series1.ArgumentScaleType = ScaleType.Numerical;
    series2.ArgumentScaleType = ScaleType.Numerical;

    // Access the view-type-specific options of the series.
    ((AreaSeriesView)series1.View).Transparency = 80;

    // Access the type-specific options of the diagram.
    ((XYDiagram)areaChart.Diagram).EnableAxisXZooming = true;

    // Hide the legend (optional).
    areaChart.Legend.Visible = false;

    // Add the chart to the form.
    areaChart.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
    this.Controls.Add(areaChart);
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.XtraCharts
' ...

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
Handles MyBase.Load
    ' Create a new chart.
    Dim areaChart As New ChartControl()

    ' Create two area series.
    Dim series1 As New Series("Series 1", ViewType.Area)
    Dim series2 As New Series("Series 2", ViewType.Area)

    ' Add points to them.
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(1, 15))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(2, 18))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(3, 25))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(4, 33))

    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(1, 10))
    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(2, 12))
    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(3, 14))
    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint(4, 17))

    ' Add both series to the chart.
    areaChart.Series.AddRange(New Series() { series1, series2 })

    ' Set the numerical argument scale types for the series,
    ' as it is qualitative, by default.
    series1.ArgumentScaleType = ScaleType.Numerical
    series2.ArgumentScaleType = ScaleType.Numerical

    ' Access the view-type-specific options of the series.
    CType(series1.View, AreaSeriesView).Transparency = 80

    ' Access the type-specific options of the diagram.
    CType(areaChart.Diagram, XYDiagram).EnableAxisXZooming = True

    ' Hide the legend (optional).
    areaChart.Legend.Visible = False

    ' Add the chart to the form.
    areaChart.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
    Me.Controls.Add(areaChart)
End Sub

Tip

A complete sample project is available in the DevExpress Code Examples database at https://supportcenter.devexpress.com/ticket/details/e146/how-to-create-an-area-chart.