Chart Pro Beta 3 Evaluation Available (8/31/2010)

Will the charts component be part of the MFC/ActiveX suites or a seperate product ?

Fantastic!

thanks for your hard work guys!

Now everyone can stop pestering these good people about when it will be out :)

Congratulations CodeJock team, and well done! So far things are looking good.

Big question I have right now is how to print a chart. Is this coming in a future beta release, or is it possible now and just not seeing it?

Also, any plans to allow export of chart to image format (bmp, jpg, png, etc.)?

The new charts look nice

a few requests:

• dynamic values - changing values, inserting/removing data points etc
  
• mouse interaction (to enable dragging data points, like a point on the spline)
  
• polar projection plots

If this is already possible some samples showing of these features would be really nice

What I'm most interested in is when I can buy it and use it in a commercial product.

I don't have a need for a vast number of flashy graph and chart types, just a few basic ones, but my requirements are

a) that they look good
b) source code
c) dynamic (ability to change and re-render)
d) ability to render to my own DC (for export to PDF, GIF, printing etc).
e) that they look good
f) that they look good

About a year ago I did a fairly extensive review of all the libraries I could find. We're talking about MFC here remember guys? Sure there are several great .Net libraries but...

Of all the C++ or MFC-compatible ones I found, they all either looked horrible (ugly charts with GDI only), or were IMHO poorly designed bloated and buggy. Usually both.

So we shouldn't underestimate the appeal of a simple, clean, good-looking chart. Even just the demos look a lot better than any other MFC chart library I found. It's good to have people with an eye for detail and aesthetics working at CodeJock.

So, I'm very happy with the beta. Every new product has to start somewhere. I think the current set of charts is very usable for a lot of people, and I hope that it's commercially a success for CJ and that it earns continued development.

Cheers

Adrien

Pie 3D Chart and Doughnut crashes in G400ICD.DLL (Matrox G400) with an access violation.

I agree with jbpro. It looks hot but I need this additions:

Drawing it to an arbitrary DC to fill an arbitrary RECT or at least exporting as BMP? This is critical for me too, since I need to be able to export my charts to PDF and put several chart onto one report.

What's about 'Missing values' I should have some sort of AddMissingValue(). That's important for line- and Bezier graphs.

Mouse events and HitTest method

I see also there are 2 different rendering engines in there.

One thing to keep in mind. OpenGL won't run on Terminal Services / remote desktop. GDI+ will.

This is because OpenGL support is dependent on video driver and hardware support.

So I'm not going to be using any OpenGL-based chart types, since many customers run our software over TS

Bye bye BCGsoft!

Looks nice but I would need to know if it will be possible for the user to trim down the feature set to make it much smaller and remove all opengl dependencies.

jpbro wrote: So far, I like what I see, but I have a few questions:Can you set colours individually for series? Can you turn off the gradient for pie slices? Are Nature, Black and Gray the only "appearances" Can we show Legend text in the label? For example, instead of just showing 5 million for the population and 1950 in the legend, can we show: 1950 5 million in the label? Can we print the chart? Especially, can we draw it to an arbitrary DC to fill an arbitrary RECT? This is critical for me, since I need to be able to export my charts to PDF. Can we change the font for individual Title objects? Can we set the Margin (esp. bottom margin) for the Title objects? When resizing the control, sometimes the labels overlap the legend, titles, or extend past the edge of the visible area. Should the chart area not shrink to ensure that everything is visible? Can we dynamically change point values? I tried the SetValue method of the ChartSeriesPoint object, but it didn't work. What are the ArgumentValue, ArgumentValueString and InternalArgumentValue properties? Some requests for future development: Can we have Mouse* events and HitTest method? Can we have hyperlinks? Can we have Markup Labels Thanks again for all of your hard work!

Hi, thanks for your questions, here are some answers for you:

1. Currently not in this release, however in future releases you will be able to design and load user defined Palettes.
2. Currently not in this release.
3. Yes, we will be adding more in future releases.
4. We are planning on adding this in future releases.
5. No, but that is next on our list.
6. No, but we will add it.
7. No, but we will add it.
8. We are aware of this and it will be fixed in the next release.
9. Yes, it is possible.  SetValue will do something different based on the type of point that was added.
   The first param in SetValue is an array of 4 values, 0,1,2,3.
   For most standard charts like Pie, point, bar and spline only the first index 0 is used.
   Pie,Spline,Bar,etc: 0-value of point
   For advanced charts like financial and bubble more of the values are use.
   Financial: 0-low, 1-high, 2-open, 3-close
   Bubble: 0-value(can be thought of as x coordinate), 1-value (can be thought of as y coordinate), 2-area\width
               
   example
   ChartControl.Content.Series(0).Points(1).SetValue 0, 20
10. ArgumentValue is the value passed into the point when it is added.  For coordinate based
    charts this is the x value.  This value is treated differently based of the current ArgumentScaleType.
    If set to cjChartScaleQualitative then the value is treated as text.
    ArgumentValueString is a "string" equivalent to the ArgumentValue.
    InternalArgumentValue is the double value corresponding to the string argument of the point.

About your feature requests:

1. Yes, we can add this.
2. Yes, we can add this.
3. Yes, we can add this.

Regards,

markr wrote: Is it possible to create a vertically oriented bar chart that is capable of scrolling?

No not with this version, but we have added it to our TODO list.

zaksoft wrote: I agree with scottp: look nice .   But: - Without printing support is useless (who wants just to see a chart ?) - Export ( png - jpeg ) is mandatory. Not just a wnd capture since files can be printed later at higher resolution - 3D bars ( Horz - Vert ) and (generally) 3D with viewpoint are standard for all chart package (donuts is the only 3D I've seen in samples) - Realtime charting with scrolling and rewiding can be added in future, but data update (as someone wrote) is a common problem   A roadmap ( other betas, release date and future feature - ) and product policy (separate product or included in toolkit pro) can help us.   As a standalone chart package cannot compete (with current set of styles and feature) with the majority of existing product- The plus is graphic integration, source code availability (I think - as for all your tools), support-   There is a lot of work to do, your plan on future developement can effect my choice.   Again: look nice.

Hi, thanks for the feedback.  We are planning on adding all of the features you mention. Additionally, this is a preliminary release we are planning on making the Chart a complete fully functional professional package that includes support for most chart types by the years end including 3D ones you mention.

ABuenger wrote: Pie 3D Chart and Doughnut crashes in G400ICD.DLL (Matrox G400) with an access violation.

Can you provide steps to reproduce this?  Need Windows and Visual Studio version also, thanks!

ABuenger wrote: I need virtual data series where a callback method returns the values for the data points. Otherwise the chart can not be used for real time data. Could you please add a sample with random real time data.

Thanks for your comments, we will add this also.  Please remember this is a preliminary, beta release.

adrien wrote: I see also there are 2 different rendering engines in there. One thing to keep in mind. OpenGL won't run on Terminal Services / remote desktop. GDI+ will. This is because OpenGL support is dependent on video driver and hardware support. So I'm not going to be using any OpenGL-based chart types, since many customers run our software over TS

Good point, we will address this before the final version is released.  We agree that a basic GDI version is needed as well as GDI+ and OpenGL.

Marco1 wrote: Wow! Very impressive! I like the your designed look! I know, it's just beta, but a hint about the features/intentions would be really helpful: - The roadmap! (First release date, production stable) - List of chart types (where are the 3D bars?) - Pricing (or included in TKPro?) - Printing (own DC rendering, pdf-generation) And btw, I agree with Adrien: Standard GDI+ is often more helpful than OpenGL, but nice idea to provide both. Keep going! Marco

We will put together a more detailed roadmap soon.  The roadmap will include all of the features we are planing on incorporating.  By the next beta release we should have something more detailed.

Excellent responses. Very encouraging!  :-)

SuperMario wrote: Fabian wrote: I agree with jbpro. It looks hot but I need this additions:   Drawing it to an arbitrary DC to fill an arbitrary RECT or at least exporting as BMP? This is critical for me too, since I need to be able to export my charts to PDF and put several chart onto one report. What's about 'Missing values' I should have some sort of AddMissingValue(). That's important for line- and Bezier graphs. Mouse events and HitTest method And very important: It should be possible to colorize each element (bar, bubble) in a series e.g. if you have a given color for each product group or employees you wisch to show the same color in the diagram. Probably it is possible but I found no way to do that.   Thanks, keep good working. 1. We will add 2. AddMissingValue - Do you have more details on what this is? 3. We will add 4. About the only way to do this right now is to organize your data in the same order that the pallete assigns colors.

Missin Value: Something like database NULL values to have leaks in data series (e.g. no data available)

SuperMario wrote: Fabian wrote: I agree with jbpro. It looks hot but I need this additions:   Drawing it to an arbitrary DC to fill an arbitrary RECT or at least exporting as BMP? This is critical for me too, since I need to be able to export my charts to PDF and put several chart onto one report. What's about 'Missing values' I should have some sort of AddMissingValue(). That's important for line- and Bezier graphs. Mouse events and HitTest method And very important: It should be possible to colorize each element (bar, bubble) in a series e.g. if you have a given color for each product group or employees you wisch to show the same color in the diagram. Probably it is possible but I found no way to do that.   Thanks, keep good working. 1. We will add 2. AddMissingValue - Do you have more details on what this is? 3. We will add 4. About the only way to do this right now is to organize your data in the same order that the pallete assigns colors.

Support wrote: ABuenger wrote: Who had the idea to use the prefix CCJ* (i.e. CCJChartSeriesPoint) for the classes? Not making the chart control part of the XTP was a poor decision. Actually the CCJ prefix makes perfect sense since it is not part of the Toolkit Pro and is a separate package.  CCJ = Codejock and XTP = Xtreme Toolkit Pro.  We decided on CCJ be cause the chart will eventually become part of a larger suite of dashboard controls.

Hi Kirk,

I understand that this makes sense from the current marketing point of view, but technically it doesn't make sense. I would prefer one common prefix. What happens if the chart control becomes a part of the XTP later? Then we have CXT, CXTP and CCJ prefixes in the toolkit. You already make the same "mistake" with the CXT and CXTP prefix.

Also everybody is asking for markup support. We already have markup support in the XTP. Do you really want to duplicate everything like you already did with many files? (There are copies of XTP files in the chart package)

Here is a solution:

Offer a XTP "Premium" bundle with the XTP + chart.

Xtreme Toolkit Pro
CXTPRibbon
CXTPMarkup
...

Xtreme Toolkit Premium +$100
CXTPRibbon
CXTPMarkup
...
CXTPChart


Xtreme Chart
CXTPMarkup
CXTPChart


This solution is much much better than the current attempt of an individual product.
- Same class prefixes
- No duplication of code
- Existing users can upgrade to "premium" toolkit
- Chart component as a subset of the premium toolkit
- Only 1 license
- Only 1 product to build


Please seriously consider this solution, it is not to late.

Andre

mgampi wrote: First I get a license dialog but then nothing happens. What's wrong?????

You have to click on "Yes"
Just kidding

mgampi wrote: Hi;I found the reason: I've installed UltraMon (<cite>http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon). This prevents the samples from executing correctly. I don't know how, but after disabling the software, it worked.</cite><cite></cite>

That's probably because of OpenGL dependency.

markr wrote: Kirk, do you have a sense of when the next beta might be available? My vote would be to keep additional v1.0 features to a minimum (printing, export, etc.) and leave the rest for v1.x and beyond. That would allow those of us with an immediate need to license the product ASAP and begin using it. Also, would it be possible to eliminate the pop-up warning that appears in the beta package? There are already watermarks on all of the charting images, along with the fact that the trial is set to expire. Removing the pop-up would make early integration efforts much less painful.

Probably not for some time yet, looks like first of May possibly.  We are going to concentrate on core functionality first then move to remaining requests.  We want to get as much feedback on this first release as possible before we release the next Beta.

Aaron wrote: It's wonderful to have charting functionality and the DEMO looks great but it's time concentrate on the issues, especially the ReportControl !!! I'm beginning to get nervous. I need the droparrows so bad but I'm too afraid to upgrade with new version with problems I didn't discover (yet)

We are working on core "Toolkit / Suite" functionality as well, we are working in parallel.

Algae wrote: So "major" release 14.0 essentially contains no new components other than the TrackControl enhancement for the report control and compatibility with VS2010.

No, not at all, as mentioned in a previous post we are planning on adding several new features to Toolkit / Suite 14.0 including full theme support for Office 2010 and Visual Studio 2010 user interfaces. We are also looking to update Application Wizards and introduce some new components as well. This post we are mainly discussing the Chart beta and not Toolkit / Suite, read the title.

Algae wrote: I must say that's a bit of a disappointment considering the preliminary reports on charting being sluggish

This is first release, of course it is not perfect, these issues will be addressed with the next beta.

The Beta will expire soon, when will we see a new Beta?

We are should have the next beta ready by the end of this week, Friday or Saturday.

any news? I didn't found new beta last week end

Hi,

With second beta you promise both price list and roadmap (dashboard, 3d bar, other features) for both realease and next release.

SetExplodedDistancePercent on the 3D Pie style is not working when I called it in the Dialog Sample...

I noticed that the mouse cursor speed is much slower if the Chart window is active. If I active an other window and move the cursor (also over the chart window) everything is normal.

And I have to agree, the chart is currently way too slow.

SuperMario wrote: New beta is available: http://codejock.com/downloads/ 1 New feature Added ChartContent.SaveAsImage to save the chart to an Image file (bmp/png/jpg/gif) 2 New feature Added ChartContent.PrintToDC to print the chart 3 New feature Added ChartContent.EnableMarkup so Markup strings can be used in titles and labels 4 New feature Color property added for Styles and Points 5 New feature Added ChartSeriesPointCollection.DeleteAt and ChartSeriesCollection.DeleteAt to remove a specific Point or Series 6 New feature Added ChartControl.MouseMove, MouseDown and MouseUp events 7 New feature Added ChartControl.HitTest method and ChartElement Object (can hold any type of chart element, point, etc...) 8 Fixing source Improved drawing speed of 3D charts 9 Fixing source Improved label drawing logic 10 New feature Added Margins for Pie style 11 New feature Added Pie Series Labels 12 New feature Added Font property for each series type

a) When will a new Beta be released?
b) When will we be able to purchase the Upgrade so that we can get a Beta with source to start developing

Hi CJ,

also a very fast & cool 3D pie chart control
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/GDI-plus/simplepiechartimproved.aspx

 Jimmy

Please: a roadmap and a gallery!

Hi SuperMario

Well, that looks all nice and dandy on screenshots with only a few data points. But what about all the requested features?

- I don't see scrolling on the screenshots.
- And what about real time charting?
- How much have you improved the performance?
- GDI backend?
- Can I drag datapoints like in Excel?
- Support for dragable time markers?
- Are multiple plots only possible horizontally or also vertically?

Fabian wrote: I think that is a charting component primary intended for business plots, not real time data visualization (IMO).

That's fine for VB line of business apps. But C++/MFC customers have other needs.

Hi,

Bug:
1) ChartBrowser: while resizeing the window, the labels group box is flickering

2) Draw trouble in ChartBrowser: Resize window small than chart title.
    Make window bigger than chart title. ohh, the chart title isn't drawing correct

3) Get Quote in Stock Sample does not work. Proxy server ??

Goods
1) Speed (for 3D) is well

2) Flowgraph look like very well.


  Jimmy

To answer my own questions:

ABuenger wrote: - I don't see scrolling on the screenshots. Not supported - And what about real time charting? Not supported - How much have you improved the performance? Charts are still slow (GDI+ backend) - GDI backend? Not supported - Can I drag datapoints like in Excel? Not supported - Support for dragable time markers? Not supported - Are multiple plots only possible horizontally or also vertically? Supported

Is a 3D surface chart planned?

I'm looking forward to these features being implemented and the performance problem solved.

Resizing the Performance Test dialog of the Flow Graph sample does not work.

The GDI performance of the Flow Graph is good.
GDI+ performance is poor on several graphic cards I tried it.

Hello,

#2 in all chart there is this drawing bug.
  it's the title over the group box

  Jimmy

The PrintToDC method still draws labels an titles much too small (as reported 3 month ago!). Please fix before releasing.

Hello,

I give a try to codejock chart control library because I am searching for one which is MFC compliant...
Your's looks very nice but we find several problems using it...
you could see one of them here


Take the sample demo progam, just modify a value (let's imagine that for one city we've got the population in 2006 and not in 2008). Two problems, 2006 is after 2008 and 2006 should be at the 2006 position between 2000 and 2008 isn't it ? And the space between 2000 and 2008 should not be the same as the space between 1900 and 1950.

Is there any solution for this point ?

Regards

Fabian wrote: The PrintToDC method still draws labels an titles much too small (as reported 3 month ago!). Please fix before releasing.   Fabian

Hi,

Can't find this post, please open new ticket for details.

I miss ChartContent.Print, ChartContent.PrintPreview... like in ChartBuilder

You can create point as
pPoint = pPoints->Add(new CXTPChartSeriesPoint(_T("1/1/1900"), 7268));


But agree that xtpChartScaleDateTime is not finished yet. We need allow set custom format for labels.

• We are concerned that this development take away focus on the Toolkit as well.
• We are concerned that the Chart Pro is not fast and cannot handle millions of data points.
• We only see financial plots, and not scientific surfaces, contours etc.
• We need control, drawing to DC etc.