I’ve been working on creating custom data-driven charts for use in a new product.  We looked at several options including Microsoft’s free Chart Controls but ultimately decided to go with Dundas Chart because of their excellent customer service and support.  Their product makes it relatively easy to create nice looking charts for ASP.NET pages such as this pie chart.

          'Chart - Total Annual Compensation
          Sub Bind_Chart_TotalAnnualComp() Dim strCEOBaseSalary AsDoubleDim strCEOBonus AsDoubleDim strCEONonEqIncentComp AsDoubleDim strCEOPensionNQDC AsDoubleDim strCEOAllOtherCompensation AsDouble'Create
a connectionDim myConnection AsNew SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("TearSheet_ConnString").ConnectionString) 'Create
the command object, passing in the SQL stringConst strSQL AsString = "p_Chart_TotalAnnualComp"Dim myCommand AsNew SqlCommand(strSQL)
myCommand.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure myCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@id_company",
lblid_company.Text) 'Set the datagrid's datasource to the datareader
and databind myConnection.Open() myCommand.Connection = myConnection Dim myReader As SqlDataReader
= myCommand.ExecuteReader() Dim xValues AsString()
= {"Salary", "Bonus", "Non-Equity
Incentive Comp", "Pension/NQDC Earnings", "All
Other Compensation"} Dim yValues AsNew List(Of Double) With myReader If .HasRows ThenWhile .Read
yValues.Add(Double.Parse(.GetValue(0))) strCEOBaseSalary
= Double.Parse(.GetValue(0)) yValues.Add(Double.Parse(.GetValue(1)))
strCEOBonus = Double.Parse(.GetValue(1)) yValues.Add(Double.Parse(.GetValue(2)))
strCEONonEqIncentComp = Double.Parse(.GetValue(2)) yValues.Add(Double.Parse(.GetValue(3)))
strCEOPensionNQDC = Double.Parse(.GetValue(3)) yValues.Add(Double.Parse(.GetValue(4)))
strCEOAllOtherCompensation = Double.Parse(.GetValue(4)) EndWhileEndIfEndWith Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series("Default").Points.DataBindXY(xValues,
yValues.ToArray()) myConnection.Close() myConnection.Dispose() 'Make
the chart 3D Chart_TotalAnnualComp.ChartAreas("Default").Area3DStyle.Enable3D
= True'Don't let the text in the legend
wrap Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Legends("Default").TextWrapThreshold
= 0 'Chart Title Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Legends("Default").Title
= "Total Annual Compensation"'Add
the series and values for each Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(0).LegendText
= "Salary " & FormatCurrency(strCEOBaseSalary.ToString(),
0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(1).LegendText = "Bonus
" & FormatCurrency(strCEOBonus.ToString(), 0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(2).LegendText
= "Non-Equity Incentive Comp " & FormatCurrency(strCEONonEqIncentComp.ToString(),
0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(3).LegendText = "Pension/NQDC
Earnings " & FormatCurrency(strCEOPensionNQDC.ToString(), 0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(4).LegendText
= "All Other Compensation " & FormatCurrency(strCEOAllOtherCompensation.ToString(),
0) 'Add custom tooltips showing each series value Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(0).ToolTip
= "Salary " & FormatCurrency(strCEOBaseSalary.ToString(),
0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(1).ToolTip = "Bonus
" & FormatCurrency(strCEOBonus.ToString(), 0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(2).ToolTip
= "Non-Equity Incentive Comp " & FormatCurrency(strCEONonEqIncentComp.ToString(),
0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(3).ToolTip = "Pension/NQDC
Earnings " & FormatCurrency(strCEOPensionNQDC.ToString(), 0) Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0).Points(4).ToolTip
= "All Other Compensation " & FormatCurrency(strCEOAllOtherCompensation.ToString(),
0) 'This prevents the values from showing up inside the pie chart Chart_TotalAnnualComp.Series(0)("PieLabelStyle")
= "Disabled"End Sub