Chart Control Extension

Note: this is a beta version and can be subject to changes.

The Chart Control Extension is taken from my upcoming book "Visual Studio LightSwitch Unleashed".

The goal of the Chart Control Extension is building charts based on any collection. You need a data collection exposing a property that you want to show on the X Axis (the Legend) and a property that you want to use as the Y Axis (the chart). The extension adds specific properties to the LightSwitch designer so that you do not need to write code:

• Chart Title: the title for the chart
• X Axis: the property for the legend (e.g. ProductName)
• Y Axis: the property to draw the chart (e.g. UnitPrice)

Once you install the extension you simply enable it in the Application Designer's Extensions tabs, next you use it in screens that expose a data collection such as Search screens or Editable Grid screens. This short video explains how to create a chart based on the Products table from the Northwind database and how you can make changes at runtime via the Immediate Customization feature:

The chart controls rely on the Silverlight 4 Toolkit. Your feedback is appreciated and will be considered to improve the code, just remember that this is a beta version and changes might occur in the code that ships with the book.