Diagramming for WinForms, V6.1

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MindFusion has released a new version of its Diagramming component for WinForms. It contains mostly customer requested features. Here are the details:

Support for Mono

You can use now the Diagramming component under the Mono runtime for OSX or Linux. You don’t have to use a different assembly under Mono – a single version of the mindfusion.* assemblies can be referenced by both Mono and Microsoft .NET applications. The control detects the runtime that has loaded it and provides alternative implementations for features that are currently missing from Mono.

FlowChart.NET in Mono

FlowChart.NET in Mono

Custom measure units

The type of the Diagram.MeasureUnit property has been changed from System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit enum to MindFusion.Diagramming.MeasureUnit class. This class lets you define custom units by specifying their dots-per inch resolution, a string name, and number of standard divisions for display in the Ruler control.

The Ruler control

The Ruler control

Shape control points

You can now parameterize Shape formulas by associating control points with Shape objects. Each control point is passed to the shape script as a named variable. Apart from the name, you can specify the default, min and max coordinates for each parameter, and whether to treat its values as percents or fixed offset. Here is an example:
http://mindfusion.dev/Forum/YaBB.pl?num=1376129632

API changes

A trial version of the component is available from this link:

Diagramming for WinForms, V6.1

If you have questions or run into problems using the component you can use the Diagramming for WinForms forum, the help desk or write us at support@mindfusion.dev. Our support team will be pleased to help you.

About MindFusion.Diagramming for WinForms: A programming component that provides any WinForms application with a full set of features for creating and customizing all types of diagrams, flowcharts, schemes, hierarchies, trees, graphs etc. The control provides numerous ways to save and load a diagram, six auxiliary controls and more than 10 automatic graph layout algorithms. Diagram elements include scrollable tables, container nodes, multi-segment arrows, custom diagram item types and many more. Further details here.

Diagramming for WinForms is a royalty-free component, clients get 12 month upgrade subscription when buying a license. The source code is also available for purchase. Visit the buy page for a list with the current license prices.

Diagramming for ASP.NET MVC, V1.6

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MindFusion is pleased to announce a new release of its Diagramming component for ASP.NET MVC. Here is an overview of the new features:

Import of OpenOffice Draw files

You can now import .odg files, created by the OpenOffice Draw vector graphics editor. Various overloads of the Import method can be used to import the OpenOffice drawing into a DiagramDocument, whose pages correspond to the Draw pages or into a single Diagram, whose content is merged from all important pages. The new DrawImporter class supports shapes from the General and Flowchart shape palettes in Draw. For each node and connector shape, the importer creates a matching ShapeNode or DiagramLink object and sets their properties in such manner that the source shape or link is matched as precisely as possible.

ContainerNode Improvements

  • child nodes are now drawn by their containers; when the containers overlap, the children of the lower container do not appear in front of the children of the upper container anymore;
  • you can use the ClipChildren property to specify whether child items are clipped to the container’s boundaries;
  • the ZIndex property does not get automatically updated when new nodes are dropped into a container.
Container Nodes

Container Nodes

PdfExporter Improvements

  • Improved handling of clip regions in custom drawing code
  • PDF shadings now include all colors from a ColorBlend
  • PdfExporter is now thread-safe
The PdfExporter

The PdfExporter

Miscellaneous

More information about the new release is posted at the forum. You can download the trial version of the component from the link below:

Download MindFusion.Diagramming for ASP.NET MVC 1.6

Technical support

Technical support is available at the Diagramming for ASP.NET MVC forum, the help desk, or per e-mail at support@mindfusion.dev. Excellent customer support is one of our top priorities and we try to provide competent and detailed answers to all your questions within hours of receiving them.

About Diagramming for ASP.NET MVC Control: It is a multi-purpose diagramming tool that consists of two parts: a .NET class library running on the server and a client side control implemented in JavaScript. The server side .NET library implements a flow-diagramming object model that lets you define structures such as trees, flowcharts and graphs. Every element in the diagram is easily accessible and the whole diagram is rendered as part of an HTML page by just calling the DiagramView extension method.

On the client the diagram is rendered by a DiagramView JavaScript control that draws its content on an HTML Canvas. The user is able to add nodes and links simply by drawing them with the mouse. There is also a NodeListView control, which lets users create new nodes via drag and drop.

MvcDiagram also supports various automatic layout algorithms that will make every diagram easy to understand and nice to look at. The diagram can also be easily serialized in binary or XML format. Exporting is done in a variety of formats including Pdf, Svg, Visio and more. You can read details about the components at the MvcDiagram features page.

Scatter Line Chart in WinForms with a Custom Legend

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In this post we show you how to build a multi-series scatter chart with a legend and a separator. We use MindFusion.Charting tool for WinForms.

The Data

The properties that specify data in the control are XData and YData. We add three series to each one for the three series that we want to show. Before that, we clear the arrays, to make sure no previously added data shows on the chart:

 lineChart1.XData.Clear();
 lineChart1.XData.Add(new List{3,4,5,6,7,8,9});
 lineChart1.XData.Add(new List{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8});
 lineChart1.XData.Add(new List{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10});

 lineChart1.YData.Clear();
 lineChart1.YData.Add(new List{92, 112, 241, 195, 201, 188, 212});
 lineChart1.YData.Add(new List{512, 480, 321, 491, 460, 320, 298, 241});
 lineChart1.YData.Add(new List { 340, 302, 322, 401, 487, 503, 421, 460, 513, 490 });

Chart Series

We want to show line series with scatters – since this is the default LineType, we don’t have to set anything. In order to customize our series, we add new pens to the ChartPens property. The colors of the scatters are customized with ShapePens and ShapeBrushes. We make the chart pens a bit thicker – 3 pixels.

 lineChart1.ShapeBrushes.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(175, 251, 175)));
 lineChart1.ShapeBrushes.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(176, 224, 230)));
 lineChart1.ShapeBrushes.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(216, 191, 216)));

 lineChart1.ChartPens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(144,238,144), 3.0f));
 lineChart1.ChartPens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(70, 130, 180), 3.0f));
 lineChart1.ChartPens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(186, 85, 211), 3.0f));

 lineChart1.ShapePens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(144, 238, 144)));
 lineChart1.ShapePens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(70, 130, 180)));
 lineChart1.ShapePens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(186, 85, 211)));

Separator Line

We would like to show a separator line that indicates the average value from all chart data. We add a SummaryValue to the SummaryValues collection. Then we customize the summary line by specifying its pen, scatter type and scatter size. We also set the pen and the brush for the scatters. Here is how we do it:

  lineChart1.SummaryPens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(255,69,0), 4.0f);
  lineChart1.SummaryShapeBrushes.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(255,228,225))); 
  lineChart1.SummaryShapePens.Add(new MindFusion.Drawing.Pen(Color.FromArgb(255,69,0));
  lineChart1.SummaryShapes.Add(MindFusion.Charting.Shape.Rhombus);
  lineChart1.SummaryShapeSizes.Add(15.0);
  lineChart1.SummaryValues.Add(MindFusion.Charting.Summary.Average);

Axes Labels

We want to show custom text at the X-axis, so we set XAxisSettings.LabelType to AxisLabelType.CustomText. We use the XLabels property to add the labels. We also add a title with the XAxisSettings.TitleLabel property.

For the Y-axis we want to show the auto scale – we set it with YAxisSettings.MaxValue, YAxisSettings.MinValue and YAxisSettings.AxisDelta. We show ticks on both axes with the MajorTickLength property.

 lineChart1.YAxisSettings.AxisDelta = 50;
 lineChart1.YAxisSettings.MajorTickLength = 2F;
 lineChart1.YAxisSettings.MaxValue = 600;
 lineChart1.YAxisSettings.MinValue = 0;

 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.AxisDelta = 1;
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.LabelType = MindFusion.Charting.AxisLabelType.CustomText;
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MajorTickLength = 5F;
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MaxValue = 11;
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MinValue = 0;
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.TitleLabel = "Year";

The Legend

The labels for the legend are set with the LegendLabels property. The colors are picked automatically from the ChartPens property for each series. We place the legend at the bottom with LegendPosition and increase its offset with LegendOffset. We want the legend in one row, so we set LegendColumns to the count of the labels – 3.

 lineChart1.LegendColumns = 3;
 lineChart1.LegendLabels = new List{"Europe, Asia, North America"};
 lineChart1.LegendOffset = 30f;
 lineChart1.LegendPosition = MindFusion.Charting.Position.Bottom;

Here is a screenshot from the final chart:

Scatter Chart with a Custom Legend

Scatter Chart with a Custom Legend

You can download the sample from this link:

Download Scatter Chart with a Custom Legend Sample

The trial version of MindFusion.Chart for WinForms boasts many different samples, great charting tips and step by step tutorials. You can download it directly from here:

Download MindFusion.Charting for WinForms 3.5 Trial Version

About MindFusion.Charting for WinForms: a professional programming component for WinForms, which lets you create remarkable charts fast and easy. The tool supports all major chart types – line, pie, radar and bar – and numerous variations of them – column, area, bubble, polar, doughnut etc. 3D charts are supported as well.

Charting for WinForms supports a rich user interaction model with features like zoom, hit testing, drill down, mouse dragging and more. You can use delegates to present mathematical functions, undefined values are also acceptable. Values can be data arrays or retrieved through a database.

The appearance of each chart is fully customizable. The control offers strong design-time support with custom collection editors and chart wizards. At your disposal is a set of predefined appearance themes and a theme editor tool. A full list of the features can be read here.

Formula shapes with adjustable parameters in Flowchart.NET

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In this post we’ll show how to create custom formula shapes with adjustable control points. Shape control points are a new feature in version 6.1 of the Flowchart.NET control, which is currently in beta tests. You can download a copy of the beta version from the following link.

https://mindfusion.dev/_beta/DiagWinForms61.zip

A shape formula is defined using a script, which calls one of the following functions to draw the node shape.

MoveTo (x,y) Moves the current position to the specified point without drawing.
LineTo (x,y) Draws a line from the current position to the specified point.
BezierTo (x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3) Draws a Bezier curve from the current position to (x3,y3) using (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) as control points.
ArcTo (x,y,largeArc,clockwiseArc,rx,ry) Draws an arc from the specified point to (x,y) where rx and ry are the ellipse radiuses and the arc flags are boolean values specifying which of the four possible arcs to draw.

For example, the following formula defines a rounded rectangle shape using lines and arcs, and expects to receive a “radius” control point parameter that will control the corner radii:

// a rounded rectangle shape, with an arc at each corner
string roundRect = @"
	r = Min(Width / 2, radius.X);
	MoveTo(r, 0);
	LineTo(Width - r, 0);
	ArcTo(Width, r, false, false, r, r);
	LineTo(Width, Height - r);
	ArcTo(Width - r, Height, false, false, r, r);
	LineTo(r, Height);
	ArcTo(0, Height - r, false, false, r, r);
	LineTo(0, r);
	ArcTo(r, 0, false, false, r, r);
 ";

When creating a Shape instance, we must add a ShapeControlPoint object to it that defines the radius parameter and its constraints. The following code specifies that the default radius is 5, the minimum and maximum values allowed are 1 and 15 respectively, and prevents the control point from moving vertically by setting minY and maxY to 0.

var myRect = new Shape(roundRect, "MyRect");

// add a control point for the 'radius' parameter
myRect.ControlPoints.Add(new ShapeControlPoint(
	"radius", 5, 1, 15, UnitType.Fixed, 0, 0, 0, UnitType.Fixed));

Here is another example that defines an anchor-like shape with two parameters controlling the tips of the anchor arms.

// an anchor shape, with two arcs outlining each anchor arm
string anchor = @"
	r = Width / 3;
	y1 = p1.Y * Height / 100;
	y2 = p2.Y * Height / 100;
	MoveTo(Width / 2, Height);
	MoveTo(Width / 2 + 3, Height - 5);
	ArcTo(Width, y2, false, true, r, r);
	ArcTo(Width / 2 + 3, Height - 10, false, false, r, r);
	LineTo(Width / 2 + 3, 0);
	LineTo(Width / 2 - 3, 0);
	LineTo(Width / 2 - 3, Height - 10);
	ArcTo(0, y1, false, false, r, r);
	ArcTo(Width / 2 - 3, Height - 5, false, true, r, r);
	LineTo(Width / 2, Height);
 ";

var myAnchor = new Shape(anchor, "MyAnchor");

// add control points at the tips of anchor arms
myAnchor.ControlPoints.Add(new ShapeControlPoint(
	"p1", 0, 0, 0, UnitType.Percentage, 55, 50, 80, UnitType.Percentage));
myAnchor.ControlPoints.Add(new ShapeControlPoint(
	"p2", 100, 100, 100, UnitType.Percentage, 55, 50, 80, UnitType.Percentage));

The following diagram contains several nodes displaying the shapes above, with some of the control points moved to different positions.

Some additional functions that you can call from shape scripts are listed below.

PI() Returns the value of PI.
Abs(x) Returns the absolute value of x.
Atn(x) Returns the angle, measured in radians, whose tangent is the specified number.
Cos(x) Returns the cosine of the specified angle.
Acos(x) Returns the angle whose cosine is the specified number.
Exp(x) Returns e raised to the specified power.
Log(x) Returns the natural (base e) logarithm of the specified value.
Pow(x,power) Returns a specified number raised to the specified power.
Sin(x) Returns the sine of the specified angle.
Asin(x) Returns the angle whose sine is the specified number.
Sqrt(x) Returns the square root of a number.
Tan(x) Returns the tangent of the specified angle.
Min(x,y) Returns the smaller of two numbers.
Max(x,y) Returns the larger of two numbers.

The complete sample project is available for download here:
https://mindfusion.dev/_samples/ParamShapes.zip

Enjoy!

MindFusion.Scheduling for Java Swing, V1.1

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MindFusion has released a new version of its scheduling library for Java Swing. Here is an overview of the new features:

Item Effects

You can apply the new Glass and Aero visual effects to all items. If you want to apply an effect, create an instance of one of the effect classes, set up its properties and add the instance to the AwtCalendar.ItemEffects collection. You can choose between two effect types – AeroEffect and GlassEffect. You can add, remove or modify effects at any time and this will reflect immediately on the appearance of the calendar. The Item Effects topic in the library’s documentation gives detailed explanation on how to create and apply visual effects.

Item visual effects

Item visual effects

Custom Grouping

Custom grouping lets you specify secondary resources individually for each primary resource. You an do this with the new customizeGrouping event. You can also apply grouping by the runtime type of the resources, not just the four predefined categories.

Custom grouping of items

Custom grouping of items

New Events

The CalendarListener interface exposes several new events – beginItemDrawing, itemDrawing, endItemDrawing, and filterItem.

Miscellaneous

  • We have fixed a bug where styled item texts did not appear.
  • The getExactDateAt method works more consistently in various scenarios.
  • New setViewport method.

You can read more about the new version at the forum. The trial version is available for immediate download from the link below:

Download Scheduling for Java Swing Library, V1.1 Trial Version

Technical support is available at the Scheduling for Java forum, per e-mail or through the help desk. Providing timely and high-quality technical support to all its clients and evaluators is a priority for MindFusion. We make sure your questions get competent and detailed answers within hours after being posted.

About Scheduling for Java Swing: A programming class library written entirely in Java that lets you build the most sophisticated schedules, calendars and task managers fast and easy. The component boasts a comprehensive feature set that includes custom-typed events, undo/redo functionality, scrolling, tool tips and much more. You can choose among six view styles, which are easy to change and customize. The appearance of each schedule is completely customizable and supports themes, user-assigned mouse cursors and a variety of font, pen and brush options.

A detailed list with the features of the tool is available at the Scheduling for Java Swing features page. The trial version includes a variety of samples and you have plenty of sample code to study. Online documentation with useful tutorials is also available.

The library is royalty-free, source-code is also available. You can see a list of the current prices here. Check the discount page for a list of the available discounts.