How to create sunburst chart in Word document using C# .NET Core?

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Syncfusion® Essential® DocIO is a .NET Core Word library used to create, read, and edit Word documents programmatically without Microsoft Word or Interop dependencies. Using this library, you can create a sunburst chart in a Word document in C#.

What is a sunburst chart

A sunburst chart is a type of hierarchical chart that displays data in a circular format, showing relationships between categories and subcategories. It's especially useful for visualizing multi-level data, like organizational structures, file directories, or nested categories.

Sunburst chart in Word document

Steps to create a sunburst chart in a Word document:

Step 1: Initialize the chart

Create a chart object by calling the paragraph.AppendChart(446, 270) method and specify the chart type to the OfficeChartType.SunBurst enum value.

// Create and append the chart to the paragraph.
WChart chart = paragraph.AppendChart(446, 270);
// Set chart type.
chart.ChartType = OfficeChartType.SunBurst;

Step 2: Assign data and chart elements

Add the basic elements like the chart title, data labels and legend.

Assign data.
ChartTitle of the chart object.
Set DataLabels using the DefaultDataPoint.
Set TRUE to the chart's HasLegend property to show the legend; else FALSE.

// Set region of chart data.
chart.DataRange = chart.ChartData[2, 1, 16, 4];
 
// Apply the chart elements.
//cSet a chart title.
chart.ChartTitle = "Sales by Annual - Sunburst Chart";
 
// Set DataLabels.
IOfficeChartSerie serie = chart.Series[0];
serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
 
// Set legend.
chart.HasLegend = true;
chart.Legend.Position = OfficeLegendPosition.Bottom;

Applicable properties for sunburst chart

Below is a list of other common properties applicable for sunburst chart:

Data Range
Legend Position
Note:
Applying properties apart from the mentioned list might throw an exception, or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because those properties are not related to pie charts.

The following C# code sample shows the creation of a sunburst chart using the Word library:

// Create a new Word document.
using (WordDocument document = new WordDocument())
{
    // Add a section & a paragraph to the document.
    IWSection section = document.AddSection();
    IWParagraph paragraph = section.AddParagraph();    // Create and append Sunburst chart to the paragraph.
    WChart chart = paragraph.AppendChart(446, 270);
    chart.ChartType = OfficeChartType.SunBurst;
    // Set chart title.
    chart.ChartTitle = "Sales by Annual - Sunburst Chart";
    // Set headers.
    chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 1, "Quarter");
    chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 2, "Month");
    chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 3, "Week");
    chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 4, "Sales");
    // Add data rows.
    string[,] data = {
    {"1st", "Jan", "", "3.5"},
    {"1st", "Feb", "Week 1", "1.2"},
    {"1st", "Feb", "Week 2", "0.8"},
    {"1st", "Feb", "Week 3", "0.6"},
    {"1st", "Feb", "Week 4", "0.5"},
    {"1st", "Mar", "", "1.7"},
    {"2nd", "Apr", "", "1.1"},
    {"2nd", "May", "", "0.8"},
    {"2nd", "Jun", "", "0.8"},
    {"3rd", "Jul", "", "1"},
    {"3rd", "Aug", "", "0.7"},
    {"3rd", "Sep", "", "0.9"},
    {"4th", "Oct", "", "2"},
    {"4th", "Nov", "", "2"},
    {"4th", "Dec", "", "2"}
};
     for (int i = 0; i < data.GetLength(0); i++)
    {
        chart.ChartData.SetValue(i + 2, 1, data[i, 0]);
        chart.ChartData.SetValue(i + 2, 2, data[i, 1]);
        chart.ChartData.SetValue(i + 2, 3, data[i, 2]);
        chart.ChartData.SetValue(i + 2, 4, float.Parse(data[i, 3]));
    }
    // Set data range and hierarchy.
    chart.DataRange = chart.ChartData[2, 1, data.GetLength(0) + 1, 4];
    // Set DataLabels.
    IOfficeChartSerie serie = chart.Series[0];
    serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
    // Set legend.
    chart.HasLegend = true;
    chart.Legend.Position = OfficeLegendPosition.Bottom;
    // Create a file stream.
    using (FileStream outputFileStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath(@"../../../Sample.docx"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite))
    {
        // Save the Word document to the file stream.
        document.Save(outputFileStream, FormatType.Docx);
    }
}

A complete working sample of how to create a sunburst chart in a Word document in C# can be downloaded from GitHub.

Take a moment to peruse the documentation, where you can find basic Word document processing options along with features like mail merge, merge and split documents, find and replace text in the Word document, protect the Word documents, and most importantly, PDF and image conversions with code examples.

Explore more about the rich set of Syncfusion® Word Framework features and an online example to create a chart in a Word document.