How to create Excel clustered bar chart in C#, VB.NET?

3 mins read

This article explains how to create a clustered bar chart in Excel using the Syncfusion® Excel (XlsIO) library.

What is a Clustered Bar Chart?

A clustered bar chart plots the data in discrete horizontal rectangles.

To create a clustered bar chart using XlsIO, you will need to follow the steps below.

Create Clustered Bar Chart in Excel

Clustered Bar Chart created using XlsIO

Steps to create the Clustered Bar Chart:

Step 1: Initialize chart

Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method and specify the chart type to ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered enum value.

            // Create the chart
            IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
 
            // Set chart type to Bar_Clustered
            chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered;

Step 2: Assign data

Set a range of data from the worksheet to the chart’s DataRange property. To plot the series values in a column and categories in a row, set the chart’s IsSeriesInRows property to false.

            // Set region of Chart data
            chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:C6"];
 
            // Set chart series in column for assigned data region
            chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;

Step 3: Apply basic chart elements

Add the basic elements like the chart title, data labels and legend with the properties below:

ChartTitle of the chart object.
Set DataLabels via DefaultDataPoint.
Set TRUE to the chart’s HasLegend property, to show the legend.

                // Apply chart elements
                // Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Clustered Bar Chart";
 
                // Set DataLabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center;
 
                // Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = true;
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;

Applicable Properties of Clustered Bar Chart

Below is the list of other common properties that is applicable for a column/bar charts.

GapWidth (value should be between 0 and 500)
Overlap (value should be between -100 and 100)
IsVarycolor
Note:
Applying other properties apart from the above list might throw exceptions or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because those properties are not related to column/bar charts.

Download Complete Sample

Download input file with data

To know more about creating charts with various settings using the Syncfusion® Excel (XlsIO) library, please refer to the documentation.

The following C#/ VB.NET complete code snippet shows the creation of a clustered bar chart using XlsIO.

using System;
using Syncfusion.XlsIO;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;
namespace ChartSample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine())
            {
                IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
                application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Excel2016;
 
                // Open existing workbook with data entered
                Assembly assembly = typeof(Program).GetTypeInfo().Assembly;
                Stream fileStream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("ChartSample.InputTemplate.xlsx");
                IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileStream);
                IWorksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
 
                // Initialize chart
                IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
                chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered;
 
                // Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:D6"];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
 
                // Apply chart elements
                // Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Clustered Bar Chart";
 
                // Set DataLabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                IChartSerie serie2 = chart.Series[1];
                IChartSerie serie3 = chart.Series[2];
 
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie3.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center;
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center;
                serie3.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center;
 
                // Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = true;
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
 
                // Positioning the chart in the worksheet
                chart.TopRow = 8;
                chart.LeftColumn = 1;
                chart.BottomRow = 23;
                chart.RightColumn = 8;
 
                // Saving and closing the workbook
                Stream stream = File.Create("Output.xlsx");
                workbook.SaveAs(stream);
                workbook.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports System
Imports Syncfusion.XlsIO
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.IO
 
Namespace ChartSample
 
    Class Program
 
        Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
            Using excelEngine As ExcelEngine = New ExcelEngine()
                Dim application As IApplication = excelEngine.Excel
                application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Excel2016
 
 
                'Open existing workbook with data entered
                Dim assembly As Assembly = GetType(Program).GetTypeInfo().Assembly
                Dim fileStream As Stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("ChartSample.InputTemplate.xlsx")
                Dim workbook As IWorkbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileStream)
                Dim worksheet As IWorksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)
 
                'Initialize chart
                Dim chart As IChartShape = worksheet.Charts.Add()
                chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Bar_Clustered
 
                'Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet("A1:D6")
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
 
 
                'Apply chart elements
                'Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Clustered Bar Chart"
 
                'Set DataLabels
                Dim serie1 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(0)
                Dim serie2 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(1)
                Dim serie3 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(2)
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
                serie3.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center
                serie3.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Center
 
                'Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = True
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom
 
                'Positioning chart in the worksheet
                chart.TopRow = 8
                chart.LeftColumn = 1
                chart.BottomRow = 23
                chart.RightColumn = 8
 
                'Saving and closing the workbook
                Dim stream As Stream = File.Create("Output.xlsx")
                workbook.SaveAs(stream)
                workbook.Close()
            End Using
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Note:

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Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed learning about how to create Excel clustered bar chart in C#, VB.NET.

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