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

5 mins read

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

What is a waterfall chart?

A waterfall chart helps to quickly understand the finances of business owners by viewing profit and loss statements. With a waterfall chart, you can quickly illustrate the line items in your financial data and get a clear picture of how each item is impact your bottom line.

Create WaterFall Chart in Excel

Waterfall Chart

To create a waterfall chart in Excel using XlsIO, you need to complete the following steps.

Steps to create a waterfall chart:

Step 1: Initialize the chart

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

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

Step 2: Assign data

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

            // Set region of Chart data
            chart.DataRange = worksheet["A2:B8"];
 
            // 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 below list of properties.

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 = "Waterfall Chart";
 
              // Set Legend
              chart.HasLegend = true;
              chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
              
              // Set DataLabels
              IChartSerie serie = chart.Series[0];
              serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;  
              serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;

Applicable properties of waterfall chart

Below is the list of other properties that is applicable for a waterfall chart.

GapWidth
ShowConnectorLines
SetAsTotal
Note:

1)Applying other properties unrelated to this chart might throw exception or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because those properties are not related to waterfall chart.

2)As the waterfall chart was introduced in MS Excel 2016, it cannot be viewed in MS Excel 2013 and its earlier versions.

Download Complete Sample

Download input file with data

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

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

using Syncfusion.XlsIO;
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.WaterFall;
 
                // Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet["A2:B8"];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
 
                // Apply chart elements
                //Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "WaterFall Chart";
 
                // Set DataLabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;
 
                // 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);
            }
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports Syncfusion.XlsIO
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.WaterFall
 
            'Assign data
            chart.DataRange = worksheet("A2:B8")
            chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
 
            'Apply chart elements
            'Set Chart Title
            chart.ChartTitle = "Waterfall Chart"
            'Set Datalabels
            Dim serie1 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(0)
            serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
            serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside
            '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
            Dim stream As Stream = File.Create("Output.xlsx")
            workbook.SaveAs(stream)
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Take a moment to peruse the documentation where you can find basic Excel document processing options along with the features like import and export data, chart, formulas, conditional formatting, data validation, tables, pivot tables and, protect the Excel documents, and most importantly, the PDF, CSV and Image conversions with code examples.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed learning about How to create Excel waterfall chart in C#, VB.NET.

You can refer to our XIsIO’s feature tour page to learn about its other groundbreaking features. Explore our UG documentation and online demos to understand how to manipulate data in Excel documents.

If you are an existing user, you can access our latest components from the License and Downloads page. For new users, you can try our 30-day free trial to check out XlsIO and other Syncfusion® components.

If you have any queries or require clarification, please let us know in the comments below or contact us through our support forums, Support Tickets, or feedback portal. We are always happy to assist you!

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