How to create Excel box and whisker chart in C#, VB.NET?
This article explains how to create a box and whisker chart in Excel using Syncfusion® Excel (XlsIO) library.
What is a box and whisker chart?
A box and whisker chart shows the distribution of data into quartiles, highlighting the mean and outliers. Box and whisker charts are most commonly used in statistical analysis.
Box and Whisker chart
To create a box and whisker chart in Excel using XlsIO, you need to do the following steps.
Steps to create box and whisker chart:
Step 1: Initialize the chart
Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method and specify the chart type to the ExcelChartType.BoxAndWhisker enum value.
C#
// Create the chart IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add(); // Set chart type to BoxAndWhisker chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.BoxAndWhisker;
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.
C#
// Set region of Chart data chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:D16"]; // 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 and legend with the below list of properties.
- ChartTitle of the chart object.
- Set TRUE to the chart’s HasLegend property, to show the legend.
C#
// Apply chart elements // Set Chart Title chart.ChartTitle = "Box And Whisker Chart"; // Set Legend chart.HasLegend = true; chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
Applicable properties of box and whisker chart
Below is the list of other properties that is applicable for a box and whisker chart.
- GapWidth
- ShowInnerPoints
- ShowOutlierpoints
- ShowMeanMarkers
- ShowMeanLine
- QuartileCalculationNote:
- 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 box and whisker chart.
- As box and whisker chart is introduced in MS Excel 2016, it can’t be viewed in MS Excel 2013 and its earlier versions.
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 box and whisker chart using XlsIO.
C#
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.BoxAndWhisker;
// Assign data
chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:D16"];
chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
// Apply chart elements
// Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "Box And Whisker Chart";
// 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.BoxAndWhisker
'Assign data
chart.DataRange = worksheet("A1:D16")
chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
'Apply chart elements
'Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "Box And Whisker Chart"
'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 box and whisker 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!
