How to create Excel 3D stacked area chart in C#, VB.NET?
This article explains how to create a 3D stacked area chart in Excel using the Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library.
What is a 3D stacked area chart?
3D stacked area charts are useful to show the trend of the contribution of each value over time or other category data, but they show areas in a 3D format without using a depth axis.
3D Stacked Area Chart
To create a 3D stacked area chart in Excel using XlsIO, you need to do the following steps.
Steps to create a 3D stacked area chart:
Step 1: Initialize chart
Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method and specify the chart type to the ExcelChartType.Area_Stacked_3D enum value.
C#
// Create the chart IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add(); // Set chart type to Area_Stacked_3D chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Area_Stacked_3D;
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:D6"]; // Set chart series in columns for the assigned data region chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
Step 3: Apply basic chart elements
Add the basic elements like chart title and legend.
- 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 = "3D Stacked Area Chart"; // Set Legend chart.HasLegend = true; chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
Step 4: Apply 3D chart elements
Add the 3D chart elements like Rotation, Elevation, and Perspective.
- Rotation, Elevation, and Perspective of the chart object.
C#
//Set Rotation, Elevation, and Perspective chart.Rotation = 20; chart.Elevation = 15; chart.Perspective = 15;
Applicable properties for 3D stacked area chart
Common properties applicable for 3D stacked area charts are:
- GapDepth
- IsVarycolor (This property holds good for single series charts)Note:
Applying other properties apart from the mentioned properties might throw exceptions or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because those properties are not related to 3D area charts.
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 3D stacked area 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.Area_Stacked_3D;
//Assign data
chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:D6"];
chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
//Apply chart elements
//Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "3D Stacked Area Chart";
//Set Legend
chart.HasLegend = true;
chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
//Set Rotation, Elevation, and Perspective
chart.Rotation = 20;
chart.Elevation = 15;
chart.Perspective = 15;
//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.Area_Stacked_3D
'Assign data
chart.DataRange = worksheet("A1:D6")
chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
'Apply chart elements
'Set Chart Title
chart.ChartTitle = "3D Stacked Area Chart"
'Set Legend
chart.HasLegend = True
chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom
'Set Rotation, Elevation, and Perspective
chart.Rotation = 20
chart.Elevation = 15
chart.Perspective = 15
'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)
End Using
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed learning about how to create a 3D stacked area chart in Excel using the Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library.
You can refer to our XlsIO’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 or feedback portal. We are always happy to assist you!
