How to create the PowerPoint clustered bar chart in C# and VB.NET

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This article explains how to create a clustered bar chart in PowerPoint using Presentation library.

What is a clustered bar chart

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

Create Clustered Bar Chart in Excel

Clustered Bar Chart Created using Presentation library

Steps to create the clustered bar chart using Presentation library

Initialize chart

Create a chart object by calling the slide.Charts.AddChart method and specify the chart type to OfficeChartType.Bar_Clustered enum value.

//Create the chart
IPresentationChart chart = slide.Charts.AddChart(100, 10, 700, 500);
 
//Set chart type to Bar_Clustered
chart.ChartType = OfficeChartType.Bar_Clustered;

Assign data

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

//Set region of chart data
chart.DataRange = chart.ChartData[1, 1, 6, 4];
 
//Set chart series in column for assigned data region
chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;

Apply basic chart elements

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

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

//Apply chart elements
//Set chart title
chart.ChartTitle = "Clustered Bar Chart";
 
//Set Datalabels
IOfficeChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center;
 
//Set legend
chart.HasLegend = true;
chart.Legend.Position = OfficeLegendPosition.Bottom;

Applicable properties of clustered bar chart

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

1. GapWidth (value should be between 0 and 500)

2. Overlap (value should be between -100 and 100)

3. IsVarycolor

NOTE: Applying other properties apart from the previous list may throw exception or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because, those properties are not related to column/bar chart.

Download Complete Sample

To know more about creating charts with various settings using Presentation library, please refer the documentation.

The following C# and VB.NET complete code snippet shows the creation of clustered bar chart using Presentation library.

using Syncfusion.Presentation;
using Syncfusion.OfficeChart;
using System.IO;
 
namespace ChartSample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //Create an instance for PowerPoint
            using (IPresentation pptxDoc = Presentation.Create())
            {
                //Add a blank slide to Presentation
                ISlide slide = pptxDoc.Slides.Add(SlideLayoutType.Blank);
 
                //Adds chart to the slide with position and size
                IPresentationChart chart = slide.Charts.AddChart(100, 10, 700, 500);
                chart.ChartType = OfficeChartType.Bar_Clustered;
 
                //Assign data
                chart.DataRange = chart.ChartData[1, 1, 6, 4];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
 
                //Set data to the chart- RowIndex, columnIndex and data
                SetChartData(chart);
 
                //Apply chart elements
                //Set chart title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Clustered Bar Chart";
 
                //Set Datalabels
                IOfficeChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                IOfficeChartSerie serie2 = chart.Series[1];
                IOfficeChartSerie 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 = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center;
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center;
                serie3.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center;
 
                //Set legend
                chart.HasLegend = true;
                chart.Legend.Position = OfficeLegendPosition.Bottom;
 
                //Saving and closing the presentation
                Stream stream = File.Create("Output.pptx");
                pptxDoc.Save(stream);
            }
        }
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Set the values for the chart
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="chart">Represent the instance of the Presentation chart</param>
        private static void SetChartData(IPresentationChart chart)
        {
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 1, "Fruits");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 1, "Apples");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 1, "Grapes");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 1, "Bananas");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 1, "Oranges");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 1, "Melons");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 2, "Joey");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 2, 5);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 2, 4);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 2, 4);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 2, 2);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 2, 2);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 3, "Mathew");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 3, 3);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 3, 5);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 3, 4);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 3, 1);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 3, 7);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 4, "Peter");
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 4, 2);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 4, 2);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 4, 3);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 4, 5);
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 4, 6);
        }
    }
}

Imports Syncfusion.Presentation
Imports Syncfusion.OfficeChart
Imports System.IO
 
Namespace ChartSample
 
    Class Program
 
        Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
            'Create an instance for PowerPoint
            Dim pptxDoc As IPresentation = Presentation.Create()
            'Add a blank slide to Presentation
            Dim slide As ISlide = pptxDoc.Slides.Add(SlideLayoutType.Blank)
            'Adds chart to the slide with position and size
            Dim chart As IPresentationChart = slide.Charts.AddChart(100, 10, 700, 500)
            chart.ChartType = OfficeChartType.Bar_Clustered
            'Assign data
            chart.DataRange = chart.ChartData(1, 1, 6, 4)
            chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
            'Set data to the chart RowIndex, columnIndex, and data
            Program.SetChartData(chart)
            'Apply chart elements
            'Set chart title
            chart.ChartTitle = "Clustered Bar Chart"
            'Set Datalabels
            Dim serie1 As IOfficeChartSerie = chart.Series(0)
            Dim serie2 As IOfficeChartSerie = chart.Series(1)
            Dim serie3 As IOfficeChartSerie = 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 = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center
            serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center
            serie3.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = OfficeDataLabelPosition.Center
            'Set legend
            chart.HasLegend = True
            chart.Legend.Position = OfficeLegendPosition.Bottom
            'Saving and closing the presentation
            Dim stream As Stream = File.Create("Output.pptx")
            pptxDoc.Save(stream)
        End Sub
 
        ''' <summary>
        ''' Set the values for the chart
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <param name="chart">Represent the instance of the Presentation chart</param>
        Private Shared Sub SetChartData(ByVal chart As IPresentationChart)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 1, "Fruits")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 1, "Apples")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 1, "Grapes")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 1, "Bananas")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 1, "Oranges")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 1, "Melons")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 2, "Joey")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 2, 5)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 2, 4)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 2, 4)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 2, 2)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 2, 2)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 3, "Mathew")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 3, 3)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 3, 5)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 3, 4)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 3, 1)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 3, 7)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(1, 4, "Peter")
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(2, 4, 2)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(3, 4, 2)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(4, 4, 3)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(5, 4, 5)
            chart.ChartData.SetValue(6, 4, 6)
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

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How to create the PowerPoint clustered bar chart in C# and VB.NET

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