Chart Rendering

Creating Charts

Aspose.Cells APIs support to create a verity of Excel charts as detailed under the topic Creating & Customizing Excel Charts. In order to demonstrate the usage of Aspose.Cells APIs to render the charts in image & PDF format, we will create a chart of type Column as per the following snippet.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-cells/Aspose.Cells-for-Java
// The path to the documents directory.
String dataDir = Utils.getSharedDataDir(CreateChart.class) + "charts/";
// Instantiating a Workbook object
Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
// Obtaining the reference of the first worksheet
WorksheetCollection worksheets = workbook.getWorksheets();
Worksheet sheet = worksheets.get(0);
// Adding some sample value to cells
Cells cells = sheet.getCells();
Cell cell = cells.get("A1");
cell.setValue(50);
cell = cells.get("A2");
cell.setValue(100);
cell = cells.get("A3");
cell.setValue(150);
cell = cells.get("B1");
cell.setValue(4);
cell = cells.get("B2");
cell.setValue(20);
cell = cells.get("B3");
cell.setValue(50);
ChartCollection charts = sheet.getCharts();
// Adding a chart to the worksheet
int chartIndex = charts.add(ChartType.PYRAMID, 5, 0, 15, 5);
Chart chart = charts.get(chartIndex);
// Adding NSeries (chart data source) to the chart ranging from "A1"
// cell to "B3"
SeriesCollection serieses = chart.getNSeries();
serieses.add("A1:B3", true);
// Saving the Excel file
workbook.save(dataDir + "CreateChart_out.xls");
// Print message
System.out.println("Workbook with chart is successfully created.");

Rendering Charts

Aspose.Cells APIs support to convert the Excel Charts to images and PDF formats without requiring any additional tools or applications. In order to provide rendering support, the Chart class has exposed toImage & toPdf methods with a verity of overloads to best suit the application requirements.

Rendering Charts to Images

The Chart.toImage method has a verity of overloads to support simple as well as advanced rendering. If the application requirement is to render the chart in its default dimensions, we suggest you use the Chart.toImage method as follow.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-cells/Aspose.Cells-for-Java
//Converting chart to image
chart.toImage(dataDir + "chart.emf", ImageFormat.getEmf());

It is also possible to render the charts to images with advanced settings. Aspose.Cells APIs have exposed an overload version of Chart.toImage method that could accept an instance of ImageOrPrintOptions while allowing to specify parameters such as resolution, rendering hints, image format and so on.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-cells/Aspose.Cells-for-Java
// The path to the documents directory.
String dataDir = Utils.getSharedDataDir(CreateChart.class) + "charts/";
// Instantiating a Workbook object
Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
// Obtaining the reference of the first worksheet
WorksheetCollection worksheets = workbook.getWorksheets();
Worksheet sheet = worksheets.get(0);
ChartCollection charts = sheet.getCharts();
// Adding a chart to the worksheet
int chartIndex = charts.add(ChartType.PYRAMID, 5, 0, 15, 5);
Chart chart = charts.get(chartIndex);
// Create an instance of ImageOrPrintOptions and set a few properties
ImageOrPrintOptions options = new ImageOrPrintOptions();
options.setVerticalResolution(300);
options.setHorizontalResolution(300);
options.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
options.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_TEXT_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_TEXT_ANTIALIAS_ON);
// Convert chart to image with additional settings
chart.toImage(dataDir + "chart.png", options);

Rendering Chart to PDF

In order to render the chart to PDF format, the Aspose.Cells APIs have exposed the Chart.toPdf method with the ability to store the resultant PDF on disc path or an instance of OutputStream.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-cells/Aspose.Cells-for-Java
//Converting chart to PDF
chart.toPdf(dataDir + "chart.pdf");

Supported Chart Types for Rendering

There are a few chart types that are currently not supported for rendering. Such chart types contain N in the Supported column of below table.

Chart type Chart sub-type Supported
Column Column Y
  ColumnStacked Y
  Column100PercentStacked Y
  Column3DClustered Y
  Column3DStacked Y
  Column3D100PercentStacked Y
  Column3D Y
Bar Bar Y
  BarStacked Y
  Bar100PercentStacked Y
  Bar3DClustered Y
  Bar3DStacked Y
  Bar3D100PercentStacked Y
Line Line Y
  LineStacked Y
  Line100PercentStacked Y
  LineWithDataMarkers Y
  LineStackedWithDataMarkers Y
  Line100PercentStackedWithDataMarkers Y
  Line3D Y
Pie Pie Y
  Pie3D Y
  PiePie Y
  PieExploded Y
  Pie3DExploded Y
  PieBar Y
Scatter Scatter Y
  ScatterConnectedByCurvesWithDataMarker Y
  ScatterConnectedByCurvesWithoutDataMarker Y
  ScatterConnectedByLinesWithDataMarker Y
  ScatterConnectedByLinesWithoutDataMarker Y
Area Area Y
  AreaStacked Y
  Area100PercentStacked Y
  Area3D Y
  Area3DStacked Y
  Area3D100PercentStacked Y
Doughnut Doughnut Y
  DoughnutExploded Y
Radar Radar Y
  RadarWithDataMarkers Y
  RadarFilled Y
Surface Surface3D N
  SurfaceWireframe3D N
  SurfaceContour N
  SurfaceContourWireframe N
Bubble Bubble Y
  Bubble3D N
Stock StockHighLowClose Y
  StockOpenHighLowClose Y
  StockVolumeHighLowClose Y
  StockVolumeOpenHighLowClose Y
Cylinder Cylinder Y
  CylinderStacked Y
  Cylinder100PercentStacked Y
  CylindricalBar Y
  CylindricalBarStacked Y
  CylindricalBar100PercentStacked Y
  CylindricalColumn3D Y
Cone Cone Y
  ConeStacked Y
  Cone100PercentStacked Y
  ConicalBar Y
  ConicalBarStacked Y
  ConicalBar100PercentStacked Y
  ConicalColumn3D Y
Pyramid Pyramid Y
  PyramidStacked Y
  Pyramid100PercentStacked Y
  PyramidBar Y
  PyramidBarStacked Y
  PyramidBar100PercentStacked Y
  PyramidColumn3D Y
BoxWhisker BoxWhisker Y
Funnel Funnel Y
ParetoLine ParetoLine Y
Sunburst Sunburst Y
Treemap Treemap Y
Waterfall Waterfall Y
Histogram Histogram Y
Map Map N

Advance topics

  • Converting Chart to Image in SVG Format
  • Create Chart PDF with Desired Page Size
  • Export Chart to SVG with viewBox attribute