How to programmatically create a chart in SharePoint?

Question

I need to create a chart based on items from a list dynamically in a webpart...

Answer 1

It's not programmatically, but a good start is using the chart webpart that is delivered with SharePoint 2010. For a guide on how to use it:

http://www.dotnetmafia.com/blogs/dotnettipoftheday/archive/2010/02/24/impress-the-boss-with-the-sharepoint-2010-chart-web-part.aspx.

If that isn't enough, you can use some of the following options

• Reporting services
• BI stuff from sharepoint
• implement asp.net charting controls yourself in a custom webpart.

Answer 2

If you can use scripts instead of code, you could use the Google Visualization API. I have done it for minor stuff, and have to say it does the job.

http://code.google.com/intl/no/apis/chart/

I'll give you an example you could build on just in case its a valid option to use in your scenario:

<script src="https://www.google.com/jsapi" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">

google.load('visualization', '1.0', {'packages':['corechart']});

ExecuteOrDelayUntilScriptLoaded(Initialize, "sp.js");
function Initialize()
{
var clientContext = new SP.ClientContext.get_current();
var web = clientContext.get_web();
var list = web.get_lists().getByTitle("KPI Master");
var camlQuery = new SP.CamlQuery();
var q = '<View></View>';
camlQuery.set_viewXml(q);
this.listItems = list.getItems(camlQuery);
clientContext.load(listItems);

clientContext.executeQueryAsync(Function.createDelegate(this, this.onListItemsLoadSuccess), Function.createDelegate(this, this.onQueryFailed));
}
function onListItemsLoadSuccess(sender, args) {

    var dataNC = new google.visualization.DataTable();
    dataNC.addColumn('string', 'CPI');
    dataNC.addColumn('number', 'Count');

    var options = {'title':'A title',
                      'width':400,
                      'height':300};


    var listEnumerator = this.listItems.get_count();

    for (x = 0; x < listEnumerator; x++)
    {
    var item = this.listItems.itemAt(x);
    var title = item.get_item('Title');

    dataNC.addRow([title, listEnumerator]);
    }
    var chart = new google.visualization.PieChart(document.getElementById('chart_div'));
    chart.draw(dataNC, options);


}

function onQueryFailed(sender, args) {
    alert('request failed ' + args.get_message() + '\n' + args.get_stackTrace());
}

</script>

<div id="chart_div" style="width:400; height:300;"></div>

Answer 3

There are many ways to include charts in SharePoint. To get more specific answers you would need to provide more details.

To get you started, here is a lightweight solution that builds pie, bar and column charts:

http://usermanagedsolutions.com/SharePoint-User-Toolkit/Pages/Pie-Bar-Chart-Connector.aspx

It is based on the Google visualization API, like the solution posted by Anders Aune. There are many other similar charting tools you can use: YUI, HighCharts (fee), etc.

In MSS, you have a chart Web Part (Bas Lijten's answer). The charts look nice but are limited in practice (no aggregation for example). You could also consider Excel Services: push your list data to Excel, build the charts, then display them on a SharePoint page.

If you need more advanced analysis, consider SSRS. The upcoming version (2012) is said to have great integration with SharePoint.

Answer 4

I would evaluate an easy-to-setup, JavaScript/jQuery based solution from Alexander Bautz: http://sharepointjavascript.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/spjs-charts-for-sharepoint-v3-x/. The solution uses Google visualization API (but apparently no data gets sent to Google).

Also using the visualization API directly (as Anders Aune proposed) might be a valid alternative.

Using MS Chart Controls in a custom web part might require lots of work as the API does not directly support SP lists and the API may overall feel a bit complex. Also some web.config modifications would be needed. But with this approach you definitely can end up with good looking (png) charts.

Answer 5

Javascript InfoViz tool kit is a GREAT opensource tool. Takes a while to wrap your head around implementation but it is fully javascript enabled. Mine is being run with code in a content editor webpart with html links to the needed javascript/css files.

http://thejit.org/demos/

Answer 6

Google Chart Tools allows also to visualize hierarchical data (org charts).

For more details see my blog post Visualizing organizational charts in SharePoint with Google Chart Tools