In this issue:
Articles
- Drilling Down in SharePoint
- World War II Timeline demo
- Pharmaceutical dashboard demo
- Dundas Chart Builder download
- Grouping Values Together
Features
Next month:
- Re-binding from one data source to another
- … and lots more!
Editor's Note: So busy!
Another busy month (things don't seem to slow down, which is a good thing!), with new releases, betas, and a couple of cool new demos showing off Dundas's products in digital dashboards.
Let's get on with the newsletter!
Looking for digital dashboard resources?
Dundas is proud to be a sponsor of Dashboard Insight, a new online magazine focused on everything related to the digital dashboard industry. We see Dashboard Insight as a comprehensive online destination designed to be the paramount resource for all decision makers in the industry. It offers informative articles, expert interviews, the latest news and much more - posted regularly, in a well-organized, highly navigable library. So check out the instructive articles from Dundas staff.
New releases!
Dundas Chart for .NET 6.0.0.1722 and Dundas Chart for .NET - OLAP Services 6.0.0.1723 are now available! Check out the list of new features (for .NET and OLAP) and give you sales rep a call today.
By the time you read this, Dundas Chart for SharePoint 1.5 will be available! This new version of Chart for SharePoint adds features from Chart for .NET 6.0 (released last month!), data binding callbacks, data manipulation features and more! We're also offering a Dundas Dashboard Bundle for SharePoint (with Chart and Gauge) for everyone who wants to take advantage of both products.
Feedback
Got something you'd like to see in the technical newsletter? Send us your ideas or join the Support Forum!
Updates
The What trust level is required for Dundas Chart for ASP.NET? article received some very minor updates this month.
We accidentally included references to some unreleased code in the Drill-down with Dundas Chart for Reporting Services article. While this might have been interesting (and we'll be telling you more about it soon), it also prevented people from using the reports included in the article. The downloads have been updated, but no changes were required in the article text.
- Chris Herborth
Articles
Drilling Down in SharePoint
A useful feature of dashboards is the ability to click on a data point to see more detailed figures that make up its value. For example, on a pie chart with a slice for each country you might be able to click to be shown a chart with values for different regions within that country. This article describes the steps to accomplish this with SharePoint.
World War II Timeline demo
Wondering what sort of things you can accomplish with Dundas Chart? Check out the World War II Timeline demo. It makes innovative use of Dundas Chart to present a detailed timeline of events during World War II. You can easily filter the events by each side of the conflict (Axis and Allies), and you can click to see events from each year of the war (1939 through 1945).
Pharmaceutical dashboard demo
By combining Dundas Chart and Dundas Gauge, you can easily make powerful dashboards for any situation requiring clarity of presentation and easy navigation through information. The Pharmaceutical Dashboard demo shows you several ways of keeping tabs on a hypothetical drug testing project, letting you easily compare the cost and effectiveness of various drugs.
Dundas Chart Builder download
Dundas Chart Builder is available within the Dundas Chart 6.0 for ASP.NET and Windows Forms Enterprise installs, but you can download it and use it with the Professional Edition of Chart 6.0, as well as the SharePoint and Reporting Services versions. Note that this isn't a standalone chart application, it's designed to create templates for Dundas Chart.
Grouping Data Together
A useful piece of functionality in Dundas Chart is to group data together and aggregate their values. For example, if you have more than one value for a given category and would like them grouped together, you can take the sum (total), average, minimum, maximum, first, last or count of all of the values in the category.
Jump back to the Table of Contents.
Add-ons
Each month we publish two (or more!) add-ons, classes and code that you can mix in with your own code to get more out of your Dundas products! These add-ons include full source code for the add-on class and sample code demonstrating what it does and how to use it.
Note: Only one add-on for you this month; we're doing something special with add-ons… you'll find out more soon!
Clone a Chart Series
Have you ever needed to make a duplicate of an existing Series in Dundas Chart while preserving all of its properties? This add-on makes it an easy one-liner.
Jump back to the Table of Contents.
Chart
Get more out of Dundas Chart in your applications.
Featured Sample
The Point and Figure Chart Type sample displays a Point and Figure Financial Chart in the Dundas Chart Samples Environment (under Financial Charting → Price Change Financial Charts → Point and Figure Chart). This demo lets you see a Point and Figure chart in action and tweak the box size (which can be a floating point value, a percentage or "Default"), and reversal amount.
Featured Property
The AnimationStartTime property (which is available only in the Enterprise edition of Chart for ASP.NET) lets you specify the time, in seconds, when a Chart's animation will begin after the page loads.
Tips
Tips and tricks for using Chart.
- Sorting Data in Dundas Chart
- There are some situations where your data points must be sorted in Dundas Chart, but the data source does not provide the data in order. For example, if you have unsorted data with a line chart you can see the line go back and forth across the chart, or if you are using the Chart.DataManipulator.Group() method the points must be sorted. Fortunately, Dundas Chart for .NET (all editions) and Dundas Chart for SharePoint provide sorting functionality built-in.
- Download Dundas Chart Builder
- The Dundas Chart Builder is a powerful new tool included with the Enterprise editions of Chart 6.0. You can, however, download the Chart Builder for use with the Professional editions by following this link.
Questions & Answers
You've got questions about Chart, we've got answers!
- Q. Why can't I use OLE DB or ODBC drivers on my 64-bit machine?
- A. Some OLE DB and ODBC drivers are available for 64-bit versions of Windows, however Microsoft's Jet drivers for connecting to Microsoft Excel and Access data source files are not.
Jump back to the Table of Contents.
Gauge
Get more out of Dundas Gauge in your applications.
Featured Sample
The Car Dashboard sample (under Gauge Applications → Car Dashboard) demonstrates using the Gauge as a dynamic car dashboard. A single data source is used to populate several elements, and the odometer is controlled by calculating the integral of the velocity data.
Featured Property
The AutoLayout property determines if the location and size of all circular and linear gauges in the GaugeContainer are to be calculated automatically for the best fit. The default is true.
Tips
Tips and tricks for using Gauge.
- SharePoint Bundle
- If you're interested in using Dundas Gauge for SharePoint, and want to take advantage of Dundas Chart for SharePoint as well, you can get the Dundas Dashboard Bundle for SharePoint, which contains both Chart and Gauge.
Questions & Answers
You've got questions about Gauge, we've got answers!
- Q. Why can't I use OLE DB or ODBC drivers on my 64-bit machine?
- A. Some OLE DB and ODBC drivers are available for 64-bit versions of Windows, however Microsoft's Jet drivers for connecting to Microsoft Excel and Access data source files are not.
Jump back to the Table of Contents.
Map
Get more out of Dundas Map in your applications.
Featured Sample
The Regions of France sample (under Map Applications → Regions of France) displays a map of France and the surrounding countries, and demonstrates how different layouts can be made visible at different zoom levels. As you zoom in, the Regions layer will color France's provinces, then each province will be divided up as the Departments layer comes into view.
Featured Property
The Attributes property, inherited from the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebControl class, gets the attribute collection of the control. These are the attributes declared in the opening tag of the web control. Note that most web browsers will ignore unknown attributes, but strict browsers and validators will display errors.
Tips
Tips and tricks for using Map.
- Using Dundas Map in a Report with RDL Code
- Although it is possible to edit a Reporting Services RDL file to add (or modify) a Dundas control such as Map, we do not recommend it. This article provides some tips and tricks for the adventurous Reporting Services developer.
Questions & Answers
You've got questions about Map, we've got answers!
- Q. I've subscribed to the technical newsletter, why don't I get it?
- A. If you've subscribed to the Dundas Technical Newsletter and aren't getting it in your email every month (usually near the end of the month), there are a couple of possibilities.