How to create Excel clustered column chart in C#, VB.NET?

3 mins read

This article explains how to create a clustered column chart in Excel using Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library.

What is a Clustered column chart?

Clustered column chart plots the data in the discrete vertical rectangles.

To create a clustered column chart using XlsIO, you will need to do the following steps.

Create clustered column chart in Excel

Clustered Column Chart

Steps to create the Clustered Column Chart:

Step 1: Initialize chart

Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method and specify the chart type to ExcelChartType.Column_Clustered enum value.

            //Create the chart
            IChartShape chart = worksheet.Charts.Add();
 
            //Set chart type to Column_Clustered
            chart.ChartType = ExcelChartType.Column_Clustered;

Step 2: 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 = worksheet["A1:C6"];
 
            //Set chart series in column for assigned data region
            chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;

Step 3: Apply basic chart elements

Add the basic elements like chart title, data labels and legend with the below list of properties.

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

            //Set Chart Title
            chart.ChartTitle = "Sales Report in Clustered Column Chart";
 
            //Set Datalabels
            IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
            serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
            serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;            
 
            //Set Legend
            chart.HasLegend = true;
            chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;

Applicable Properties of Clustered Column Chart

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

GapWidth (value should be between 0 and 500)
Overlap (value should be between -100 and 100)
IsVarycolor
Note:
Applying other properties apart from the above list might 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

Download input file with data

To know more about creating charts with various settings using Syncfusion Excel (XlsIO) library, please refer the documentation.

The following C#/ VB.NET complete code snippet shows the creation of clustered column chart using XlsIO.

using System;
using Syncfusion.XlsIO;
using System.Drawing;
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.Column_Clustered;
 
                //Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:C6"];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
 
                //Apply chart elements
                //Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Sales Report in Clustered Column Chart";
 
                //Set Datalabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                IChartSerie serie2 = chart.Series[1];
 
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;
 
                //Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = true;
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom;
 
                //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 System
Imports Syncfusion.XlsIO
Imports System.Drawing
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.Column_Clustered
 
                'Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet("A1:C6")
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
 
                'Apply chart elements
                'Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Sales Report in Clustered Column Chart"
 
                'Set Datalabels
                Dim serie1 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(0)
                Dim serie2 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(1)
 
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside
                serie2.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside
 
                'Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = True
                chart.Legend.Position = ExcelLegendPosition.Bottom
 
                '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

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