How to create Excel 3D column chart in C#, VB.NET?

This article explains how to create 3D column chart in Excel using XlsIO.

What is a 3D column chart?

3-D column charts use three axes (horizontal axis, vertical axis and depth axis), and they compare data points along the horizontal and the depth axes. This chart can be used to compare data across both the categories and the data series.

       3D column chart created using XlsIO

To create a 3D column chart in Excel using XlsIO, you need to do the following steps.

Steps to create 3D column chart

1. Initialize chart

Create a chart object by calling the worksheet.Charts.Add method and specify the chart type to ExcelChartType.Column_3D enum value.

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.

3. Apply basic chart elements

Add the basic elements like chart title and legend.

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

4. Apply 3D chart elements

Add the 3D chart elements like Rotation and Elevation.

• Rotation and Elevation of chart object.

Applicable properties for 3D column chart

Below is the list of other common properties applicable for 3D column/bar chart.

1. GapWidth
2. GapDepth
3. BarShapeBase & BarShapeTop (to change the shape of the 3D column / bar)
4. PrimarySerieAxis  (Depth Axis)

NOTE: Applying properties apart from the mentioned 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 XlsIO, please refer the documentation.

The following C#/ VB.NET complete code snippet shows the creation of 3D column chart using XlsIO.

C#

VB