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

3 mins read

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

What is a histogram chart?

Histogram shows the frequencies within a distribution. Each column of the chart is called a bin, which can be changed further to analyze the data.

Create Histogram Chart in Excel

Histogram Chart

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

Steps to create histogram chart:

Step 1: Initialize chart

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

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

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:A15"];
 
            //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.

              //Apply chart elements
              //Set Chart Title
              chart.ChartTitle = "Histogram Chart";
 
              //Set Legend
              chart.HasLegend = false;
              
              //Set Datalabels
              IChartSerie serie = chart.Series[0];
              serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;  
              serie.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;

Applicable properties of histogram chart

Below is the list of other properties that is applicable for a histogram chart.

GapWidth
IsBinningByCategory
HasAutomaticBins
BinWidth
NumberOfBins
OverflowBinValue
UnderflowBinValue
Note:
1. Applying other properties unrelated to this chart might throw exception or the changes will not be reflected in the output document because those properties are not related to histogram chart.
2. As histogram chart is introduced in MS Excel 2016, it can’t be viewed in MS Excel 2013 and its earlier versions.

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 histogram chart using XlsIO.

using Syncfusion.XlsIO;
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.Histogram;
 
                //Assign data
                chart.DataRange = worksheet["A1:A15"];
                chart.IsSeriesInRows = false;
                chart.PrimaryCategoryAxis.BinWidth = 5;
 
                //Apply chart elements
                //Set Chart Title
                chart.ChartTitle = "Histogram Chart";
 
                //Set Datalabels
                IChartSerie serie1 = chart.Series[0];
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = true;
                serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside;
                serie1.SerieFormat.CommonSerieOptions.GapWidth = 5;
 
                //Set Legend
                chart.HasLegend = false;
 
                //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 Syncfusion.XlsIO
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. Histogram
 
            'Assign data
            chart.DataRange = worksheet("A1:A15")
            chart.IsSeriesInRows = False
            chart.PrimaryCategoryAxis.BinWidth = 5
 
            'Apply chart elements
            'Set Chart Title
            chart.ChartTitle = "Histogram Chart"
            'Set Datalabels
            Dim serie1 As IChartSerie = chart.Series(0)
            serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.IsValue = True
            serie1.DataPoints.DefaultDataPoint.DataLabels.Position = ExcelDataLabelPosition.Outside
            serie1.SerieFormat.CommonSerieOptions.GapWidth = 5
 
            'Set Legend
            chart.HasLegend = False
 
            'Positioning the 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 Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

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