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Adding Visual Pizzazz

Towercharts are simply grouped barcharts with the bars drawn ‘behind’ each other rather than in groups along the X-axis. They are best used where the visual effect is more important than the readability of the data values, as it is almost impossible to read the ‘height’ values reliably, and it is very likely that in a crowded chart some towers will be completely obscured.

This final chart shows some simple effects with gradient fills which can be used to add that ‘designer’ look to the chart.

For charts rendered as vector graphics (SVG, VML etc) this adds very little to the size of the output file. For images (such as PNG) it will greatly increase the file size as the image compression will find very few areas of solid color.

SharpPlot sp = new SharpPlot;

towers = new int[][]{new int[]{8,7,6},new int[]{12,11,10},new int[]{16,15,14},
         new int[]{21,18,15}};

sp.SetMargins(12,6,18,0);

sp.TowerChartStyle = TowerChartStyles.WallShading|TowerChartStyles.GridLines|
         TowerChartStyles.Plain;
sp.ZAxisStyle = ZAxisStyles.ForceZero;

sp.SetTowerFillStyles(FillStyle.Saturate20,FillStyle.GradientBottomRight,FillStyle.Solid);
sp.SetWallFillStyles(FillStyle.GradientBottomRight,FillStyle.GradientBottomLeft,
         FillStyle.GradientTopLeft);
sp.SetViewpoint(22,15,50);

sp.TowerAspect = 2;
sp.BarEdgeNib = 0;

sp.DrawTowerChart(towers);

Worked Examples

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