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Charting for WPF, V1.9

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MindFusion is pleased to announce a new release of Charting for WPF programming component. Here is an overview of the new features:

Real-time Chart
The RealTimeChart control is optimized to render animated line chart graphics of large amounts of data. That’s implemented by moving already rendered elements from the WPF visual tree to a cache bitmap, relying that new data is added incrementally rather than changing coordinates of old data points. The library also offers various customization options for the chart – scatters, multiple legends, multiple Y and Y2 axes, custom labels, tooltips, grid.

The real time chart.

The real time chart.

3D Charts

  • All 3D charts now support unlimited number of series.
  • New property Lights holds a collection of Light objects instead of the LightType property.
  • Detailed hit testing, which returns a ChartHitTestResult3D that contains the clicked 3D point, the normalized 3D point, a collection of chart elements (if found), and the nearest peak (in surface charts).
  • AllowMeshSelection property, which when enabled allows selection of mesh objects with a mouse click.
  • The MeshSelectionBrush sets the brush for the selection.
  • Behavior3D property, which lets you choose how the chart responds to mouse interactions.
  • Improved performance for all chart types.

Surface Charts

  • SurfaceType property, which sets whether scatters or surface is drawn.
  • SurfaceSeries.GroundLevelMargin property, which sets the GroundLevel-offset.
  • Each Series3D can be clipped in a given range with the ClipMinimum and ClipMaximum properties.
  • TextureType property sets the texture of the chart – Brush or ColorMap.
  • New ColorMapList property, which sets a Color map with arbitrary colors and offsets.
  • CloseModelFigure property, which closes the sides of the model if enabled.
A surface chart

A surface chart

Miscellaneous

  • ShowCrossHair renders a cross hair that will trace the mouse position over the plot area.
  • Enable the LineSeries.Curve property to draws lines as canonical splines.

You can read further details about the release and the other new features at the news section in the Charting forum. A trial version is available for download from here:

Download MindFusion.Charting for WPF 1.9 Trial Version

You are welcome to contact us with any questions, problems or inquiries about the Charting for Wpf control or any other of our products. MindFusion has always put special emphasis on providing excellent customer support and we usually answer your inquiries in a few hours of receiving them.

About MindFusion.Charting for Wpf: A programming component that combines powerful charting capabilities with an elegant API and easy use. Among the features of the control are fully customizable grid, positive and negative values on all chart axes, 3D charts, gauges and many more – read a detailed list here.

The control provides detailed documentation and various samples that demonstrate how to customize every type of chart. It supports a wide range of 2D and 3D charts including bar, line, radar, bubble pie etc. You can add tooltips, define themes, perform hit testing, zoom and more.

MindFusion.Pack for ASP.NET, V2014.R2

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MindFusion has released ASP.NET Pack 2014.R2. Here is a list of the new features:

diagram16x16MindFusion.Diagramming for WebForms

SVG nodes in Canvas mode
The new SvgNode class represents nodes that can display SVG drawings. The class renders SVG graphics instead of Image, and on top of the geometry rendered by the base ShapeNode class. You can specify the SVG drawing of the node through its Content property.

Importing of diagrams from SVG
The new SvgImporter class lets you import Scalable Vector Graphics files (*.svg) into MindFusion.Diagramming. Each top-level SVG group element is imported as a separate SvgNode, whose Content is set to the group’s child elements.

Tree map layout
Tree maps represent hierarchies by nesting child nodes within their parents, where the areas of leaf nodes are proportional to their Weight values. Unlike other layout algorithms, TreeMapLayout expects hierarchies to be defined via grouping or containment (see AttachTo method and ContainerNode class), and will ignore any links in the diagram. The diagram area covered by the topmost nodes in a hierarchy is specified via the LayoutArea property. By default, the layout tries to keep the ratio of node sides as close as possible to one.

The tree map layout.

The tree map layout.

Decision flowchart layout
DecisionLayout arranges simple flowcharts consisting of decision boxes with up to three outgoing links per node and activity boxes with a single outgoing link per node. The nodes are arranged in columns and rows, whose distance depends on the HorizontalPadding and VerticalPadding property values. When links share the same row or column, they are placed at a distance specified via LinkPadding. The layout arranges nodes recursively starting from StartNode.

The decision flowchart layout.

The decision flowchart layout.

Node list control
The NodeListView is a listbox control that can host any type of DiagramNode -derived objects. You can drag nodes from the NodeListView control onto the DiagramView canvas, and when you drop them a clone of the selected node is created at the mouse pointer position. NodeListView is supported in ImageMap and Canvas modes.

Resize multiple nodes
You can now resize multiple selected nodes simultaneously. To enable that, set the AllowMultipleResize property to true. Then you can drag a corner or side adjustment handle of any node to resize all nodes in the selection.

Multiple selection of nodes.

Resize of multiple nodes.

Canvas mode improvements

  • You can now use undo and redo. Call setUndoEnabled on client side to start tracking changes. Call undo or redo methods to restore diagram state. Actions cannot be undone after postback.
  • You can apply animations to diagram elements. You can use the Animation JavaScript class to animate values of various properties of nodes and links. Detailed overview is available in the Animations topic.
  • Clipboard support; call the copyToClipboard, cutToClipboard and pasteFromClipboard methods to
    copy or paste selected items.
  • The swimlane grid is now rendered in Canvas mode.
  • The magnifier tool is now supported in Canvas mode.
  • ModificationStart, AutoResize and AutoScroll properties now work in Canvas mode.
  • and much more – see the full list here.

Intellisense support
The package now includes a MindFusion.Diagramming-vsdoc.js file providing code completion information for the Canvas mode JavaScript API. To load it in Visual Studio, add a /// tag to the top of your script files. Use the static Diagram.findDiagram method instead of $find to let Visual Studio infer the type of returned Diagram objects correctly.

Export Visio 2013 files
The Visio2013Exporter class can export the content of Diagram and DiagramDocument objects to Visio 2013 VSDX files. In order to use it, you must first add a reference to the MindFusion.Diagramming.Export.Visio.dll assembly. Currently the exporter supports shapes from Visio basic stencil.

Visio2013Importer improvements

  • The importer now supports Visio group shapes. Child shapes in groups are no longer lost when
    importing, and their corresponding diagram nodes are attached to the corresponding group node.
  • Visio NURBS curves are now imported as Bezier-style links.
  • Fix for importing connectors with applied rotation transform.
  • Shapes with a ‘hidden’ attribute in master definition are now imported as invisible items.
  • And much more – read the list here.

Headers and footers in PDF
In PdfExporter you can now add headers and footers to exported pages. To specify their contents and font, set the HeaderFormat, HeaderFont, FooterFormat and FooterFont properties. Adding a %P placeholder to HeaderFormat or FooterFormat will render the current page number at its position.

The PdfExporter

The PdfExporter

Miscellaneous

  • OrthogonalLayout no longer ignores repeating links, and will now place them at a distance specified via RepeatingLinksPadding property.
  • The Brush property of LinkLabel class lets you set background color for link labels.
  • The ChangeUnit method sets a new MeasureUnit and rescales the coordinates of diagram items to
    keep them the same size.
  • Layout algorithms now automatically resize diagram’s Bounds if it’s not large enough to fit the
    arranged content. To revert to old behavior and keep fixed Bounds size, set GrowToFit to false.

The trial version is available for download from this link:

Download MindFusion Pack for WebForms, 2014.R2

About MindFusion.WebForms Pack: A set of WebForms components that add great variety of features to your ASP.NET application with a few mouse clicks. The pack contains advanced components for diagramming, scheduling, charting and UI (Accordion, ColorPicker, TabControl, Window, WindowHost, DockControl, Button, Slideshow, Zoom and more). Each tool boasts easy to learn and use API and is quickly integrated into any web application that targets the ASP.NET platform. The controls support numerous options for styling, data import / export, user interaction and offer rich event set. There are plenty of samples and step-by-step tutorials as well detailed documentation.

Use the features page for each of the tools to find out more about its capabilities and the numerous ways it can boost your performance and speed up the development of your application:

Visit the buy page for details on the licensing scheme and prices. If you have questions please contact us. We shall be happy to assist you.

Diagramming for Windows Forms, V6.3 Released

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MindFusion has released a new version of Diagramming for WinForms with the following new features:

Map nodes
The new MapNode class represents nodes that can render geographical maps. At this time map nodes can display the content of an Esri shapefile files. The content of a map file is represented by an instance of the MapContent class that should be assigned to the Content property of a MapNode. When the map is associated with a DBF database file, map regions can display labels – further details here.

Map nodes

Map nodes

Import diagrams from SVG
The SvgImporter class allows importing Scalable Vector Graphics files (*.svg) into MindFusion.Diagramming. Each top-level SVG group element is imported as a separate SvgNode, whose Content is set to the group’s child elements.

Visio2013Exporter improvements

  • Support for multi-segment links
  • Bezier links are now exported as NURBS lines
  • Support for rotated nodes
  • Proper scale for all MeasureUnit values
  • Support for semi-transparent colors
It is easy to import a diagram from Visio.

Import from Visio.

Miscellaneous

  • You can now set the AutoGrow property to false to prevent containers from resizing automatically
    when they would not fit newly added nodes.
  • The Brush property of LinkLabel class lets you set background color for link labels.
  • Now the NodeModified event is raised after the undo record for that modification has been added to the command history. This makes it easier to merge the ModifyItemCmd with custom commands created from NodeModified handler.
  • and more – read the full list here.

You can read further details about this release at the news page in the Diagramming for WinForms forum. You can download the trial version from the link below:

Diagramming for WinForms, V6.3

If you have questions or run into problems using the component you can use the Diagramming for WinForms forum, the help desk or write us at support@mindfusion.eu. Our support team will be pleased to help you.

About MindFusion.Diagramming for WinForms: A programming component that provides any WinForms application with a full set of features for creating and customizing all types of diagrams, flowcharts, schemes, hierarchies, trees, graphs etc. The control provides numerous ways to save and load a diagram, six auxiliary controls and more than 12 automatic graph layout algorithms. Diagram elements include scrollable tables, container nodes, multi-segment arrows, custom diagram item types and many more. Further
details here.

Diagramming for WinForms is a royalty-free component, clients get 12 month upgrade subscription when buying a license. The source code is also available for purchase. Visit the buy page for a list with the current license prices.

Diagramming for Android, V1.1 Beta

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MindFusion has just released a beta version of its Diagramming for Android library. Here is an overview of the new features:

Tree map layout
Tree maps represent hierarchies by nesting child nodes within their parents, where the areas of leaf nodes are proportional to their Weight values. Unlike other layout algorithms, TreeMapLayout expects hierarchies to be defined via grouping or containment (see AttachTo method and ContainerNode class), and will ignore any links in the diagram. The diagram area covered by the topmost nodes in a hierarchy is specified via the LayoutArea property. By default, the layout tries to keep the ratio of node sides as close as possible to one.

The tree map layout.

The tree map layout.

Decision flowchart layout
DecisionLayout arranges simple flowcharts consisting of decision boxes with up to three outgoing links per node and activity boxes with a single outgoing link per node. The nodes are arranged in columns and rows, whose distance depends on the HorizontalPadding and VerticalPadding property values. When links share the same row or column, they are placed at a distance specified via LinkPadding. The layout arranges nodes recursively starting from StartNode.

The decision flowchart layout.

The decision flowchart layout.

Composite nodes
The CompositeNode class implements nodes whose appearance can be defined via composition of components and layout containers. You can load the content of a composite node from XML files similar to .NET Xaml templates and Android XML layouts. This initial release includes layout containers such as StackPanel and GridPanel, and read-only components like ImageComponent, TextComponent, ShapeComponent, BorderComponent. Future versions will add interactive components like buttons and text editors.

Resize multiple nodes
Now you can resize multiple selected nodes simultaneously. To enable that, set the AllowMultipleResize property to true. When enabled, dragging a corner or side adjustment handle of any node resizes all nodes in the selection. The operation will be cancelled for all nodes if any of them does not accept its new size, e.g. if it’s smaller than minimum allowed node size.

Binary serialization
Use the new saveTo and loadFrom methods, which implement serialization using Java Serializable interface. In addition, saveToString now creates base64-encoded string from a byte stream containing the binary-serialized form of the diagram. Binary format requires less memory and is much faster to process, which makes it more suitable for saving the diagram as part of Android Activity state.

Miscellaneous

  • Layout algorithms now automatically resize diagram’s Bounds if it’s not large enough to fit the
    arranged content.
  • LinkLabels are now copied by DiagramLink copy constructor and clipboard methods.

The new version is available for download from the following link:

Download Diagramming for Android, V1.1 Beta

If you require technical support, please use the forum or write us at support@mindfusion.eu. A help desk is also available. Providing fast and competent technical support is among the priorities of MindFusion. We answer most support inquiries within hours of receiving them.

About Diagramming for Android: A native Java class library, which provides your Android application with a powerful set of features for creating, customizing and displaying flowcharts, genealogy trees, class hierarchies, networks, algorithms and much more. The component offers a rich choice of predefined shapes, many pen and brush options as well HTML-like formatting of text. Diagram nodes can hold text as well images, can be semi-transparent and support glass reflection effects. The component offers various automatic layout algorithms and a rich user interaction model, which supports zoom, scroll, alignment guides and more. You can read the features list at the features web page of the component. For pricing and licenses check this link.

Diagramming for JavaScript, V2.1

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MindFusion has just released a beta version of the Diagramming for JavaScript library.

SVG Nodes
The SvgNode class represents nodes that can display SVG drawings. SVG graphics are rendered instead of Image, and on top of the geometry rendered by the base ShapeNode class. You can enable the Transparent property to hide the node’s geometry and leave visible only the drawing.

SVG Nodes built with MindFusion.Diagramming for JavaScript.

SVG Nodes built with MindFusion.Diagramming for JavaScript.

jQuery support
You can now use jQuery for browser abstraction instead of Microsoft Ajax. To enable jQuery support, set MindFusionImpl=”JQuery” before loading the diagram script. Instead of Microsoft Ajax $create function, use the static Diagram.create(element) method to create a Diagram instance for a given Canvas element.

Miscellaneous

  • Set the BackgroundImageUrl property to draw an image as Diagram’s background.
  • The TextStyle property of links provides support for several different text position and orientation styles, defined by the LinkTextStyle enumeration.
  • Set the AllowUnconnectedLinks property to true to let users draw links without connecting them
    to nodes.

You can download the trial version directly from the following link:

Download Diagramming for JavaScript, V2.1 Trial Version

We shall be glad to receive any comments, suggestions and feedback. You can write us at e-mail support@mindfusion.eu or use the help desk. You can use the JsDiagram section on MindFusion forum to post questions about the tool.

About Diagramming for JavaScript Library: Written 100% in JavaScript, this tool uses HTML5 Canvas to draw impressive diagrams, schemes, flowcharts, trees and many more. It is browser independent, easy to use and integrate into any web application. JsDiagram supports a variety of predefined node shapes, customizable links, rich event set and many appearance options.

The user interaction model includes resizing / moving / selecting and modifying any diagram element. The tool boasts an elegant API, which is documented in details as well numerous step-by-step guides and tutorials. Various samples are provided to let you learn quickly how to use the most important features of the library – check them here. JsDiagram is not only the perfect choice for creating any type of diagram in the browser – it can also arrange it the way you wish with a mouse click using one of its automatic graph layout algorithms. For more details about the features of the component, please visit the JsDiagram page.