Q: I want to build a line chart where each line represents a time period. Each line must be parallel to the X-axis and the axis shows time stamps.

A: You can use the capabilities of the control to handle DateTime values in order to set the necessary time data. First, you must configure the X-axis to show DateTime values. In the sample code we set the X-axis to show 10 days between February, 8th and February 18th.

 //set the start and end dates for the axis.
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MinValue = new DateTime(2013, 2, 8).ToOADate();
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MaxValue = new DateTime(2013, 2, 18).ToOADate();

 //the axis will have 10 intervals
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.Interval =
 (lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MaxValue - lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MinValue) / 10;
 //format the labels
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.LabelFormat = "MM-dd-yy";
 //tell the control this will be DateTime values
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.ValueFormat = ValueFormat.DateTime;

 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.LabelType = LabelType.AutoScale;

Then you must add the correct data for the chart. You have three options to add DateTime values – as DateTime values, converted to ToOADate or converted to long. We have chosen to convert the values to long:

 LineSeries series0 = new LineSeries();

 //create the necessary DateTime values
 DateTime d1 = new DateTime(2013, 2, 9);
 DateTime d2 = new DateTime(2013, 2, 12);

 //convert them to long numbers
 series0.XData = new List { d1.Ticks, d2.Ticks };
 series0.YData = new List { 6, 6 };
 //make the line thicker
 series0.StrokeThickness = 4;
 //add a red brush
 series0.Fills = new List();
 series0.Fills.Add(new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red));

 //set the start and end dates for the axis.
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MinValue = new DateTime(2013, 2, 8).ToOADate();
 lineChart1.XAxisSettings.MaxValue = new DateTime(2013, 2, 18).ToOADate();
lineChart1.Series.Add(series0);

Here we create a LineSeries that is drawn parallel to the X-axis at the height of 6.