winforms-datavisualization .Net 8

Rought porting to .Net5 --> .Net8 of dotnet/winforms-datavisualization project and the sample solution as well.

Data Visualization

This repository contains partial source code of the System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization namespace that provides charting for WinForms. Microsoft ported and open sourced those components to enable charting features for WinForms applications that are developed on .NET Core 3.

I've made the porting to .Net 5 then to .Net 8:

• updating references
• updating project files
• moving deprecated controls like ContextMenu, MenuItems to new ones (ContextMenuStrip, ToolStripMenuItems) and relative methods
• ...

Application Running .Net (not FW):

Points of Interest

Removed controls starting with .Net Core 3.1

Starting with .NET Core 3.1, various Windows Forms controls are no longer available. Replacement controls that have better design and support were introduced in .NET Framework 2.0. The deprecated controls were previously removed from designer toolboxes but were still available to be used (source).

The following types are no longer available:

ContextMenu DataGrid DataGrid.HitTestType DataGridBoolColumn DataGridCell DataGridColumnStyle DataGridLineStyle DataGridParentRowsLabelStyle DataGridPreferredColumnWidthTypeConverter DataGridTableStyle DataGridTextBox DataGridTextBoxColumn GridColumnStylesCollection GridTablesFactory GridTableStylesCollection IDataGridEditingService IMenuEditorService MainMenu Menu Menu.MenuItemCollection MenuItem ToolBar ToolBarAppearance ToolBarButton ToolBar.ToolBarButtonCollection ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs ToolBarButtonStyle ToolBarTextAlign

RECOMMENDED ACTION

That's what has been performed on the project.

References

The original port to .Net Core 3.0 used very old and still in Beta/Preview references:

and moving away from them was a bit tricky, now they're all actualized:

In a future release, maybe the use of System.Data.SqlClient should be avoided ...

CSProj

The CSProj files were also modified according to the new target / Platform (Windows):

Original (Relavant Portion):

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
    <AssemblyName>System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization</AssemblyName>
    <AllowUnsafeBlocks>true</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
    <CLSCompliant>false</CLSCompliant>
    <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);618</NoWarn>
    <DefineConstants>$(DefineConstants);WINFORMS_CONTROL</DefineConstants>
    <!-- <Win32Manifest>Resources\System\Windows\Forms\XPThemes.manifest</Win32Manifest> -->
  </PropertyGroup>

Ported Version (Relavant Portion):

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFrameworks>net7.0-windows</TargetFrameworks>
    <AssemblyName>System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization</AssemblyName>
    <AllowUnsafeBlocks>true</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
    <CLSCompliant>false</CLSCompliant>
    <NoWarn>$(NoWarn);618</NoWarn>
    <UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms>
    <ImportWindowsDesktopTargets>true</ImportWindowsDesktopTargets>
    <DefineConstants>$(DefineConstants);WINFORMS_CONTROL</DefineConstants>
  </PropertyGroup>

You have to pay attention to this directive<UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms>:

The UseWindowsForms property controls whether or not your application is built to target Windows Forms.

This property alters the MSBuild pipeline to correctly process a Windows Forms project and related files. The default value is false. Set the UseWindowsForms property to true to enable Windows Forms support. You can only target the Windows platform when this setting is enabled (source).

Getting started with Chart Controls

The best way to learn about Chart Controls is by looking at the sample solution where via interactive experience with the app you can learn about every chart type and every major feature. While modifying the control parameters and instantly seeing how that affects the look of the control, you can also get the generated C# or Visual Basic code to use in your apps.

With the sample project you can see every property and parameters in action:

and then copy the relavant portion of the code (C# or VB.Net):

History

8th April 2021: Initial Porting to .Net 5

6th December 2021: Porting to .Net 6

14th November 2022: Porting to .Net 7

15th November 2023: Porting to .Net 8

Hope this helps!