Telerik blogs

Packed and stacked with a slew of new improvements, the latest official RadControls for WinForms bits come to your account. You download them in anticipation, run your RadChart for WinForms-enabled project against them and ouch… the following message has been prompted :

'Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadChart' is obsolete: 'RadChart is obsolete. Please use RadChartView instead.'

I know that a lot of questions come to your mind at this very moment. “What happens now? What does RadChartView support? How do I upgrade to RadChartView? Can my current RadChart implementation stay in my project?”. The aim of this article is to unveil what the present and future hold for both RadChart and RadChartView.

As a part of the Telerik RadControls toolbox, RadChart for WinForms is a cool component to use, no doubt. However, at the time it was developed, not all functional and visual trends in the UI components in the years to come were foreseen and taken into consideration. Due to user demand for a high-performing feature-rich charting solution, we decided that it is time to redesign this control so that it can deliver on the latest UX and development requirements and leave room for further improvements to come thanks to its flexible architecture.

RadChartView vs. RadChart feature set

For the reasons above, we introduced a brand new chart control that allowed you to give life to your feature request specifications sheet – RadChartView. In its first version, shipped in Q2 2012, RadChartView came with a comprehensive set of features matching most of the capabilities of its predecessor, the RadChart. From that version onwards, we were continuously developing  new features that we shipped with each consecutive release.  Take a glimpse at what value we added to RadChartView in less than an year:

You can also check out the detailed comparison of supported features by RadChart and RadChartView:

Features and functionalities RadChartView  RadChart
DateTime axes  yes  yes
Categorical axes  yes  yes
Polar axes  yes  no
Predefined color palettes (skins)  yes  yes
Tooltips  no*  yes
Distinct series configuration for each series type  yes  no
Chart Legend  yes  yes
Distinct series configuration for each series type  yes  no
Negative values support  yes  yes
Empty (missing) values support  no  yes
Automatic layout adjustment  yes  yes
Multiple Y axes  yes  yes**
Multiple X axes  yes  no
Logarithmic axes  yes  yes, y-axes
Annotations  no  yes, marked zone
Scale breaks  no  yes
Zooming and Scrolling  yes  yes
Additional fine-tuning of the appearance  yes  yes
Selection  yes  yes
Visual designer  yes  yes
Drilldown  yes  yes
Smart labels  yes  yes
Touch support  yes  no
PivotGrid Integration  yes  no
Trackball  yes  no
Export  no  yes

Notes:

  • * RadChartView currently supports only standard Tooltips that cannot be modified. 
  • ** RadChart supports only 1 additional y axis. RadChartView on the other side supports unlimited number of multiple Y and X axes.

Below you may find the complete list of series types available at present (Q1 2013):

Chart type RadChartView  RadChart
 Bar  yes   yse
 Stacked Bar  yes   yes
 Stacked Bar 100%  yes   yes
 Pie  yes   yes
 Point (Scatter)  yes   yes
 Scatter Line  yes   no
 Scatter Point  yes   no
 Line  yes   yes
 Area  yes   yes
 Stacked Area  yes   yes
 Stacked Area 100%  yes   yes
 Spline Area  yes   yes
 Stacked Spline Area 100%  yes   yes
 Bubble  no   yes
 Candlestick  yes   yes
 OHLC stick series  yes   yes
 Gantt  no   yes
 Bezier  no   yes
 Spline  yes   yes
 Polar Line  yes   no
 Polar Point  yes   no
 Polar Area  yes   no
 Polar Line  yes   no
 Radar Point  yes   no
 Radar Area  yes   no

By now, you have probably noticed that RadChartView currently does not cover RadChart’s functionality at 100%. This will change and the requests that we receive from you on daily basis are the driving force behind our planning process.

So what about RadChart? 

Being obsolete, RadChart will not receive any further feature updates or fixes. All requests of this kind will be considered in the context of RadChartView. 

Can I continue using RadChart?

RadChart will remain a part of the suite for backward compatibility, so you can use it as long as you would like. We do not plan to remove it anytime soon. However, all technical questions will be considered in the context of RadChartView. The RadChart documentation will remain a part of our Documentation for a year.

How do I upgrade from RadChart to RadChartView?

Although, serving the same purpose, RadChart and RadChartView are quite different in their architecture, hence API. That said, there is no tool that will convert your RadChart code to RadChartView code. However, you can always rely on our technical support guys to assist you in the transition process. We are looking forward to receiving your feedback in our forums or in the comments section below!

Happy coding!

Download RadControls for WinForms by Telerik


About the Author

Nikolay Diyanov

Diyanov is the Product Manager of the Native Mobile UI division at Progress. Delivering outstanding solutions that make developers' lives easier is his passion and the biggest reward in his work. In his spare time, Nikolay enjoys travelling around the world, hiking, sun-bathing and kite-surfing.

Find him on Twitter @n_diyanov or on LinkedIn.

Related Posts

Comments

Comments are disabled in preview mode.