Charting Controls

Most of the people I meet have this idea that they have to either buy or find an open source third party component, or (even worse) use flash, when it comes to drawing graphs for a web application or site. So I’m guessing that most people don’t know that the Data Visualization Group within the SQL Server Reporting Services Team has created stand-alone ASP.NET and Windows Forms Chart Controls for the .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, similar to what has been already available as built-in chart functionality in SQL Server Reporting Services 2008.

There are several links to get the “full package” for these free chart controls:

• First, you can download the ASP.NET and Windows Forms Chart Controls for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 here.
• Then download the Language Pack for the Free Microsoft Chart Controls here.
• Download the Microsoft Chart Controls Add-on for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 here. This package provides Visual Studio toolbox integration and IntelliSense for the ASP.NET and Windows Forms Chart controls.
• Last but not least, download the documentation and API for the free ASP.NET and Winform Chart Controls here.

You can also check-out some samples for the Microsoft Chart Controls as well as discuss them in the forums.