Render charts on the server side

[Petar]

Hi there,

We use Telerik charts as part of our Silverlight application.

We would now like add a feature that exports multiple charts to PowerPoint, PDF, etc. in an automated way, at certain time intervals.

Is there some way to get the same Telerik charts generated /rendered on the server side?

I’m not sure if it’s possible to get XAML working on the server, and whether there this can be done withTelerik.

Thanks,
Pete

[Yavor]

Hello Pete,

RadCartesianChart can be rendered outside the visual tree with no problem. Take a look at this code:

private RadCartesianChart CreateChart(Size size)
{
    RadCartesianChart chart = new RadCartesianChart();
    chart.HorizontalAxis = new CategoricalAxis();
    chart.VerticalAxis = new LinearAxis();
    BarSeries series = new BarSeries();
    series.DataPoints.Add(new Telerik.Charting.CategoricalDataPoint() { Category = "A", Value = 1 });
    series.DataPoints.Add(new Telerik.Charting.CategoricalDataPoint() { Category = "B", Value = 2 });
    series.DataPoints.Add(new Telerik.Charting.CategoricalDataPoint() { Category = "C", Value = 3 });
    chart.Series.Add(series);

    chart.ApplyTemplate();
    chart.Measure(size);
    chart.Arrange(new Rect(size));

    return chart;
}

This will return a bar chart that can be exported as a picture easily. Here is how:

private Stream Render(FrameworkElement element)
{
    MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
    Telerik.Windows.Media.Imaging.ExportExtensions.ExportToImage(element, ms, new PngBitmapEncoder());
    return ms;
}

Using this code is as easy as:

RadCartesianChart chart = this.CreateChart(new Size(300, 300));
Stream ms = this.Render(chart);
// Do something with this stream

Hope this code gets you started!

Regards,
Yavor
Telerik

[Sudipto]

Hi Yavor,

Does this still work? I am on the current latest version 2016.1.217. I can get your example to compile in a [STAThread] console application with the appropriate dependencies. I can see the background color of the RadCartesianChart change when I set a different color for it, but I cannot see the series plotted out in the exported image.

Thanks and regards.

Sudipto

[Sudipto]

Should have mentioned that I am trying to use the Telerik WPF library rather than the Silverlight one.

[Petar Marchev]

Hi Sudipto,

We have not made any changes to the chart that could negatively affect exporting it. Perhaps you need to do some additional preparation prior to exporting the chart into an image. I am attaching a small project that uses a console application to create and export a chart. You can examine the PrepareElementForExport method.

We prefer to keep separate questions in separate threads, so if you have additional questions, please do open a new ticket.

Regards,
Petar Marchev
Telerik