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'Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadChart' is obsolete: 'RadChart is obsolete.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.
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 |
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.