Scale Configurators Overview

In This Topic

Scale configurators allow you to quickly configure a scale without custom programming it. The functionality included in the build-in scale configurators is enough to configure almost any type of standard scale. Practically all the examples shipped with the control use scale configurators only to configure the chart scales.

Each axis has a scale configurator, which is accessible from its ScaleConfigurator property. The following code will obtain a reference to the scale configurator object associated with the primary Y axis of the first chart in the control:

C#	Copy Code
NChart chart = chartControl.Charts[0]; NAxis primaryY = chart.Axis(StandardAxis.PrimaryY); NScaleConfigurator scaleConfigurator = primaryY.ScaleConfigurator;

Visual Basic	Copy Code
Dim chart As NChart = chartControl.Charts(0) Dim primaryY As NAxis = chart.Axis(StandardAxis.PrimaryY) Dim scaleConfigurator As NScaleConfigurator = primaryY.ScaleConfigurator

Scale Configurators Hierarchy

The following diagram illustrates the inheritance chain of the objects that derive from the NScaleConfigurator abstract base class:

figure 1.

The classes in the hierarchy are grouped by the common features they support when applied on a scale. The following list shows the general features present in each configurator:

NScaleConfigurator - is the base of all configurators in the hierarchy and therefore implements only features common for all scales. This includes support for the following features:
- major grid lines
- scale title
- custom value and range labels
- ruler style
- stripes
- scale sections

NStandardScaleConfigurator - base for all common types of scales. Generally scales configured by the conifurators that extend it include the following features:
- support for automatic step determined by a minimum distance or max count criteria
- single level for labels
- minor grid lines
- minor ticks

NNumericScaleConfigirator - this type of scale configurator is the base of the NLinearScaleConfigurator and NLogarithmicScaleConfigurator instantiable classes. They are used when you have to scale numeric data as the name implies. This class implements the following features:
- support for custom step (with double precision)
- support for custom steps (with double precision)
- support for origin value for scale decoration (with double precision)
- support for custom major ticks (with double precision)
- support for custom minor ticks (with double precision)

NLinearScaleConfigurator - this type of scale configurator will create a numeric scale using a linear transform

NLogarithmicScaleConfigurator - this type of scale configurator will create a numeric scale using a logarithmic transform, with controllable log base.

NPriceScaleConfigurator - this type of scale configurator is used in specific charting types like the Kagi and Renko that ignore the time and are used to track price trends.

NOrdinalScaleConfigurator - this type of configurator is used when you have to display ordinal (categorical) data. The class implements the following features:

- support for custom step (with integer precision)
- support custom steps (with integer precision)
- support for origin value for scale decoration (with integer precision)
- support for custom major ticks (with integer precision)
- support for custom minor ticks (with integer precision)

NDateTimeScaleConfigurator - this type of scale configurator provides support for date time scales, date time formatting of automatic labels and Date Time Unit sensitive formatting of automatic labels. The class exposes the following functionality:

- support for custom step (in NDateTimeSpan format)
- support custom steps (in NDateTimeSpan format)
- support for origin value for scale decoration (in DateTime format)
- support for custom major ticks (in DateTime format)
- support for custom minor ticks (in DateTime format)

NTimeSpanScaleConfigurator - this type of scale configurator provides support for time span scales, time span formatting of automatic labels and Time Span Unit sensitive formatting of automatic labels. The class exposes the following functionality:

- support for custom step (in NTimeSpan format)
- support custom steps (in NTimeSpan format)
- support for origin value for scale decoration (in TimeSpan format)
- support for custom major ticks (in TimeSpan format)
- support for custom minor ticks (in TimeSpan format)

NAngularScaleConfigurator - this scale configurator is primarily used in Polar charts and configures the scale for angle scaling. Angle scaling is different from normal linear scaling, because it is cyclic. This requires different algorithms for calculating the scale steps and transformations.

NRangeTimelineScaleConfigurator and NValueTimelineScaleConfigurator - these two classes provide extended date time axis support by allowing you to decorate the axis using several date time units for decoration. This allows the end user to have more precise information of the specific date time events that occur in the date time range displayed by the scale.

NHierarchialScaleConfigurator - this type of scale configurator is primarily used when you want to display grouped categorical (ordinal) data.

Related Examples

Windows Forms: Axes \ Scaling \ Date Time Scale

Windows Forms: Axes \ Scaling \ Ordinal Scale

Windows Forms: Axes \ Scaling \ Numeric Scale

Windows Forms: Axes \ Scaling \ Logarithmic Scale