Chart Area in Excel document

14 Oct 20247 minutes to read

Chart area refers to the space that contains the entire chart or graph within a document. It includes all elements of the chart, such as data points, labels, axes, and the plot area. Using XlsIO, you can customize various aspects of the chart area in the chart.

Formatting

Border

The following code snippet illustrates how to format the border of the chart area.

C# [Cross-platform]

//Format Chart Area
IChartFrameFormat chartArea = chart.ChartArea;

//Set the border
chartArea.Border.LinePattern = ExcelChartLinePattern.Solid;
chartArea.Border.LineColor = Color.Blue;
chartArea.Border.LineWeight = ExcelChartLineWeight.Hairline;

C# [Windows-specific]

//Format Chart Area
IChartFrameFormat chartArea = chart.ChartArea;

//Set the border
chartArea.Border.LinePattern = ExcelChartLinePattern.Solid;
chartArea.Border.LineColor = Color.Blue;
chartArea.Border.LineWeight = ExcelChartLineWeight.Hairline;

VB.NET [Windows-specific]

'Format Chart Area
IChartFrameFormat chartArea = chart.ChartArea

'Set the border
chartArea.Border.LinePattern = ExcelChartLinePattern.Solid
chartArea.Border.LineColor = Color.Blue
chartArea.Border.LineWeight = ExcelChartLineWeight.Hairline

Color

The following code snippet illustrates how to format the color of the chart area.

C# [Cross-platform]

//Set the color
chartArea.Fill.FillType = ExcelFillType.Gradient;
chartArea.Fill.GradientColorType = ExcelGradientColor.TwoColor;
chartArea.Fill.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(205, 217, 234);
chartArea.Fill.ForeColor = Color.White;

C# [Windows-specific]

//Set the color
chartArea.Fill.FillType = ExcelFillType.Gradient;
chartArea.Fill.GradientColorType = ExcelGradientColor.TwoColor;
chartArea.Fill.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(205, 217, 234);
chartArea.Fill.ForeColor = Color.White;

VB.NET [Windows-specific]

'Set the color
chartArea.Fill.FillType = ExcelFillType.Gradient
chartArea.Fill.GradientColorType = ExcelGradientColor.TwoColor
chartArea.Fill.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(205, 217, 234)
chartArea.Fill.ForeColor = Color.White

The complete code snippet illustrating the above options is shown below.

C# [Cross-platform]

using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine())
{
	IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
	application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx;
	FileStream inputStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath(@"Data/InputTemplate.xlsx"), FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
	IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(inputStream);
	IWorksheet sheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
	IChartShape chart = sheet.Charts[0];

	//Format Chart Area
	IChartFrameFormat chartArea = chart.ChartArea;

	//Set the border
	chartArea.Border.LinePattern = ExcelChartLinePattern.Solid;
	chartArea.Border.LineColor = Color.Blue;
	chartArea.Border.LineWeight = ExcelChartLineWeight.Hairline;

	//Set the color
	chartArea.Fill.FillType = ExcelFillType.Gradient;
	chartArea.Fill.GradientColorType = ExcelGradientColor.TwoColor;
	chartArea.Fill.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(205, 217, 234);
	chartArea.Fill.ForeColor = Color.White;

	//Saving the workbook as stream
	FileStream outputStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath("Output/Output.xlsx"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite);
	workbook.SaveAs(outputStream);

	//Dispose streams
	outputStream.Dispose();
	inputStream.Dispose();
}

C# [Windows-specific]

using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine())
{
  IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
  application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx;
  IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Open("InputTemplate.xlsx");
  IWorksheet sheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
  IChartShape chart = sheet.Charts[0];

  //Format Chart Area
  IChartFrameFormat chartArea = chart.ChartArea;

  //Set the border
  chartArea.Border.LinePattern = ExcelChartLinePattern.Solid;
  chartArea.Border.LineColor = Color.Blue;
  chartArea.Border.LineWeight = ExcelChartLineWeight.Hairline;

  //Set the color
  chartArea.Fill.FillType = ExcelFillType.Gradient;
  chartArea.Fill.GradientColorType = ExcelGradientColor.TwoColor;
  chartArea.Fill.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(205, 217, 234);
  chartArea.Fill.ForeColor = Color.White;

  //Saving the workbook
  workbook.SaveAs("Output.xlsx");
}

VB.NET [Windows-specific]

Using excelEngine As ExcelEngine = New ExcelEngine()
  Dim application As IApplication = excelEngine.Excel
  application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx
  Dim workbook As IWorkbook = application.Workbooks.Open("InputTemplate.xlsx")
  Dim sheet As IWorksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)
  Dim chart As IChartShape = sheet.Charts(0)

  'Format Chart Area
  Dim chartArea As IChartFrameFormat = chart.ChartArea

  'Set the border
  chartArea.Border.LinePattern = ExcelChartLinePattern.Solid
  chartArea.Border.LineColor = Color.Blue
  chartArea.Border.LineWeight = ExcelChartLineWeight.Hairline

  'Set the color
  chartArea.Fill.FillType = ExcelFillType.Gradient
  chartArea.Fill.GradientColorType = ExcelGradientColor.TwoColor
  chartArea.Fill.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(205, 217, 234)
  chartArea.Fill.ForeColor = Color.White

  'Saving the workbook
  workbook.SaveAs("Output.xlsx")
End Using

A complete working example for the chart area in C# is present on this GitHub page.

Transparency

The following code snippet illustrates how to apply transparency in the chart area.

C# [Cross-platform]

//Set the transparency
chartArea.Fill.Transparency = 0.5;

C# [Windows-specific]

//Set the transparency
chartArea.Fill.Transparency = 0.5;

VB.NET [Windows-specific]

'Set the transparency
chartArea.Fill.Transparency = 0.5

NOTE

Transparency is only applicable when FillType is set as SolidColor. Color-shaded fill is represented as a floating-point value ranging from 0.0 (Clear) to 1.0 (Opaque).