Assignment 4

In this assignment, we are going to display a chart in a form and do some tricks with it: adding values from different sources, changing the chart type, etc.

What to do

Your form should include at least the following:

• a chart (a bar chart; preload it with 3 values you invent)
• a textbox in which the user can supply a number
• a set of at least 4 labeled radio buttons (in a groupbox) for selecting any of four kinds of charts: bar, column, pie and at least one you choose for yourself)
• a button for clearing the DataPointCollection, named "Clear"
• a button for closing the form, named "Exit" or "Done"
• a button named "Choose a file"
• a button named "Value from File"
• a button named "Value at Random"
• a button named "Value from User"

You may also want some labels.

When the form is loaded, we should have a bar chart with 3 bars.

If the "Choose a file" button is clicked, you should call up an OpenFileDialog. Set the OpenFileDialog's InitialDirectory property to "." before you use the ShowDialog method. We will have several files of numbers available. The user can choose one. Read the file called and store its contents in an array or List of doubles. If the user selects "Choose a file" again, do all this again but first empty the previous list of values.

If one of the radio buttons is selected, the ChartType property of the series should be changed accordingly. Reset the radio button involved, as in

     RB.Checked = false;

If the Clear button is clicked, the DataPointCollection of the Series in the chart should be cleared, as in:

     MyChart.Series["MySeries"].Point.Clear();

If the "Value from File" button is clicked, a number from the array of doubles is added as a Point. If the end of the array is reached, do nothing.

If the "Value at Random" button is clicked, generate a double value between 0.0 and 30.0 and add it as a Point. You will need the Random class and its Next method.

If the "Value from User" button is clicked, read whatever is in the textbox, convert it to a double and add it as a Point. After that, clear the textbox. (If the value in the textbox is not in the right format, you need to put up a MessageBox prompting the user to supply a double. You should handle this occurrence without the entire program crashing. (You may want to use the TryParse method.) (We are not trying to set a trap for you here.)

If the Exit button is clicked, the form should be closed.

Notes

Try to make your form look presentable. You can make the form and the chart larger or smaller. Line up the radio buttons neatly. Line up the other buttons neatly.

If you don't like the names of the buttons, you can use other names, but the names should clearly indicate the purposes of the buttons.

Notice that the names of chart types are found in the SeriesChartType enumeration.

Decide on a color scheme and a font.

We are only working with one series in one chart.

Make a copy of the input files listed on the web page and put them somewhere you can find them with the OpenFileDialog.