Creating a chart in VisualBasic.net which has a Y axis comprising of string values - vb.net

Question

I'd like to create a chart in VB.net which has X and Y values in the form of a string.
Example below:
Sorry for the bad drawing, but this is what I'd like it to do
Can anybody help me find the settings to do this?
I can transfer data to a graph but it ends up looking like this:
This is what my current graph looks like. As you can see, I can't get the Y axis working.
(also dont worry about the X axis containing the grades, that's just something I need to fix. The grades string() still contains the right data)
This is a sample of my code: (don't worry about delimitegrades(), that just formats data for the grades into 'A', 'B', etc)
Subjects is a string() list.
Grades is an array which contains the data I need to insert. ChrtSubgrade is the chart itself.
Public Sub CreateGraph(ByVal name As String, subjects() As String)
MsgBox("Generating graph for " & name)
chrtSubgrade.Series.Clear()
chrtSubgrade.Series.Add("Data")
chrtSubgrade.Series(0).ChartType = DataVisualization.Charting.SeriesChartType.Column
chrtSubgrade.Series(0).YValueType = DataVisualization.Charting.ChartValueType.String
chrtSubgrade.Series(0).IsValueShownAsLabel = True
delimitgrades(subjects)
For i = 0 To subjects.Count - 2
chrtSubgrade.Series(0).Points.AddXY(subjects(i), grades(i))
Next
I've breakpointed all the code and the arrays and data transfer is fine so I believe it's just down to how I'm creating the graph.
I can't link the chart to a database since I'm drawing the source data from an XML file.
Thanks very much for any help you might be able to give.

Answer 1

I figured out a new method. Instead of using the VB charting tools I made my own. Here's the code:
Public Sub CreateGraph(ByVal name As String, subjects() As String)
delimitgrades(subjects) 'collects the info from subjects which contains the grade data and make a new array from it containing only grades
MsgBox("Generating graph for " & name)
Dim mygraphics As Graphics = Graphics.FromHwnd(hwnd:=ActiveForm.Handle) 'defines a new graphics set on the Grades window
Dim axespen As New Pen(Color.Black, 5) 'makes a pen so I can draw the axes
Dim Xaxisleft As New Point(30, 350) 'defines the left point of the X axis
Dim Xaxisright As New Point(400, 350) 'defines the right point of the X axis
Dim Yaxisbottom As New Point(30, 350) 'defines the bottom point of the Y axis
Dim yaxistop As New Point(30, 80) 'defines the top point of the Y axis
For i = 0 To 4 'for each possible grade - A* through D
Dim labelgrade As New Label 'makes a label
With labelgrade 'with said label
.BackColor = Color.Transparent 'makes its background colourless
.AutoSize = True 'resizes the bounding box
Select Case i 'examines I - the counting variable
Case Is = 0 ' if its 0
.Text = "A*" ' sets the labels text to A*
.Location = New Point(2, 100) 'moves it to the right place
Case Is = 1 'etc
.Text = "A"
.Location = New Point(2, 140)
Case Is = 2
.Text = "B"
.Location = New Point(2, 180)
Case Is = 3
.Text = "C"
.Location = New Point(2, 220)
Case Is = 4
.Text = "D"
.Location = New Point(2, 260)
End Select '/etc
End With
Controls.Add(labelgrade) 'inserts the label into the form
Next
For i = 0 To subjects.Count - 2 'the last part of the subjects array is empty so it counts to the last position containing data
Dim labelsubject As New Label 'makes a new label
Dim labelxoffset As Integer = 30 'defines the variable xoffset which is used to determine where all labels should be placed
With labelsubject 'with this label
.BackColor = Color.Transparent 'make the background colourless
.AutoSize = True 'resize the bounding box
Select Case i 'examine i
Case Is = 0 'if this is the first label placed onto the form
.Text = subjects(i) 'take the first entry in the subjects array
.Location = New Point(30, 355) 'place the label on the X axis in the first position
Case Else 'otherwise
.Text = subjects(i) 'take the right name from the array and make the label reflect this name
.Location = New Point(labelxoffset + (i * 70), 365) 'set its location depending on which place it is in the array using xoffset
End Select
End With
Controls.Add(labelsubject) 'add the label to the form
Next
'Axes
mygraphics.DrawLine(axespen, Xaxisleft, Xaxisright) 'create
mygraphics.DrawLine(axespen, Yaxisbottom, yaxistop) 'the axes
'bars
For i = 0 To grades.Count - 1 'from 0 to the second to last entry in the grades array (this is because of how I formed the grades array. It still works.
Dim grade As String = grades(i) 'create a temp variable to store the correct entry from the grades array
Dim gradeindex As Integer = Nothing ' create the index integer, this is used to determine how high the bar should go
Dim gradepen As New Pen(Color.Green, 50) 'make the pen for the bars
Dim p1 As New Point(30, 350) 'define point 1 as above the first label
Dim p2 As New Point 'create point 2
Dim x As Integer = (58 + (70 * i)) 'create a new xoffset integer
Dim yoffset As Integer = 348 ' create the yoffset integer. This is to place the bottom point of the bar correctly
Select Case grade 'examine grade
Case Is = "A*" 'if its A*
gradeindex = 100 'the top y coord is 100
p1 = New Point(x, yoffset) 'p1 is now x, yoffset
p2 = New Point(x, gradeindex) 'p2 is now x, gradeindex
Case Is = "A" 'etc
gradeindex = 140
p1 = New Point(x, yoffset)
p2 = New Point(x, gradeindex)
Case Is = "B"
gradeindex = 180
p1 = New Point(x, yoffset)
p2 = New Point(x, gradeindex)
Case Is = "C"
gradeindex = 220
p1 = New Point(x, yoffset)
p2 = New Point(x, gradeindex)
gradepen = New Pen(Color.Orange, 50) 'make the grade pen orange
Case Is = "D"
gradeindex = 260
p1 = New Point(x, yoffset)
p2 = New Point(x, gradeindex)
gradepen = New Pen(Color.Red, 50) 'make the grade pen red
End Select '/etc
mygraphics.DrawLine(gradepen, p1, p2) 'draw the line from p1 to p2
Next
End Sub
Here's the output for someone who has the following data: German;A* , Maths;A , French;A* , Bio;C , Bus(business for example);B
Output
Hope this helps anyone else having this issue. Thanks!