Practical WPF Charts and Graphics (Expert's Voice in .NET)

As a professional programmer I don't have a lot of time to waste learning all the details to master a new programming area. I had to buy five books on database programming to get one decent database working for my clients. With WPF I have found there are just three books to buy to master its intricacies. Get "Windows Presentation Foundation", "Pro WPF", and Dr. Wu's "Practical WPF Charts and Graphics". The other books are helpful, but not really necessary.This book gets right down to the etails of mastering chart graphics. Within a few chapters, specialized charts are covered. Dr. Xu shows how to do almost every form of scientific and financial charting I have ever encountered. Although the code is designed to show off the approach to building a single chart application, the data series and configuration style objects introduced by the book can be easily altered to build multiple chart conglomerations for stock charts with indicators or scientific multiple view sets with minimal work. I found that the XAML code needed to be tweaked to insure that it coupled multiple canvas areas to the correct code operations, but there are always going to be small glitches when code examples are expanded for professional needs.The code examples are introduced in a simple to complex sequence that allows the reader to get easily accustomed to the support objects and to understand how chart styles need to be adapted to each type of chart. I figure that this one book has saved me at least a hundred hours of exploring failed approaches to WPF charting. I have two other books by this author and I knew that this one would display the same efficiency of introduction and clarity of organization as before. I was thoroughly satisfied with his latest approach to explaining WPF charts. I have now moved on to combining several simultanous charts with chart interaction.By the way, previous to applying Dr. Xu's writings, I was looking at paying up to $2000 for the code behind the EzyStockCharts library to solve my charting needs and I would have been forced to build a C++ wrapper around the code to use it in a .NET environment. That would have been very time consuming and I would only have found a two dimensional solution for all my time and cost. The source code for all the C# examples in the book and a few more is currently available and easily downloadable from the internet. The download also includes the binaries to run each project and allows you to quickly discover exactly how each sample behaves in the real world of your computer.If you are serious about investing in your software career, or in avoiding a costly project failure, this book will give your knowledge base a definite competitive edge. I'm looking forward to applying the information that I encountered in this book to the display of large database patterns as well as my stock chart displays. I hope you see the advantage of becoming an instant charting expert by reading this book.

I have not finished reading this book yet, but i am surprised there is no section or mention on printing. Would seem that the ability to print the graphics generated in this book is completely ignored. No Fixed Document no print scaling, nothing.What i have read so far it very good. Well explained.

Great text!

Pretty good overall, but it fails to teach the bigger concepts like the structure of the graphics-object hierarchy, and why Microsoft made it that way. I'd like to have seen an in-depth discussion on PathGeometry, PathCollections, Graphic, Dependency Properties, Shapes, Rendering and their use in WPF etc. Much, much too much repetition of code that was already taught, all printed out again and again wasting valuable book-pages. That code should be posted on Git Hub, so the book can focus on introducing a new concept or feature of WPF graphics, explaining it, and then showing code that uses it. The book gives a lot of complete examples, but disappoints when it comes to imparting in-depth knowledge. You get examples, not concepts.

The description of one of the code samples in this book says "you don't need to understand the mathematics behind this method in order to use it in your WPF chart applications". (Page 306.) And there is no explanation given for the math in the sample. So you might be tempted to just use the code as is. But turn to page xxiv where they have printed a confusing restriction on using code samples: First it says you can use the code in this book in your application. Then it says if you use a significant amount of example code then you have to get permission from the author and the publisher. It doesn't say exactly how much code you can use. Then it outright bans the use of sample code if your product is commercial. So what the author wants you to do is to use the code samples in your program without understanding it (no explanation given for some code samples) so that once your product becomes successful he can sue you and take your money. Shame on the author. None of the computer books I have ever purchased have this kind of restriction on sample code.

Provides a great start on charting.

This is the follow-up book of the "Practical C# Charts and Graphics" by the author, emphasize on using WPF. Both books are excellent and indispensable for C# graphics developers. They have more useful codes inside than any other books. Well worth the money.

I purchased this book mainly for creating line charts. I had some very specific requirements and I couldn't find a third-party control (open source or commercial) that met every requirement. Dr. Xu's book was recommended so I purchased it from Amazon and I haven't regretted that purchase.This book was a fabulous jump-start. I was able to quickly produce a control that supported a lot of the features that were requested. After a little extension and refactoring, I've been able to meet every requirement.I was surprised to find logarithmic axes not covered in the book. Extending the code to use logarithmic and mixed linear/logarithmic axes was straight forward. The way the material is presented was essential for grasping the basics needed in order to make that and other extensions.Dr. Xu began with a very simple chart and extended it, building upon a simple foundation. Each new feature was added until we've constructed a stand-alone chart with decent capabilities. After we have a stand-alone chart, we learned how to take that chart and create a reusable control. Precisely what I needed.The lack of logarithmic axes, non-interactive legends, and other minor quibbles reduced my rating from five to four stars. These and other enhancements were easy enough to add, thanks in part to Dr. Xu's presentation and WPF.I would recommend this book to anyone considering writing or purchasing a chart in WPF. It has been a great resource and it will stay on my shelf for some time to come. Good job Dr. Xu!

The timing of this information was critical. The clarity of the presentation for effective implementation, was as critical. This book represents an asset when developing mathematically oriented applications.

An exceptional author of a very complex subject area, even for software developers like myself. Taken in stages, examples worked and tweaked, can give you hours of fun and improve your understanding hacking 2D and 3D graphics. It's lovely in the .Net environment and the author takes you through in nice easy steps. However it would have been great to have the last practical example with a rotational Z ability but not really a problem. I take my hat off to Mr Jack Xu for his excellent work. I shall always have this book on my shelf as reference. for both my relaxation and professional work.

とにかくやったらできました、という感じ。もっと WPF の性質を生かしたコードを見たかった。数ページを斜め読みしただけで失望して、後は一切読んでいません。もったいないことした。こういうことにならないためにも、こういった専門書こそ本屋に置いて欲しいなぁ。立ち読みして中身を確認できていたら絶対買いませんでした。