Today, in this article, we’re going to tell you about the new features of the Publish wizard. Let us remind you that this tool allows you to integrate Stimulsoft components into a user application. Using the Publish Wizard, you can define a platform and an action to be performed in a report and many other settings. In version 2022.2, we have added new features, but first things first.

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.NET 6.0 in the Publish wizard

Microsoft will end support for the .NET 5.0 framework very soon, and we’re gradually preparing a solution for you. We have already reported on the work of our components under the .NET 6.0 framework in this note. Now, we have updated the Publish Wizard, and you can specify a version of the .NET 6.0 framework for a project. This option is available on the following platforms: ASP.NET MVC, Winforms, WPF, and Blazor in the Publish Wizard.

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Other features of the Publish wizard

In addition to the above, in the current release, we have added the functionality to use a rendered report (.mdc file) instead of a report template (.mrt file) for projects with the Show or Export options enabled. To do this, you should check the Use rendered report parameter. One more new feature concerns only export action. Now, you can display export settings for a selected platform in a project code.

We have considerably expanded the integration functionality of Stimulsoft components into applications by adding new frameworks (Angular, .NET 6.0), project types (React + TypeScript), and other options that add flexibility when using the Publish wizard.



For a visual understanding of all of the above mentioned, we have prepared a video for you on our YouTube channel.

In this article, we are going to tell you about ways of sorting months in dashboards. A variant of sorting depends on how data is specified.

There are two ways to display data about a particular month:

• as its number;
• as a string.

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Display a month as its number

In this case, everything is quite simple. If a month is displayed by an ordinal number, the sorting by months is carried out using the Sort button in the right corner of a dashboard element. Ascending and descending sorting are available.

Note

To display the dateTime data type as a month number, you should use the Month() function.

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Display a month as a string

If a month is displayed as a string when using the Sort button, data will be sorted alphabetically.


To sort months in calendar order, you should apply the monthIdent() function to. After applying the function, ascending and descending sorting will work in calendar order instead of alphabetical order, and the first month will be January.


If you want to sort months in calendar order, but you need to start the sorting of another month, you should apply the fiscalMonthIdent() function, in which a data column is specified as the first argument, and a month number as the second one, starting from which you should sort data.

Important to know

You can use monthIdent() and fiscalMonthIdent() functions for any elements of dashboards.

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On our YouTube channel you will find a video that describes the process of sorting months in Stimulsoft report generator.

We added the ability to round border corners for dashboard elements in release 2022.1. In version 2022.2, we have taken a step forward and made it possible to round graphical elements of charts both in dashboards and reports. The principle remains the same - using special properties, you can specify the rounding radius of four corners of a chart graphical element. It allows a thin styling of a chart within your dashboards and reports.

In this article, let’s look closer at rounding in charts.

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For which chart rounding is applicable?

Before we start telling you about rounding in reports and dashboards, let’s figure out what types of charts can be rounded.

You may apply rounding to all types of charts in which column graphical elements are used, namely:

• column;
• line;
• clustered column;
• Pareto charts;
• Gantt chart;
• waterfall;
• range bar;
• hierarchical chart of the Treemap type.

This applies both to reports and dashboards. Now let's go directly to the issue of how you may implement rounding in your documents and analytical panels.

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Rounding in report charts

A chart in a report may have several series. Rounding can be defined in style settings, which are applied to the chart or in the settings of each row. In the style and settings of a row, rounding is defined using the Corner Radius properties group. Please note that if you can’t see rounding settings in the list of properties, you should set the Allow Apply Style property to False. Otherwise, rounding settings will be applied from a chart style for all series.

Rounding in charts in a dashboard

Graphical elements in a chart in a dashboard are rounded only via the settings of an element style. Accordingly, rounding radiuses defined in a style will be applied to all graphical elements of a chart, regardless of their belonging to its series.

Here’s a video about setting rounding of charts which is already available on our YouTube channel.

Last time we told you about data connection in the report designer. This time you will know about the Table element and how to create a dashboard with it. But first of all, let’s figure out what the dashboard is and what it is intended for.

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The dashboard is an informational panel for visualization and data analytics, usually presented in the form of key performance indicators. The most famous example of a dashboard is car gauges that help you track driving speed, engine temperature, stock and gasoline consumption, and much more. People of various professions use dashboards. For example, Internet marketing specialists use dashboards to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, and managers use them to control the workload and plan staff work. This tool is widely used in education, healthcare, finance, and industry.

For example, this dashboard shows key performance indicators of hospital performance. Using it, a manager of a medical institution can track the length of patient stay, average treatment costs, hospital-acquired infections, etc. Stimulsoft report designer contains a range of elements for creating dashboards, and today we will introduce you to one of them.

Table editor

You can customize a selected data field in the table editor: duplicate it, rename or remove it. In addition, you can remove all data fields.

Besides, you can specify various types of values for a selected data field in the table editor and enable or disable the display of selected columns.



The Table editor has other features. For example, when editing data fields in the table you can:

• show value total;
• select the function that will be used to calculate the total for the current data field;
• show hyperlink for values of the current field.

It’s worth noting that the order of fields in the editor from top to bottom displays the sequence of their output in the table element. To change the order of fields output in the table, you should drag a field to the place you want to. At the same time, you can group data in the table.

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Grouping data in the table

Let’s imagine, your table contains three data fields: Car model, Producer country, and Number of sales per year. You want to group your data by Producer country field. To do this, you should switch element type from Dimension to Measure for Number of sales per year field. After that, you will get the result you want.



At the same time, you can sort and filter data fields in the table using the header menu.

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Header menu

Image in the Table

You can add images to the table both from your data sources and the data obtained by URL. To do this, you should add a data field to the list of the table fields. Important to know!

If a data field contains links to images, they will be displayed in the table as text. To display images in the table, you should select a data field with URL images in the element editor, then apply the Image() function to the expression of this field. It will look like this: Image(DataSource.DataColumn1). However, if your URLs redirect to the images of SVG type, you will need to specify the height and width of the image in the function arguments - Image(DataSource.DataColumn, height, width). You can read about how to create a dashboard with a table in our documentation.

Today, we’re going to tell you about a new chart type – Pictorial Stacked Chart. Before we consider its creation, let’s figure out the concept.

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What is a Pictorial Stacked Chart?

It’s called pictographic because it uses pictograms provided in an icon set instead of a graphic element. Stimulsoft reporting tools contain a considerable range of pictograms: from abstract icons to well-known logos. The «stacked» term means that values are analyzed within one graphical element, in this case – a pictogram or an icon. This pictogram is the sum of all values and equals 100 percent in a relative value. All chart values are grouped by their arguments, and each argument is a relative value share in the common sum of all chart values. In other words, the Pictorial Stacked Chart is an analytical chart type that allows you to display a relative value share as a part of a graphical element of a diagram. This chart type is used in reports and dashboards.

Besides, we have made a video about using the pictorial stacked chart in reports and dashboards.

Adding to a report

This chart type is added to a report and any other type. You should select the Pictorial Stacked Chart type from the Pictorial category on the Insert tab or the Toolbox in the report designer. After that, you should place the component in your report. Next, you should specify data columns of values and arguments. You can change a pictogram using the Icon property. Please note that you can add several rows to the chart. However, the icon from the first row will be used for all chart rows.

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Adding to a dashboard

To use pictorial stacked charts in dashboards, you should place the Chart element in a dashboard. After, you should specify data columns for values and argument fields, and set the chart type as Pictorial Stacked. The main difference is that an icon for a chart is selected in the element editor, not in the properties panel. Also, this icon will be used for all chart rows.

In general, the process of creating this chart in reports or dashboards is similar to creating charts of other types. You should understand only the algorithm of data analysis and display the result in the chart.

Take a look at some samples of using the pictorial stacked chart in a report and dashboard.