Generate a chart with a varying number of series using LINQ Reporting Engine

Aspose.Words Product Family
, ,
1

Hi, I am currently evaluating whether the Reporting Engine fits our needs to generate Word reports dynamically based on data coming from our application. I was able to generate most of the elements to represent, but I am a bit stuck on a chart with several timeseries. The number of timeseries varies based on the perimeter chosen, and the values are not always synchronized.

Something like:
Report 1 : image.png (8.3 KB)
Report 2: image.png (3.4 KB)

Ideally, this would be done from a data in the format:

 	"Q":[
	{
		"Name": "Q1",
		"Values": [ 
			{"value":2,"time":"2022-04-23T18:00:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":4,"time":"2022-04-23T18:15:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":5,"time":"2022-04-23T18:45:00.000Z"}
		]
	},
	{
		"Name": "Q2",
		"Values": [ 
			{"value":3,"time":"2022-04-23T18:00:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":3,"time":"2022-04-23T18:15:00.000Z"},
			{"value":2,"time":"2022-04-23T18:30:00.000Z"},
			{"value":2,"time":"2022-04-23T18:45:00.000Z"}
		]
	}
]

I tried by first combining the data myself in the format:

"Q":[ 
	{"Q1value":"2","Q2value":"3","time":"2022-04-23T18:00:00.000Z"}, 
	{"Q1value":"4","Q2value":"3","time":"2022-04-23T18:15:00.000Z"},
	{"Q2value":"2","time":"2022-04-23T18:30:00.000Z"},
	{"Q1value":"5","Q2value":"2","time":"2022-04-23T18:45:00.000Z"}
]

I did manage to get some results with this second format and the option “AllowMissingMembers”, but two issues remain:

  • The legend name stays visible even if there is no data
  • Is it possible to do something based on the first data model? That would be much more powerful for my use case

Thanks !

3

@Leyan

Did you consider Including Chart Series Dynamically? With this approach, you can define a chart template for a maximum possible number of items in Q as per the first form of your data. Then, you can remove extra series depending on an actual number of items in Q using removeif tags like this one:

<<removeif [Q.Count() < 5]>>
4

@Leyan

In this case, you may try using all unique time entries as categories using a foreach tag like this:

<<foreach [t in Q.SelectMany(q => q.Values).Select(v => v.time).Distinct().OrderBy(i => i)]>>

Then, x and y tags can be defined based on that as follows:

<<x [t]>>
<<y [Q.FirstOrDefault(q => q.Name == "Q1")?.Values?.FirstOrDefault(v => v.time == t)?.value]>>
5

Thank you for your answer, I made some progress. <<removeif […]>> seems interesting. The LINQ queries may get a bit complex, I will see if I can merge my data beforehand.

Something strange I found while testing: when configuring a report like this:
image.png (5.2 KB)

with source data like this:

"Q":[
	{
		"Name": "Q1",
		"FlowValues": [ 
			{"value":1,"time":"2022-04-23T18:00:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":0,"time":"2022-04-23T18:15:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":2,"time":"2022-04-23T18:29:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":20,"time":"2022-04-23T18:45:00.000Z"},
			{"value":3,"time":"2022-04-23T19:15:00.000Z"}
		]
	},
	{
		"Name": "Q2",
		"FlowValues": [ 
			{"value":3,"time":"2022-04-23T18:00:00.000Z"}, 
			{"value":3,"time":"2022-04-23T18:15:00.000Z"},
			{"value":2,"time":"2022-04-23T18:37:00.000Z"},
			{"value":2,"time":"2022-04-23T18:45:00.000Z"}
		]
	}
]

I get a strange render in PDF format: one additional point has been added on the missing timestamp for Q1, but I don’t understand where the value comes from: it is not an existing value, it is not exactly linear interpolation, but it looks like it …

image.png (38.1 KB)

However, the same report in Docx format is fine:
image.png (22.7 KB)

Do you think it is a bug on Aspose side?

6

@Leyan

Yes, this might be a defect in Aspose.Words chart rendering mechanism. Could you please attach your output DOCX and PDF documents here for testing? We will check the documents and provide you more information.

7

BugPDF.7z (101.3 KB)
Here it is. It seems to be because I used the somewhat obscure setting “Connect data points with line” (when there is an empty value). In a PDF output, it seems to create an additional data point where the empty value is supposed to be.

8

We have opened the following new ticket(s) in our internal issue tracking system and will deliver their fixes according to the terms mentioned in Free Support Policies.

Issue ID(s): WORDSNET-24871

You can obtain Paid Support services if you need support on a priority basis, along with the direct access to our Paid Support management team.

9

The issues you have found earlier (filed as WORDSNET-24871) have been fixed in this Aspose.Words for .NET 23.3 update also available on NuGet.