Since I love F# and data visualizations I thought to myself that it might be cool to have a Protovis style API for the Charting controls. So I started hacking and surprisingly came up with the following F# Script :
#r @"C:\Program Files (x86)\ComponentOne\Studio for WPF\bin\Design\C1.WPF.C1Chart.dll"
#r @"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0\PresentationFramework.dll"
#r @"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0\WindowsBase.dll"
#r @"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0\PresentationCore.dll"
open System
(* ==== Charting references ==== *)
open System.Windows
open System.Windows.Controls
open C1.WPF.C1Chart
(* create a panel (or blank charting control) *)
let Panel = new C1Chart()
(* Panel Width *)
let width (w: float) (p: C1Chart) =
p.Width <- w
p
(* Panel Height *)
let height (h: float) (p: C1Chart) =
p.Height <- h
p
(* Chart Type *)
let add (ct: ChartType) (p: C1Chart) =
p.ChartType <- ct
p
(* Data *)
let data (d: List) (p: C1Chart) =
let ds = new DataSeries()
ds.Values <- new Media.DoubleCollection(Seq.ofList d)
p.Data.Children.Add ds
p
(* Render *)
let render (c: C1Chart) =
let content = c
let grd = new Grid()
grd.Children.Add(content) |> ignore
new Window(Title = "Protovis Via F#", Content = grd)
let vis =
Panel
|> width 150.0
|> height 150.0
|> add ChartType.Column
|> data [1.0; 1.2; 1.7; 1.5; 0.7; 0.3]
|> render
[] ignore <| (new Application()).Run vis
As you can see from the above script, it really isn't all that difficult to get the same style API.
I just replaced the . or (Dot) function from the Protovis API with the standard F# pipeline operator / function.
Below is a screen shot of the above script which is the first sample in the "Getting Started" section on the Protovis site.
