Version 7

New features.

See latest Release.txt file with up-to-date changes.

Chart Axes

• Alternate labels.

Axis labels can now be displayed in "alternate" mode to show more text in the same space.
Suitable for horizontal axis and non-rotated labels.

Chart1.Axes.Bottom.LabelsAlternate := True ;

Bar, Bar3D and Horizontal Bar series

• Tick lines.

New TChartPen property to draw lines around Bar series points at default axis grid positions.

Series1.TickLines.Visible := True ;

TChartListBox

• Radio buttons

The listbox control can now display series with "radio" buttons instead of check-boxes.
This can be useful in cases where only a single series needs to be visible.

ChartListBox1.CheckStyle := cbsRadio;  // ( default is cbsCheck )

• OnChangeActive event

This event is called when the end user clicks the checkbox or radio icon to show or hide a Series. The event includes the Series.

Chart Themes

"Themes" provide an easy single-click way to alter many of the Chart formatting and color properties.
Included themes are TeeChart, Microsoft Excel®, Business, Classic and Web.



End users can change the selected "theme" at runtime either using the chart editor dialog new Themes tab or the Themes editor stand-alone.

Uses TeeThemeEditor
ChartThemeSelector( Chart1 );




Themes can also be selected programatically.

Uses TeeThemes;
ApplyChartTheme( TExcelTheme, Chart1 );
 

New custom themes can be created and used at design-time with simple code:

TMyTheme = class( TChartTheme )
public
  procedure ApplyTo( Chart: TCustomChart ); override;
  class function Description:String; override;
end;

RegisterChartThemes([ TMyTheme ]);
 

 

TColorBand tool

• New OnClick event, and Clicked and BoundsRect functions.

The color band object now provides an OnClick event, Clicked function and BoundsRect function that returns the color band rectangle in pixels.

TCommander

• Editor and Previewer

The commander control adds two new properties to show customized chart editor and print preview dialogs, using your preferred TChartEditor and TChartPreviewer components:

TeeCommander1.ChartEditor := ChartEditor1 ;
TeeCommander1.Previewer := ChartPreviewer1 ;

  

Custom Chart Color Palettes

The default color palette is now a dynamic array that can be replaced by code:

// Create a custom color palette
var MyPalette : TColorArray;
SetLength(MyPalette, 5);
MyPalette[0]:= clBlue;
MyPalette[1]:= clGreen;
MyPalette[2]:= clLime;
MyPalette[3]:= clAqua;
MyPalette[4]:= clNavy;

SetDefaultColorPalette( MyPalette );  // set new custom palette

MyPalette:= nil; // free if no longer used

Several predefined palettes are available at runtime:

ColorPalettes.ApplyPalette(Chart1, 3);  // 3 = pastels
 

Delphi for .NET

New in this version is support for Borland Delphi™ 2005 .Net compiler.

Under Delphi.Net, applications can be created to use the Borland VCL for .Net ( VCLForms ) or to use Microsoft FCL for .Net ( WinForms ), or ASP.Net web server pages. 

TeeChart v7 VCL is designed to be used in VCLForms (Win32 or .Net) but can also work in WinForms and ASP.Net forms if you create the necessary encapsulating classes.

For easier programming in WinForms and Asp.Net, we provide TeeChart.Net (written 100% in C#) which uses .Net Framework classes directly bypassing the VCL.  As with the VCL version, this version can also be used in VCLForms applications through new a new .Net Control Import Library Wizard.

 

Design Time options

New editor dialog to control all design-time options.
Selections are stored at Windows Registry under key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Steema Software\TeeChart Pro

   

The design-time options editor can also be displayed at runtime in your applications:

uses TeeDesignOptions;

with TOptionsForm.Create( Self ) do
try
  ShowModal;
finally
  Free;
end;
 

Chart Legend

• Radio groups

Legend can now display "radio" buttons alongside series to let the user choose a single visible series.

Chart1.Legend.CheckBoxes := True; // activate boxes
Chart1.Legend.CheckBoxesStyle := cbsRadio;  // ...or cbsCheck
 

• Scrollbar tool

New tool to add scrollbar facilities to Chart Legend.
The scrollbar is not derived from Windows or Borland's VCL scrollbar objects. It's been totally rewritten in Delphi with full source code available.

The scrollbar editor dialog provides many formatting properties like colors, sizes, etc.

Uses TeeLegendScrollBar;
MyScroll:= TLegendScrollBar.Create( Self );
MyScroll.Size:= 12;
Chart1.Tools.Add( MyScroll );
 

  

• Legend Title

The Chart Legend provides a new property "Title" of class TTeeShape.
Legend Title text and formatting can be fully customized.

with Chart1.Legend.Title do
begin
  Text.Clear;
  Text.Add( 'Animals' );
  Color:= clMaroon;
  Transparent:= False;
  Transparency:= 50;
end;

   
 

• Miscellaneous

New LastValue (Integer) read-only public property.
Returns the value index of the last visible item in legend.
This complements the already existing FirstValue property.

 

New 2D Lighting Tool

The new TLightTool class enables "2D lighting" effect to charts.
Several properties can be customized using the Light tool editor dialog.

uses TeeLighting;

var Light : TLightTool;
Light:= TLightTool.Create( Self );
Light.FollowMouse:= True;
Light.Style:= lsSpotLight;
Chart1.Tools.Add( Light );
 

   

New Functions

• Mode

The Mode function calculates the value with highest count of duplicates inside the source series data.

Includes the option to ignore null source values.

• Median

Calculates the value located in the middle of sorted source series values.

• Correlation

Calculates the factor, from 0 to 1, of X to Y relationship of source series values.

• Variance

Calculates the average spread of source series values.

Chart Editor

• Tree mode

The Chart Editor dialog can now be displayed in "tree mode", using a left-aligned treeview control as the main manager of the many editor dialogs.

The above design-time options dialog controls the default editor mode (normal or tree).
The ChartEditorPanel control can also be displayed in tree-mode.

   

You can also programatically force the tree mode display:

TChartEditForm.SaveOption( TeeMsg_TreeMode, True );
ChartEditor1.Execute;
 

Pie and Donut series

• Gradient 3D property

Pie and Donut slices can now be filled in 3D mode, using a Gradient property.

Series1.Gradient.Visible:= True;
 

Point3D series

• Lines to floor

New TChartPen property to optionally draw lines from 3D xyz points to chart floor.

Series1.BaseLine.Visible:= True;
 

Chart Canvas

• Full 360 degree rotation in GDI mode

Last released version 6 provided 180 degree rotation in normal Windows GDI mode.
Version 7 now delivers full 360 degree rotation, thus allowing viewing charts from back perspective.

Chart1.View3DOptions.Rotation := 220 ;  // back view

• Vector fonts (pending)

Chart Series Groups

Series can now be "grouped" in logical sets.
Any Series can be assigned to pertain to zero, one or more groups.
Series Groups are optionally displayed at Chart Editor dialog and ChartListBox control.

var g1,g2:TSeriesGroup;

g1:=Chart1.SeriesList.AddGroup('First group');
g1.Series.Add(Series2);
g1.Series.Add(Series4);
g1.Series.Add(Series6);

g2:=Chart1.SeriesList.AddGroup('Second group');
g2.Series.Add(Series1);
g2.Series.Add(Series3);
g2.Series.Add(Series5);

ChartListBox1.SeriesGroup:=g1;
ChartEditor1.Options:= ChartEditor1.Options+[ceGroups];
ChartEditor1.Execute;

Chart Gallery

• Smoothing   ( Based on "Resample" code from Anders Melander and others )

New Chart Gallery option displays charts with "smoothing" effect.

ChartGalleryPanel1.Smooth:= True ;

Compare the two pictures below. The left one is showing a smooth gallery.

   

You can also use a global method to smooth your custom bitmap images.

uses TeCanvas;

var B : TBitmap;
begin
  B:=TBitmap.Create;
  try
    B.Width:=Image1.Picture.Bitmap.Width div 2;
    B.Height:=Image1.Picture.Bitmap.Height div 2;
    SmoothStrecth(Image1.Picture.Bitmap, B);
    Image2.Picture.Assign(B);
  finally
    B.Free;
  end;
end;

• Miscellaneous
  
  

New methods to get from and save to registry the gallery Smooth mode:
DefaultSmooth and SaveSmooth.

Exporting Formats

• SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

New exporting format available to export charts to SVG format.

Note: For the link below to display properly you'll need to install in your machine either the free Adobe SVG Viewer, Corel's viewer, JASC WebDraw or use Microsoft Internet Explorer.

• Click to open TeeChart_Example.svg file.      
• View example SVG source.
• Go to SVG homepage

• PDF improvements

The TPDFCanvas object now provides several enhancements to PDF exporting.
A partnership with DynamicPDF company offers server PDF charting and more.

• GIF and LZW compression Unisys patent.

According to Unisys at http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/lzw , patent on LZW compression has expired worldwide except in some particular countries.
Check the above link to verify your license rights to use LZW compression in your location.
The TeeChart version 7 now permits usage of LZW ( TeeGIF unit and editor dialog ).

All Series with "Pointer" property

The TSeriesPointer class now includes a Transparency property.
Many series styles like Line, Area, Point, Point3D, Polar, Bubble, Gantt, Bezier, etc have a Pointer property.

Series1.Pointer.Transparency := 50 ;

Candle and Arrow series, although providing a Pointer property, do not support Transparency as they draw points using their own method.

All Series

New MandatoryAxis function that returns the chart axis associated with the series (vertical axis in series mandatory value list is Y, and horizontal axis in mandatory value list is X ).

Series1.MandatoryAxis.LabelsFont.Color := clRed ;

Chart SeriesList property

New ClearValues method to remove all values from all series in chart, thus leaving all series empty.

Chart1.SeriesList.ClearValues ;

TSmoothingFunction and TBSpline class

Removed limitation on number of source points to calculate smooth points.
(Fixed size arrays have been converted to dynamic arrays).

Warning: Smoothing more than 500 points can be a very slow operation.
 

New Series styles

• Bubble3D, derived from TPoint3D series.
  New bubble series that adds a "Z" value for each bubble point.
  Requires OpenGL rendering to correctly visualize solid 3D bubbles.

Fixed bugs

• TBollingerFunction
  Calling Clear on series with Bollinger now clears the two Bollinger line series instead of just one line.
   
• Canvas Custom drawing
  Custom drawing could sometimes display text with shadows or outlines.
   
• Zoom pen
  The Chart1.Zoom.Pen.SmallDots property did not work.
   
• Canvas EllipseWithZ and Pie3D methods
  Improved distortion on big (ie: printed) Pie and Ellipse drawings.
   
• TCustom3DPaletteSeries
  Fixed loosing the PaletteStyle property when cloning series.
   
• Tower series
  Added Assign method to support cloning.
   
• Series1.DataSources
  This property is now of type "TDataSourcesList" class.
  Calling the Add, Delete and Clear methods will call the internal series methods. This avoids an access violation when closing or destroying.
   
• Legend
  When the legend is behind the chart (using Legend HorizMargin or VertMargin properties), Chart1.OnClickSeries was not working correctly.

TeeTree2

• Teetree2 is now avialable for those who hold a current TeeChart Pro v7 license. This tree building component is a worthy addition for any developer working with Delphi. Follow the link to find out more about what TeeTree2 has to offer.