VS2010 Chart control, how to display a blank chart

Question

I'm trying to use the chart control on a windows form and have it working, plotting some real time data, however before the data arrives nothing is displayed. I would like to show an empty graph with an X Y of 10 30 but still have the graph auto range if values go above this.

I cannot find a property to show the "blank" graph it this possible and if so how?

thanks

Answer 1

You can hide all data of a Series by making its line color Transparent. If you also set its LegendText to be " " all you can see are the Axis ticks. you can control them by adding a few Points and by setting the Minimum and Maximum values:

// short reference for our dummy:
Series S0 = chart1.Series[0];
// a simple type
S0.ChartType = SeriesChartType.Line;
// set 10 point with x-values going from 0-100 and y-values going from 1-10:
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i +=10)  S0.Points.AddXY(i , i / 10);
// or add only a few, e.g. the first and last points:
//S0.Points.AddXY(100, 10);
//S0.Points.AddXY(0, 10);
// hide the line:
S0.Color = Color.Transparent;
// hide the legend text (it will still take up a little space, though)
S0.LegendText = " ";
// limit the axis to the target values
chart1.ChartAreas[0].AxisX.Maximum = 100;
chart1.ChartAreas[0].AxisX.Minimum = 0;

The result looks like an empty chart: