Data binding at both design-time and run-time is fully supported, and a wide variety of data sources can be used.

Data Binding at Design-Time

Data binding can be accomplished at design-time using the Data Source Configuration Wizard. To use the Data Source Configuration, open the Chart control's smart tag, and then select <New data source...> in the drop-down list (see the figure below).

Data Binding

Alternatively, you can also double-click the Chart control and click the value cell of the DataSourceID property to open the Data Source Configuration Wizard.

Data Binding at Run-Time

There are a wide variety of data binding methods that can be used at run-time, ranging from simple to more complex and powerful methods. Run-time data binding gives you significant freedom and flexibility over how the data is bound.

Binding from multiple data sources is supported. For example, a series X value can be bound to an array of strings, and Y values can be bound to a DataReader.

The following decision tree can be used as a guideline when deciding how to bind the data:

Data Binding