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Using OrdinalTimeXAxis

This topic demonstrates, with code examples, how to use the OrdinalTimeXAxis in the UltraDataChart control. The benefit of using this axis is to dynamically change DateTime label formats as you zoom in or out of your data.

In this topic

This topic is organized as follows:

Overview

The OrdinalTimeXAxis may be used with the following series:

The main difference between the OrdinalTimeXAxis and the TimeXAxis is that in the ordinal axis, the dates displayed are assumed to be equidistant. The TimeXAxis currently sorts and aligns them according to a chronological timescale.

Below is a code example on how to add the OrdinalTimeXAxis to the chart:

In C#:

var dataChart = new UltraDataChart();

var ordinalAxis = new OrdinalTimeXAxis();
ordinalAxis.ItemsSource = data;
ordinalAxis.DateTimeMemberPath = "Date";

dataChart.Axes.Add(ordinalAxis);

In Visual Basic:

Dim dataChart As UltraDataChart = New UltraDataChart()

Dim ordinalAxis As OrdinalTimeXAxis = New OrdinalTimeXAxis()
ordinalAxis.ItemsSource = data
ordinalAxis.DateTimeMemberPath = "Date"

dataChart.Axes.Add(ordinalAxis)

Below is a screenshot demonstrating the usage of the OrdinalTimeXAxis with a FinancialPriceSeries:

ordinal_time_axis.png

Axis Label Formats

The OrdinalTimeXAxis has the LabelFormats property which is a collection of type TimeAxisLabelFormat. Each TimeAxisLabelFormat added to the collection is responsible for assigning a unique Format and Range. This can be especially useful for drilling data from years to milliseconds and adjusting the labels depending on the range of time shown by the chart.

Name Type Description

string

Specifies what format to use for the visible range.

TimeSpan

Specifies the visible range at which the axis label formats will switch to a different format. For example, if you have two TimeAxisLabelFormat with a range set to 10 days and another set to 5 hours, as soon as the visible range in the axis becomes less than 10 days it will switch to 5 hour format.

The following lists a typical set of label formats for the given amount of time in view:

  1. 1825 days or more (eg. 5 years) will result in a format of "yyyy".

  2. 365 days or more (eg. 1 year) will result in a format of "MMM yy".

  3. 1 day or more will result in a format of "MMM-dd-yy".

  4. 5 hours or more will result in a format of "hh:mm".

  5. Below 5 hours will result in a format of "hh:mm:ss".

In C#:

var DataChart = new UltraDataChart();
var ordinalTimeXAxis = new OrdinalTimeXAxis();
DataChart.Axes.Add(ordinalTimeXAxis);

var axisFormat = ordinalTimeXAxis.LabelFormats;

axisFormat.Add(new TimeAxisLabelFormat
{
    Format = "hh:mm:ss",
    Range = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
});

axisFormat.Add(new TimeAxisLabelFormat
{
    Format = "hh:mm",
    Range = new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0, 0, 0)
});

axisFormat.Add(new TimeAxisLabelFormat
{
    Format = "MMM-dd-yy",
    Range = new TimeSpan(1, 0, 0, 0, 0)
});

axisFormat.Add(new TimeAxisLabelFormat
{
    Format = "MMM yy",
    Range = new TimeSpan(365, 0, 0, 0, 0)
});

axisFormat.Add(new TimeAxisLabelFormat
{
    Format = "yyyy",
    Range = new TimeSpan(1825, 0, 0, 0, 0)
});

In Visual Basic:

Dim DataChart = New UltraDataChart()
Dim ordinalTimeXAxis = New OrdinalTimeXAxis()
DataChart.Axes.Add(timeXAxis)

Dim axisFormat = ordinalTimeXAxis.LabelFormats
axisFormat.Add(New TimeAxisLabelFormat() With { _
	.Format = "hh:mm:ss", _
	.Range = New TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 0, 0) _
})

axisFormat.Add(New TimeAxisLabelFormat() With { _
	.Format = "hh:mm", _
	.Range = New TimeSpan(0, 5, 0, 0, 0) _
})

axisFormat.Add(New TimeAxisLabelFormat() With { _
	.Format = "MMM-dd-yy", _
	.Range = New TimeSpan(1, 0, 0, 0, 0) _
})

axisFormat.Add(New TimeAxisLabelFormat() With { _
	.Format = "MMM yy", _
	.Range = New TimeSpan(365, 0, 0, 0, 0) _
})

axisFormat.Add(New TimeAxisLabelFormat() With { _
	.Format = "yyyy", _
	.Range = New TimeSpan(1825, 0, 0, 0, 0) _
})

Below is a screenshot demonstrating the usage of the OrdinalTimeXAxis with a FinancialPriceSeries with label formatting:

ordinal_time_axis_formatting.png