Extending chart functionality in SSRS

Question

The default chart object in the SQL Server (2005) Business Intelligence Development Studio doesn't seem to some have formatting options like :

1. specifying the text direction of labels in the x and y axis
2. adding a trendline to a bar chart
3. arbitrarily resizing items in a chart - for example, if I resize the chart object, everything gets resized accordingly but I can't keep the size of the chart the same while extending the area of the legend for instance.
4. multiline chart labels

So what I want to know is (i) is there any easy answer to the formatting problems mentioned above? (ii) what websites/books/resources/examples would you recommend I look into for extending the functionality of the chart object?

Answer 1

yes you can specify the text direction of labels in the x and y axis

1. Go to chart properties and in the tab x and y axis enter the chart title and in the title align use the combination like left/right/center align.
2. you can change the legend line go to the chart properties click legend tab inside this there is an option for "display legend inside plot area" and you can include the trendline there
3. you can use multiline text labels when the text limits extends

Answer 2

I don't see how you can resize the legend, puting inside the plot area looks ugly for pie-chart

Answer 3

Some colleagues of mine gave up on the stock control and bought Dundas charts

The stock charts are cut down versions of Dundas.

Answer 4

I'd recommend go with the dundas chart components gbn suggested. If that's not possible at least this article should solve issue 1.

Answer 5

I would suggest that you give Nevron Chart for SSRS a try. By far it is the only alternative charting engine for SSRS 2005/2008. It can display more charting types than any other chart for SSRS, has simply great axes and has true 3D support.