Comparison between MS Charts and ZedGraph ?

Question

Question: Anybody has experience with ZedGraph / MS-Chart controls ?

I am thinking about which to use ?

Basically, I have a tendency to ZedGraph,
because I need .NET framework 2.0 while MS-Chart is 3.5 (and I don't know how well a 3.5 assembly works on 2.0)
and because I could use it privately, too (I use Linux privately).

But I don't know if MS-Charts offers more.
Does ZedGraph for example offer reasonable quality 3d piecharts ?
And reasonable color design, like gradient colors ?
And if it does, is it as simple (or nearly as simple) as MS-Chart controls ?
And does ZedGraph offer databinding, e.g. a datatable from a database ?

Answer 1

I have used MSCharts since they went RTM and have been pleased with them for many different kinds of charts; however, I find them deficient when I want to generate a plot or a graph. For these, ZedGraph seems to offer a more appealing solution.

The MSChart Samples environment can give you a good idea of the capabilities of that library. You can compare the samples environment to the demos from the ZedGraph wiki to see they have a lot of overlapping capability. I've just found that this kind of chart is pretty difficult to create with MSChart.

Answer 2

I haven't used MSChart, but from my experience with ZedGraph, you can't make 3-d charts. ZedGraph also requires a bit of tweaking to make really sharp looking graphs (if you notice, most of their examples don't qualify for this title).

Answer 3

I've tried some example in my free time. With a bit of minor tweaking, ZedGraph's quality is just as good as MS/Dundas Chart controls.

Here's an example of a 3d piechart: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/web-image/3dpiechart.aspx

Zedgraph is a bit more user-unfriendy than MS/Dundas chart controls. However, Zedgraph is also more powerful and faster, while the rendering quality is the same. Plus Zedgraph is cross-platform, while MS-Chart controls is limited to windows (by license, not by technique).

So the way to go is definitely Zedgraph. A deeper reason can be found here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/MSWinWebChart/thread/1271d98f-f52e-424d-a0dc-8bc831a5f4b8