LightningChart 12.0.1.1

• net6.0

  • System.Drawing.Common (>= 7.0.0)

• UAP 10.0

  • Microsoft.NETCore.UniversalWindowsPlatform (>= 6.2.13)
  • Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp (>= 7.1.2)

LC .NET version 12.0.1.1

Released June 10th, 2024.

In this release we added new features, improvements and fixed several bugs. We added ImageLayer in ViewXY, IntensityGridSeriesPolar or Heatmap in ViewPolar, added TransparencyRenderMode for all 3D series, improved DataCursor configuration options and made LightningChart control compatible with XAML serializer.

ImageLayer

ImageLayer is a very large image layer, which can be gradually filled with smaller images. The accumulation of smaller images is done in the background thread, thus keeping Chart UI thread responsive and fast (for example zooming could be done while images are loaded). While compounding ImageLayer from many smaller bitmaps requires a lot of memory, the chart itself remains very interactive & fast (during and after layer is loaded). On top of ImageLayer all ViewXY series can be rendered. It is possible to create multiple ImageLayers and each layer's visibility can be switched on/off independently. On top of main layers, several sublayers of images could be created, each of them reduces pixel count approximately by factor 4. This allows fast interaction in application with all zoom levels (works similarly as tiles of geographical maps).

This feature will be handy in Semiconductor industry, where optical measuring systems are used for surface analysis. The surface in question could be silicon wafers, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) or similar. However, any application which requires a display of a very large image and needs fast zooming, could use this feature. If there is information about each sub-image position and size (in XY axes units), users can create a collage of any size.

Polar Heatmap/ IntensityGrid

IntensityGridSeriesPolar is like intensity grid series in XY chart. IntensityGrid allows visualizing M x N array of nodes, colored by assigned value-range palette. The colors between the nodes are interpolated. IntensityGridSeriesPolar is evenly spaced in Polar space. The data is stored in Data property as two-dimensional array of doubles [Angle, Amplitude]. MinimumAmplitude and MaximumAmplitude properties define the amplitude range where the grid should be fitted, while BeginAngle and EndAngle properties set range for the angles. For streaming/real-time application users should use Series.UpdateData() method.

DataCursor improvements

Now DataCursor for all views (XY, 3D, Polar or Smith) has Configuration property tree. There user can find properties to control color, style and visibility of label for each axis independently. The default text color is Series.Title.Color, default label's fill color is tracked pixel color and default label's border color is white.

3D TransparencyRenderMode property/feature

In this release TransparencyRenderMode property was added to all remaining series (it was already added for 3D-surface-series and PointLineSeries3D in v10.5.1): BarSeries3D, MeshModels, Polygon3D, VolumeModel and Rectangle3D. When different types of translucent series/objects are rendered in 3D charts, ShaderApproximation option of TransparencyRenderMode should be used. The new feature helps to mitigate artifacts and improve translucent object handling in the chart. This new way to handle translucent surface/lines is available only when DirectX 11 renderer is used (i.e. RendererDeviceType is either HardwareOnlyD11 or SoftwareOnlyD11).

XAML serialization compatibility

LightningChart .NET now supports XAML serialization. This means that .NET class XamlWriter can be used to serialize LightningChart object into XAML markup, while .NET class XamlReader can be used to read XAML input and create a LightningChart object. By using XamlWriter.Save() and XamlReader.Load() methods user can save the state of the Chart (save value for the most of its properties) and import that state next time user opens the application.

Notes: 1) Series Data/Points properties are not serialized; 2) VolumeModel properties are not serialized; 3) starting from this version it is perfectly fine to create chart in *.xaml code with non-bindable edition of LightningChart, although if someone needs to bind chart properties, then MVVM edition of LightningChart should be used.

Interactive Examples App

New examples have been added to Interactives Examples App (Demo) to demonstrate the new features. In particular, ExampleImageLayer, ExampleHeatMapPolar, ExampleXamlSerialization and ExampleTranslucentChart3D have been added. The source code of the new examples can be extracted as non-bindable WPF or WinForms (for both .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET 6.0). While ExampleXamlSerialization shows how ‘state’ of a chart could be saved and restored, Demo allows to save XAML string of serialized Chart of any example (button ‘Extract Xml’).


Check out the rest of the changelog for detailed information.

This is a full listing of the changes in version 12.0.1 against 11.0.1