Hello!

First, to admit, from the several days use of the chart control, it's awesome. It really surpasses the old MS Chart version, bundled in VS 2005 or older and other controls I have come across. However, there is a "small" problem I am facing and am still pondering what to do.

My application doesn't have anything special and it can successfully run under .NET Framework 2.0.

Now, if we refer to Framework sizes, it is clearly visible that v2.0 is circa 25 MB and v3.5 is around 190 MB.

You understand yourself that if I have to tell customers to download 200 MB, where 190 will be the .NET Framework itself, this will be very disappointing and probably some(if not unfortunately most) of them will refuse to try my software just because of the big size.

And, actually the Chart Control is the only reason for me to mark my project's target framework to v3.5. As I already said, there is nothing else that requires the newest version available.

What can you advise me to ?

Penko

Hi Penko,

While not supported, the Chart control can run under 2.0.

If you are developing an ASP app, only the server needs to have the .NetFX installed, not the client.

If you want to try the 4.0 framework beta that is coming out, there is going to be a client SKU that is much smaller and will include Winform Chart as well. The size, if I recall is under 40mb maybe even 30.

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Brad Syputa, Microsoft Reporting Services This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Hi Penko,

While not supported, the Chart control can run under 2.0.

If you are developing an ASP app, only the server needs to have the .NetFX installed, not the client.

If you want to try the 4.0 framework beta that is coming out, there is going to be a client SKU that is much smaller and will include Winform Chart as well. The size, if I recall is under 40mb maybe even 30.

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Brad Syputa, Microsoft Reporting Services This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

Brad, thank you for your reply.

You said that the Chart control can run under 2.0, despite the unofficial way? Could you throw some light on this, because by the time I started testing my application on several other computers, all of them started to mumble that the control requires version 3.5, what's more SP 1. So, any help on this will be appreciated.

Actually, I am not developing an ASP.NET webpage, but a desktop-based application, so it is from a great importance to try reducing the setup executable, because I will be selling online and users are going to download the software from a web page...

Surely, I am going to check the .NET Framework 4.0 out as soon as it is released. However, despite any new cool features, I won't be able to implement them, because I will be completely ready with the application in just one or two weeks and I suppose you won't have released the official version, having official installing executable and etc within this period.

So, if possible, I will try making the Chart Control work under 2.0(depending on what you are going to say) and when the situation changes, I am going to provide update for my users, so that I am doing things the best way.

Looking forward to hear your idea...

Regards,
Penko

Hmmm. Now that I understand your scenario, it makes sense tohave Chart supportedand running with the 3.5 framework. I would not want customers of the Chart to be unsupported by Microsoft and cannot recommend selling an app based off of 2.0 framework.

That aside, Setup for Chart Redist has the pre-req. WinForm Chart itself does not.

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Brad Syputa, Microsoft Reporting Services This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

So, Brad, what you are saying now, is that for deployment of the Chart control with a desktop-based application, it is necessary to ensure .NET Framework 3.5.

Unfortunately, the dilemma still says because it is only the charts that require this huge step.

I am worried about something. Several days ago I decided to test out my application on another PC. I downloaded the online installation package(the one having smaller size) and started installing. The installation took 15 minutes. And the PC itself has good hardware...

Won't it be bad if I harass my customers with this long-durating installations? Is there any way to install just the necessary files AS fast AS possible?

Then, I will agree to tell customers to ensure Internet connection for my application installation(it is web link download, but there are also scenarios, for example the user downloads the software from their office, if they don't have internet connection at home) and I will be using the online .NET Framework 3.5 package and will just start it so that it installs everything necessary.

Of course, I still need some configuration scheme that gets as less as possible time to fulfill the installation.

I will alternatively inform users who don't have internet connection and are transferring the application via flash drives, CDs, etc... to manually download the .NET Framework and install it on their computer prior to installing my application, because as I already said, if I am going to deploy the .NET Framework(a thing I have to do after all), it will be the online version, hence users are required to have internet connection in order to be able to install the Framework correctly.


So, is the slow installation due to my computer or it is a normal thing for version 3.5? Are there any parameters, allowing me to control the installation process and so reduce its duration(if possible, as already mentioned)?

I just want to avoid users getting frustrated by the long duration of the installation. For non-technical guys, each component as a separate part of the installation won't say much, so they will have summarized opinion for the whole installation experience. That's why I am worried, that's what I am trying to remedy.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Penko

Penko,
I don't know if you are still following this thread but I have found a way to use the Chart Controls with the 2.0 framework without needing to have my customers install the entire 3.5 framework. To get it to work I first had to install the 3.5 SP1 framework on a computer so I could install the Microsoft Chart Controls so that I could get to the Chart Control assemblies. When the chart controls installit looks like theyare put in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Chart Controls\Assemblies or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Chart Controls\Assemblies (for anx64 OS). I copied the dll's from the assemblies folder and included them in my desktop application build. When my application istalls I place the Chart Chart Control assemblies in the same folder as my main application. The graphs seem to work fine without the 3.5 sp1 framework.

Here are the dlls that I include:
System.Web.DataVisualization.Design.dll
System.Web.DataVisualization.dll
System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Design.dll
System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.dll

I hope this helps.

Gilbert

Gilbert,

Thank you for posting :).

This sounds a good solution, but the question is whether it's reliable enough or not :).

Could you please clarify a little bit more how are you using it and if it really works on 100%?

Penko

Penko,

Let me clarify. I am using the chart control to display a bar graph with trend lines. The graph is bound to a datatable. As far as I can tell I have not lost any functionality for what I need to do. The graphs seem to look and act the same way on a computer with only the 2.0 framework as a it does on a computer with the 3.5 SP1 framework. In the past week of testing this I have not had any .net framework errors or any other problems with my application due to running it with graphs in a 2.0 framework environment.The best optionfor you may be to set up a computer withonly the 2.0 framework andtest your graphs on it to find out if will really work for you. For me all I had to do to getgraphsto work in a 2.0 framework environment was to put the DataVisualization dlls in the same folder as my application files.I'm not sure if I have answered your question, I hope this helps.

Gilbert

Gilbert,

thank you for your response.

In fact, I will put this in the to-do list and will think more on it. It will surely lighten the installation as 2.0 is much smaller than 3.5, even if you use Internet Installation.

Thank you for sharing this information.

Penko

Hi Gilbert,

I do have a similar problem working with Gantt Charts on SSRS 2005 for VS 2005. I would like to know what is the absolute path to be copied below dll files. And are there any configuration settings on my reporting server to be done. Could you please ellaborate how to setup the configuration for complete charts to work.

DLL Files:
System.Web.DataVisualization.Design.dll
System.Web.DataVisualization.dll
System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Design.dll
System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.dll

Regards,
Ravi.G