Step Line Chart

Jul 11, 2025
3 minutes to read

Short Description

The Step Line Chart is represented by the StepLineSeriesView object, which belongs to Point and Line Series Views. This view is useful when you need to show to what extent values have changed for different points in the same series. Also, you can set the StepLineSeriesView.InvertedStep property to true to specify whether these steps are shown as inverted or not.

A Step Line chart is shown in the image below. Note that this chart type is based upon the XYDiagram, so it can be rotated to show lines either vertically or horizontally.

Chart Type Characteristics

The table below lists the main characteristics of this chart type.

Feature	Value
Series View type	StepLineSeriesView
Diagram type	2D-XYDiagram
Number of arguments per series point	1
Number of values per series point	1

Note

For information on which chart types can be combined with the Step Line Chart , refer to the Series Views Compatibility document.

Examples

Create a Step Line Chart

The following example demonstrates how to create a ChartControl with a series of the StepLineSeriesView type, and add this chart to a form at runtime. Before proceeding with this example, first create a Windows Forms Application in Visual Studio, and include all necessary assemblies to the References list of your project.

Then, add the following code to the Form.Load event handler.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using DevExpress.XtraCharts;
// ...

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    // Create a new chart.
    ChartControl stepLineChart = new ChartControl();

    // Create a step line series.
    Series series1 = new Series("Series 1", ViewType.StepLine);

    // Add points to it.
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("A", 12));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("B", 4));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("C", 17));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("D", 7));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("E", 12));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("F", 4));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("G", 17));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("H", 7));

    // Add the series to the chart.
    stepLineChart.Series.Add(series1);

    // Customize the view-type-specific properties of the series.
    StepLineSeriesView myView = (StepLineSeriesView)series1.View;
    myView.LineMarkerOptions.Kind = MarkerKind.Star;
    myView.LineMarkerOptions.StarPointCount = 5;
    myView.LineStyle.DashStyle = DashStyle.Dash;

    // Access the diagram's options.
    ((XYDiagram)stepLineChart.Diagram).EnableAxisXZooming = true;

    // Hide the legend (if necessary).
    stepLineChart.Legend.Visible = false;

    // Add a title to the chart (if necessary).
    stepLineChart.Titles.Add(new ChartTitle());
    stepLineChart.Titles[0].Text = "A Step Line Chart";

    // Add the chart to the form.
    stepLineChart.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
    this.Controls.Add(stepLineChart);
}

Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports DevExpress.XtraCharts
' ...

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) _ 
Handles MyBase.Load
    ' Create a new chart.
    Dim stepLineChart As New ChartControl()

    ' Create a step line series.
    Dim series1 As New Series("Series 1", ViewType.StepLine)

    ' Add points to it.
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("A", 12))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("B", 4))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("C", 17))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("D", 7))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("E", 12))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("F", 4))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("G", 17))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("H", 7))

    ' Add the series to the chart.
    stepLineChart.Series.Add(series1)

    ' Customize the view-type-specific properties of the series.
    Dim myView As StepLineSeriesView = CType(series1.View, StepLineSeriesView)
    myView.LineMarkerOptions.Kind = MarkerKind.Star
    myView.LineMarkerOptions.StarPointCount = 5
    myView.LineStyle.DashStyle = DashStyle.Dash

    ' Access the diagram's options.
    CType(stepLineChart.Diagram, XYDiagram).EnableAxisXZooming = True

    ' Hide the legend (if necessary).
    stepLineChart.Legend.Visible = False

    ' Add a title to the chart (if necessary).
    stepLineChart.Titles.Add(New ChartTitle())
    stepLineChart.Titles(0).Text = "A Step Line Chart"

    ' Add the chart to the form.
    stepLineChart.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
    Me.Controls.Add(stepLineChart)
End Sub

Change the Series Line Color when the Value is under a Predefined Level

This example creates a step line chart with the capability to change the series line color when the value is under a predefined level.

View Example