Side-by-Side Gantt Chart

Jan 15, 2024
6 minutes to read

Short Description

The Side-by-Side Gantt Chart is represented by the SideBySideGanttSeriesView object, which belongs to Gantt Series Views (also called Time or Timeline charts). This view displays horizontal bars along the time axis. Each bar represents a separate event with the start and end values, hence these charts are used to track different activities during the time frame (e.g. plan the use of various resources, review the project’s completion in project management, etc.). This chart type is useful when it’s necessary to show activity bars from different series one above another, to compare their duration.

Note

To learn how to exclude holidays and weekends from an axis scale, refer to Data Aggregation.

A Side-by-Side Gantt chart is shown in the following image.

Note that it’s common for Gantt charts to show the date-time axis (axis of values) horizontally, hence the Gantt chart can’t be rotated. This is the reason why the GanttDiagram.Rotated property for the GanttDiagram is hidden and unavailable.

Chart Type Characteristics

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

Feature	Value
Series View type	SideBySideGanttSeriesView
Diagram type	2D-GanttDiagram
Number of arguments per series point	1
Number of values per series point	2 date-time values (Start and End)

Note

For information on which chart types can be combined with the Side-by-Side Gantt Chart , refer to the Series Views Compatibility document.

Example

For a design time example on how to create a Gantt chart, refer to How to: Create a Gantt Chart with Task Links.

The following example demonstrates how to create a ChartControl with two series of the SideBySideGanttSeriesView 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.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using DevExpress.XtraCharts;
// ...

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

    // Create two Gantt series.
    Series series1 = new Series("Estimation", ViewType.SideBySideGantt);
    Series series2 = new Series("Implementation", ViewType.SideBySideGantt);

    // Specify the date-time value scale type,
    // because it is qualitative by default.
    series1.ValueScaleType = ScaleType.DateTime;
    series2.ValueScaleType = ScaleType.DateTime;

    // Add points to them.
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 1", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 8, 16), new DateTime(2006, 8, 31) }));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 2", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 8, 31), new DateTime(2006, 9, 15) }));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 3", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 9, 15), new DateTime(2006, 9, 30) }));
    series1.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 4", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 9, 30), new DateTime(2006, 10, 15) }));

    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 1", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 8, 16), new DateTime(2006, 9, 5) }));
    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 2", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 9, 5), new DateTime(2006, 9, 22) }));
    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 3", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 9, 22), new DateTime(2006, 10, 10) }));
    series2.Points.Add(new SeriesPoint("Task 4", new DateTime[] { 
    new DateTime(2006, 10, 10), new DateTime(2006, 10, 23) }));

    // Add both series to the chart.
    ganttChart.Series.AddRange(new Series[] { series1, series2});

    // Access the view-type-specific options of the second series.
    SideBySideGanttSeriesView myView2 = (SideBySideGanttSeriesView)series2.View;

    myView2.MaxValueMarker.Visible = true;
    myView2.MaxValueMarker.Kind = MarkerKind.Star;
    myView2.MaxValueMarker.StarPointCount = 5;
    myView2.MaxValueMarker.Size = 10;

    myView2.MinValueMarker.Visible = true;
    myView2.MinValueMarker.Kind = MarkerKind.Circle;
    myView2.MinValueMarker.Size = 10;

    myView2.BarWidth = 0.5;

    // Customize the chart (if necessary).
    GanttDiagram myDiagram = (GanttDiagram)ganttChart.Diagram;

    myDiagram.AxisX.Title.Visible = true;
    myDiagram.AxisX.Title.Text = "Tasks";
    myDiagram.AxisY.Interlaced = true;
    myDiagram.AxisY.GridSpacing = 10;
    myDiagram.AxisY.Label.Angle = -30;
    myDiagram.AxisY.DateTimeOptions.Format = DateTimeFormat.MonthAndDay;

    // Customize the legend (if necessary).
    ganttChart.Legend.AlignmentHorizontal = LegendAlignmentHorizontal.Right;
    ganttChart.Legend.AlignmentVertical = LegendAlignmentVertical.TopOutside;
    ganttChart.Legend.Direction = LegendDirection.LeftToRight;

    // Add a constant line.
    ConstantLine deadline = new ConstantLine("Deadline", new DateTime(2006, 10, 15));
    deadline.ShowInLegend = false;
    deadline.Title.Alignment = ConstantLineTitleAlignment.Far;
    deadline.Color = Color.Red;
    myDiagram.AxisY.ConstantLines.Add(deadline);

    // Add a title to the chart (if necessary).
    ganttChart.Titles.Add(new ChartTitle());
    ganttChart.Titles[0].Text = "A Side-by-Side Gantt Chart";

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

Imports System
Imports System.Drawing
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 ganttChart As New ChartControl()

    ' Create two Gantt series.
    Dim series1 As New Series("Estimation", ViewType.SideBySideGantt)
    Dim series2 As New Series("Implementation", ViewType.SideBySideGantt)

    ' Specify the date-time value scale type,
    ' because it is qualitative by default.
    series1.ValueScaleType = ScaleType.DateTime
    series2.ValueScaleType = ScaleType.DateTime

    ' Add points to them.
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 1", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 8, 16), New DateTime(2006, 8, 31) }))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 2", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 8, 31), New DateTime(2006, 9, 15) }))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 3", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 9, 15), New DateTime(2006, 9, 30) }))
    series1.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 4", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 9, 30), New DateTime(2006, 10, 15) }))

    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 1", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 8, 16), New DateTime(2006, 9, 5) }))
    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 2", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 9, 5), New DateTime(2006, 9, 22) }))
    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 3", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 9, 22), New DateTime(2006, 10, 10) }))
    series2.Points.Add(New SeriesPoint("Task 4", New DateTime() _ 
{ New DateTime(2006, 10, 10), New DateTime(2006, 10, 23) }))

    ' Add both series to the chart.
    ganttChart.Series.AddRange(New Series() { series1, series2})

    ' Access the view-type-specific options of the second series.
    Dim myView2 As SideBySideGanttSeriesView = _ 
        CType(series2.View, SideBySideGanttSeriesView)

    myView2.MaxValueMarker.Visible = True
    myView2.MaxValueMarker.Kind = MarkerKind.Star
    myView2.MaxValueMarker.StarPointCount = 5
    myView2.MaxValueMarker.Size = 10

    myView2.MinValueMarker.Visible = True
    myView2.MinValueMarker.Kind = MarkerKind.Circle
    myView2.MinValueMarker.Size = 10

    myView2.BarWidth = 0.5

    ' Customize the chart (if necessary).
    Dim myDiagram As GanttDiagram = CType(ganttChart.Diagram, GanttDiagram)

    myDiagram.AxisX.Title.Visible = True
    myDiagram.AxisX.Title.Text = "Tasks"
    myDiagram.AxisY.Interlaced = True
    myDiagram.AxisY.GridSpacing = 10
    myDiagram.AxisY.Label.Angle = -30
    myDiagram.AxisY.DateTimeOptions.Format = DateTimeFormat.MonthAndDay

    ' Customize the legend (if necessary).
    ganttChart.Legend.AlignmentHorizontal = LegendAlignmentHorizontal.Right
    ganttChart.Legend.AlignmentVertical = LegendAlignmentVertical.TopOutside
    ganttChart.Legend.Direction = LegendDirection.LeftToRight

    ' Add a constant line.
    Dim deadline As New ConstantLine("Deadline", New DateTime(2006, 10, 15))
    deadline.ShowInLegend = False
    deadline.Title.Alignment = ConstantLineTitleAlignment.Far
    deadline.Color = Color.Red
    myDiagram.AxisY.ConstantLines.Add(deadline)

    ' Add a title to the chart (if necessary).
    ganttChart.Titles.Add(New ChartTitle())
    ganttChart.Titles(0).Text = "A Side-by-Side Gantt Chart"

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