The following describes the three methods by which gauge-related tasks can be accomplished, starting with the simplest method and ending with the most complex:

1. Use the Report Designer dialogs, including the wizard (easiest method).
2. Use the Advanced Tab of the Gauge Designer dialog.
3. Use scripting in the Code Editor to perform tasks dynamically (most complex method).
   
   

    

   Note
   Do not use the Properties Window of Visual Studio to set properties of the Gauge control. Many of these properties have no effect, please use the dialogs instead.

    

Report Designer Dialogs

The report dialogs provide a UI for working with the Gauge control.

The following briefly lists and describes these dialogs:

• Gauge Wizard: launched when an instance of the control is dropped onto a report layout. Use this wizard to select the type of main gauge to be displayed by the control, optionally specify value and grouping fields, and also set a title.
  

   

  Note
  The type of main gauge created by the wizard determines the tabs and their content that are displayed by the Gauge Designer and Sub-Gauge Designer dialogs.

   

   
• Gauge Designer Dialog: use this dialog to set various properties of the Gauge control, add sub-gauges, specify actions, and work with pointers, ranges and scales.
• Sub-Gauge Designer Dialog: this dialog can be displayed by selecting a sub-gauge and clicking on the Properties button from the Sub-Gauges tab of the main Gauge Designer dialog mentioned above.
  
  Use the dialog to:
  • add and remove sub-gauges.
  • set the properties of sub-gauges.
• Grouping, Filtering and Sorting Dialog: use this dialog to group, filter or sort the raw data provided to the control by SQL Server.
  
  
  Default values are used for all numerical gauge properties exposed by the dialogs when the fields are left blank.

Advanced Tab of the Gauge Designer Dialog

If the previous dialogs do not suffice then try the Advanced tab of the Gauge Designer dialog (see figure below), which exposes much of the control's API.

Use this tab by selecting a gauge object (click on an element displayed within the sample gauge or use the dropdown listbox) and then set that object's properties.

For more information see the Advanced Tab topic.

Figure 1: The Advanced tab of the Gauge Designer™ wizard.

Script in the Code Editor

Finally, if the Advanced tab does not offer the functionality needed then you can use the control's API and the Code Editor (see figure below).

You can write script (either C# or VB.NET) in the editor, which is then executed just before the control is rendered.

Use the Programmers Reference chapter in this documentation for a complete description of the control's API.

 
Figure 2: Use the Code Editor to write script, in either C# or VB.NET, to handle specific Gauge events.

For more information about scripting within the code editor, see the topic on the Code Editor.

See Also

Copyright © 2005 - 2008, Dundas Data Visualization, Inc. and others.