Stair-Stacked Pie Chart

In the chart sample framework gallery, there is a very cool image of a stair-stepped pie chart that I decided to replicate.

How to Create Stair Stacked Pie Chart

Essentially, you need to create three chart areas and overlap them using manual positioning.  You have to fiddle with some chart area settings, but the steps below should help you get started.

1.    Drop chart onto web page.
2.    Copy and paste code below, substituting the name of your chart (probably Chart1) into the DoStackStairPie method.

...
using System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting;

namespace BetterDashboards.Samples
{
	/// <summary>
    /// Summary description for StairStackedPie.
	/// </summary>
    public partial class StairStackedPie : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Page Load event handler.
        /// </summary>
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            // Replace with the name of your chart (by default it is Chart1)
            DoStairStackPie(this.Chart1);
        }

        private void DoStairStackPie(Chart chart)
        {
            Random rand = new Random();

            // Clear all chart areas and all series
            chart.ChartAreas.Clear();
            chart.Series.Clear();

            for (int i=0; i < 3; i++)
            {
                // Create 3 new chart areas
                chart.ChartAreas.Add("Area" + i);

                // Create 3 new pie chart series
                chart.Series.Add("Series" + i);
                chart.Series[i].ChartType = SeriesChartType.Pie;

                // Associate each series with a different chart area
                chart.Series[i].ChartArea = "Area" + i;

                // Insert random data points for the chart
                for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
                    chart.Series[i].Points.AddXY(j, rand.Next(0, 20));
            }

            ChartArea chartArea1 = chart.ChartAreas[0];
            ChartArea chartArea2 = chart.ChartAreas[1];
            ChartArea chartArea3 = chart.ChartAreas[2];

            // Chart Area 1
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.IsClustered = true;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.Perspective = 10;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.PointGapDepth = 900;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.IsRightAngleAxes = false;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.WallWidth = 25;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.Rotation = 65;
            chartArea1.Area3DStyle.Inclination = 35;
            chartArea1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
            chartArea1.BackSecondaryColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
            chartArea1.InnerPlotPosition.Auto = false;
            chartArea1.InnerPlotPosition.Height = 95F;
            chartArea1.InnerPlotPosition.Width = 85F;
            chartArea1.Position.Auto = false;
            chartArea1.Position.Height = 70F;
            chartArea1.Position.Width = 52F;
            chartArea1.Position.X = 48F;
            chartArea1.Position.Y = 30F;

            // Chart Area 2
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.IsClustered = true;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.Perspective = 10;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.PointGapDepth = 900;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.IsRightAngleAxes = false;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.WallWidth = 25;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.Rotation = 65;
            chartArea2.Area3DStyle.Inclination = 35;
            chartArea2.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
            chartArea2.BackSecondaryColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
            chartArea2.InnerPlotPosition.Auto = false;
            chartArea2.InnerPlotPosition.Height = 95F;
            chartArea2.InnerPlotPosition.Width = 85F;
            chartArea2.Position.Auto = false;
            chartArea2.Position.Height = 70F;
            chartArea2.Position.Width = 52F;
            chartArea2.Position.X = 26.5F;
            chartArea2.Position.Y = 15F;

            // Chart Area 3
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.IsClustered = true;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.Enable3D = true;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.Perspective = 10;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.PointGapDepth = 900;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.IsRightAngleAxes = false;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.WallWidth = 25;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.Rotation = 65;
            chartArea3.Area3DStyle.Inclination = 35;
            chartArea3.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
            chartArea3.BackSecondaryColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
            chartArea3.InnerPlotPosition.Auto = false;
            chartArea3.InnerPlotPosition.Height = 95F;
            chartArea3.InnerPlotPosition.Width = 85F;
            chartArea3.Position.Auto = false;
            chartArea3.Position.Height = 70F;
            chartArea3.Position.Width = 52F;
            chartArea3.Position.X = 5F;
        }
    }
}

(Sidebar: The design-time experience with the Microsoft chart control is nowhere near as clean or as valuable as the Dundas experience.  As a result, I suspect there will be a lot of Microsoft charts that replicate the look and feel of the charts in the sample framework; developers are not known for their graphical prowess, and graphic designers will be scared to death to try to create anything decent-looking using Visual Studio.  Hopefully the Silverlight chart will make it easier to bring graphic artists into the fold.)