.NET News

Reveal Correlations with Visual Data Points

April 17, 2025
Visually explore relationships, outliers, and data ranges with intuitive scatter charts, enabling clear understanding and informed analysis.

Scatter charts, also known as scatter plots or scatter diagrams, are fundamental visualization tools used to explore the relationship between two continuous variables by plotting data points, where each point's position is determined by its corresponding values for the two variables. This visual representation effectively reveals correlations and helps identify outliers, clusters, and the overall range and distribution of the data. The benefits of using scatter charts include their simplicity in conveying complex relationships, their ability to highlight anomalies that might be missed in tabular data, and their role as a precursor to more advanced statistical analyses like regression.

Several .NET WinForms chart controls offer scatter charts including:

  • DevExpress WinForms Chart (part of DevExpress WinForms) facilitates insightful data analysis by visualizing correlations and distributions through interactive scatter plots with rich styling options.
  • TeeChart WinForms by Steema Software allows developers to create diverse scatter series with point customization, trendline analysis, and zooming for detailed data exploration.
  • Syncfusion WinForms Chart (part of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise) enables the creation of visually appealing scatter charts with features like data labels, tooltips, and multiple series for comparative relationship analysis.
  • ProEssentials by GigaSoft provides high-performance scatter charts to reveal trends, clusters, and outliers for fast, real-time, interactive data exploration and informed analytics.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our .NET WinForms chart controls comparison.

Compare .NET WinForms Chart Controls

Connect Dashboards to Azure SQL Using Entra

April 17, 2025
DevExpress BI Dashboard 24.2 adds enhanced security and connectivity by integrating Microsoft Entra authentication for Azure SQL databases.

DevExpress BI Dashboard (part of DevExpress Universal) empowers you to craft interactive dashboards for desktop, web and mobile applications. It provides a visual designer for building dashboards without writing code, allowing you to drag-and-drop various data visualization widgets onto the canvas. These widgets connect to your data sources and update dynamically, offering real-time insights to end users. The tool also supports customization through properties and events, enabling you to tailor the look and feel of the dashboards to perfectly integrate with your application's design.

The DevExpress BI Dashboard 24.2 update enhances data security and simplifies connectivity by integrating Microsoft Entra authentication for Azure SQL databases. This update allows developers to use modern Active Directory-based authentication methods, such as ActiveDirectoryPassword, ActiveDirectoryIntegrated, ActiveDirectoryInteractive, and ActiveDirectoryDefault, ensuring that access to critical data is both secure and compliant with current enterprise standards.

To see a full list of what's new in version 24.2, see our release notes.

DevExpress BI Dashboard is included as part of DevExpress Universal which is licensed per developer and is available as a Perpetual License with a 12 month support and maintenance subscription. See our DevExpress Universal licensing page for full details.

DevExpress BI Dashboard is available in the following products:

Unlock Rich Messaging with MIME in .NET

April 17, 2025
MIME support in .NET components streamlines email handling, enabling secure, multi-format messages with attachments and global character sets.

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) in .NET communications and messaging components enables the structured creation and parsing of email messages with non-ASCII text and attachments such as images or files. It enhances interoperability, supports internationalization, and allows for rich content features like inline media and multipart formatting. Common use cases include sending automated reports with attachments or handling complex inbound messages in customer support systems.

Several .NET Comms & Messaging components offer MIME support including:

  • Aspose.Email for .NET lets you create, parse, and manage MIME messages with attachments, headers, and multi-part content.
  • IPWorks S/MIME .NET Edition by /n software enables secure encryption, decryption, and signing of MIME messages using S/MIME and digital certificates.
  • MailBee.NET IMAP by Afterlogic allows receiving and parsing complex MIME emails, including attachments, HTML bodies, and alternative content views.
  • PowerTCP Mail for .NET by Dart Communications provides robust MIME handling for encoding, decoding, and managing non-ASCII data and attachments in messages.
  • Rebex Mail Pack supports building and processing MIME messages with support for attachments, inline images, and HTML formatting.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of .NET Comms & Messaging.

Compare .NET Comms & Messaging

Improve Chart Data Insight with Contextual Tooltips

April 17, 2025
Syncfusion Essential Studio ASP.NET Core 2025 Volume 1 introduces chart tooltip support enabling faster, more informed decisions.

Syncfusion Essential Studio ASP.NET Core (available as part of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise) empowers developers with a comprehensive suite of over 80 enterprise-grade UI components specifically designed for building modern and highly functional web applications. Leveraging the latest advancements in ASP.NET Core, it offers exceptional performance and scalability, streamlining development by eliminating the need for extensive custom coding. From data visualization tools like interactive charts and grids to sophisticated navigation elements and responsive layouts, Essential Studio equips developers with the building blocks to create rich user experiences, improve application efficiency, and accelerate time-to-market.

The Syncfusion Essential Studio ASP.NET Core 2025 Volume 1 release improves the chart component by adding tooltip functionality that displays information about the data point closest to the cursor. This feature allows users to quickly interpret complex datasets without needing to manually search for specific values, making interactions more intuitive and efficient. Especially in dense data plots or interactive dashboards, this real-time feedback enables deeper insight and more precise decision-making, which is critical in applications involving financial data, scientific analysis, or operational monitoring.

To see a full list of what's new in 2025 Volume 1, see our release notes.

Syncfusion Essential Studio ASP.NET Core is available as part of Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise which is licensed per developer starting with a Team License of up to five developers. It is available as a 12 Month Timed Subscription License which includes support and maintenance. See our Syncfusion Essential Studio Enterprise licensing page for full details.

Learn more on our Syncfusion Essential Studio ASP.NET Core product page.

Improve Data Visualization with In-Cell Pictures

April 16, 2025
EPPlus v8.0.1 adds the ability to insert images directly into cells, facilitating the use of local and web images to make spreadsheets more engaging.

EPPlus is a powerful and versatile .NET library for managing and manipulating Microsoft Excel files using the Office Open XML (OOXML) format. It is a lightweight and efficient library that is easy to use and can be integrated into a wide range of applications. It allows developers to create, read and modify spreadsheets without dependencies on any other library. Features include pivot tables, styling, VBA/Form controls, conditional formatting, charts, tables, formula calculation, data validation, pictures/shapes, and more.

​The EPPlus v8.0.1 update enhances the visualization of spreadsheet data by introducing the ability to insert images directly into individual worksheet cells. This feature is particularly beneficial for creating more informative and engaging spreadsheets, such as including product images in inventory lists or embedding charts alongside relevant data. The new functionality supports various image formats, such as PNG, JPG and GIF, and integrates with the IMAGE function, so you can add local images as well as download images from the web via URLs.

To see a full list of what's new in v8.0.1, see our release notes.

EPPlus is licensed per developer and is available as both perpetual licenses and subscription based licenses with periods of 1 year and 2 years, which include support and upgrades. See our EPPlus licensing page for full details.

For more information, see our EPPlus product page.