I am an author, and working to make a system to track my details. This item is a chart where it has the 3 types of books, grouped by the edition type (ebook, hard cover, and paperback), and a sum of the sales for the month.

• Windows 10 Pro
• Visual Studio 2022 Community
• Windows Forms App (.NET Framework), using .NET Framework 4.7.2
• MS SQL Express 2022 (hosted locally on my PC)
• The used SQL View works and displays the data correctly
  | Field | Format |
  | ————– | ——– |
  | SaleWhen | YYYY-MM |
  | EdType | String |
  | SumOfSaleCount | Integer |

EdType has 3 distinct values, for 3 book types. This column is used to generate the names and to group the 3 series together.
SaleWhen is generated by the grouping. In the form, it runs through a function I made to parse the data, and generate a date for the first of the month, so it sees a valid date.
SumOfSaleCount is a SQL sum of entries in the table for the month.

I have a working DataSet to access the data.
The Form contains a Chart element, docked to fill the form, and is called by the MDI interface (which is in the Project). The form also has the DataSet, BindingSource, and TableAdapter. The only change from the default for the chart is the binding source is set.

I have re-made the form, as Test1, to make sure I hadn’t messed anything up, but it does the same thing.

Imports System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting
Imports GUI.MiscFunctions

Public Class Test1
    Private Sub Test1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Me.SalesByDateMonth_ByEditionTypeTableAdapter.Fill(Me.BooksDataSet.SalesByDateMonth_ByEditionType)

        Dim dataTable As DataTable = BooksDataSet.Tables("SalesByDateMonth_ByEditionType")

        ' Initialize chart
        Dim Chart1 As New Chart()

        ' Add chart area
        Dim chartArea1 As New ChartArea()
        Chart1.ChartAreas.Add(chartArea1)

        ' Create series for each EdType
        Dim RowXLabel = "SaleWhen" 'The Column name with the value for the X Axis (Date)
        Dim RowYLabel = "SumOfSaleCount" 'The column name with the value for the Y Axis (Integer)
        Dim SeriesLabel = "EdType" 'The column name with the label for the series (String, with each series having a value)

        For Each SeriesValue As String In GetDistinctSeries(dataTable, SeriesLabel)
            Dim series As New Series(SeriesValue)
            series.ChartType = SeriesChartType.Bar
            series.Label = SeriesValue

            ' Add data points to the series; if the SeriesLabel column has the selected SeriesValue
            For Each row As DataRow In dataTable.Rows
                If row(SeriesLabel).ToString() = SeriesValue Then
                    Dim XValue As Date = ParseDate(row(RowXLabel).ToString())
                    Dim YValue As Integer = Convert.ToInt32(row(RowYLabel))

                    series.Points.AddXY(XValue, YValue)
                End If
            Next

            Chart1.Series.Add(series)
        Next

        ' Add chart to form
        Me.Controls.Add(Chart1)

    End Sub
End Class

MiscFunctions items used:

Public Class MiscFunctions
    Public Shared Function ParseDate(ByVal DateString As String) As Date
        Dim ReturnError As Date = New Date(2000, 1, 1)

        ' Check if the input string is empty
        If String.IsNullOrEmpty(DateString) Then
            MessageBox.Show("Empty date string. Please provide a valid date string in yyyy-mm or yyyy-m format.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return ReturnError
        End If

        ' Split the string into year and month parts
        Dim parts() As String = DateString.Split("-"c)

        ' Check if the number of parts is not 2
        If parts.Length <= 2 And parts.Length >= 3 Then
            MessageBox.Show("Invalid date format. Please provide a valid date string in yyyy-mm or yyyy-mm-dd format.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return ReturnError
        End If

        Dim yearPart As Integer
        Dim monthPart As Integer
        Dim dayPart As Integer

        ' Attempt to parse year part
        If Not Integer.TryParse(parts(0), yearPart) Then
            MessageBox.Show("Invalid year format. Please provide a valid year in yyyy format.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return ReturnError
        End If

        ' Attempt to parse month part
        If Not Integer.TryParse(parts(1), monthPart) Then
            MessageBox.Show("Invalid month format. Please provide a valid month in mm or m format.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return ReturnError
        End If

        If parts.Length = 3 Then
            If Not Integer.TryParse(parts(2), dayPart) Then
                MessageBox.Show("Invalid month format. Please provide a valid month in mm or m format.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
                Return ReturnError
            End If
        Else
            dayPart = 1
        End If

        ' Check if year and month parts are within valid ranges
        If yearPart < 1 OrElse yearPart > 9999 OrElse monthPart < 1 OrElse monthPart > 12 OrElse dayPart < 1 OrElse dayPart > 31 Then
            MessageBox.Show("Invalid year or month value. Please provide valid year (1-9999) and month (1-12) values, and optionally day (1-31).", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return ReturnError
        End If

        ' Create a Date variable using the year and month parts
        Dim dateVariable As Date = New Date(yearPart, monthPart, dayPart)

        Return dateVariable
    End Function

    Public Shared Function GetDistinctSeries(dataTable As DataTable, SeriesLabel As String) As List(Of String)
        Dim LabelList As New List(Of String)()

        For Each row As DataRow In dataTable.Rows
            Dim LabelEntry As String = row(SeriesLabel).ToString()
            If Not LabelList.Contains(LabelEntry) Then
                LabelList.Add(LabelEntry)
            End If
        Next

        Return LabelList
    End Function

End Class

What I am expecting is a chart with data. (30, 20, 0 for the first month for the series)

What I get when launched

Entering the series information manually and disabling the Load details so it doesn’t overwrite the data for some reason still generates the same issue, so not sure what is causing the form to not load the chart right.

I do have other charts with one series, where I had connected the data using the designer worked correctly.

Having a breakpoint at the Me.Controls.Add(Chart1), shows the Chart1 with all the data loaded into the series correctly, but it’s still not displaying, so the data is being pulled from the database correctly.

I did try ChatGPT, but it didn’t give me a solution for it. Anyone’s help would be appreciated.