If you’ve used built-in charts in .NET framework, you’d realize they’re a bit limited in their functionality and are not very flexible. An excellent alternative is the free OxyPlot library that enables you to add advanced graphical plotting capability to your application.

The following steps outline how to use OxyPlot in a Windows Forms application:

1. Create a new Windows Forms application. We use C# as the programming language here.

2. Add reference to the required OxyPlot libraries. Simply go to Tools>>NuGet Package Manager>>Package Manager Console

In the Package Manager Console, type:

Install-Package OxyPlot.WindowsForms

3. Verify that the libraries show up under references

4. Now let’s add some code. Note the required ‘using’ directives:

using OxyPlot;
using OxyPlot.Series;
using OxyPlot.WindowsForms;

namespace CSwithOxyPlot
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            //Create Plotview object
            PlotView myPlot = new PlotView();

            //Create Plotmodel object
            var myModel = new PlotModel { Title = "Simple Plot" };
            myModel.Series.Add(new FunctionSeries(Math.Sin, 0, 10, 0.1, "sin(x)"));

            //Assign PlotModel to PlotView
            myPlot.Model = myModel;

            //Set up plot for display
            myPlot.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Bottom;
            myPlot.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 0);
            myPlot.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(500, 500);
            myPlot.TabIndex = 0;
            
            //Add plot control to form
            Controls.Add(myPlot);
        }
    }
}

5. Here’s the output, which isn’t too bad: