README

Praise

Praise Only To God

📊 ModernChartPro for Lazarus

ModernChartPro is a modern, lightweight, and interactive data visualization component library for Lazarus / Free Pascal. Built on top of the BGRABitmap foundation, this component offers extremely smooth graphic rendering (anti-aliasing), transparency support (alpha blending), and interactive animations (hover tooltips) similar to modern web-based charting libraries (like Chart.js).

✨ Key Features

• 🎨 High-Quality Rendering: Lines, curves, and polygons are rendered with full anti-aliasing using BGRABitmap.
• 🖱️ Interactive (Hover Tooltips): Smart cursor detection that automatically displays data values when the user hovers over chart elements (points, bars, or pie slices).
• 🧩 11 Comprehensive Chart Types: From simple Bar Charts to Candlesticks for financial purposes.
• ⚙️ Easy Configuration: Design directly through the Visual Form Designer (Object Inspector) or configure dynamically at Run-Time.
• 💾 Instant Export: Equipped with a built-in SaveToImage function to export charts as high-resolution PNG files.

📦 Available Components

This library registers 11 ready-to-use components into the ModernChartPro tab in your Lazarus Component Palette:

1. TMCBarChart - Standard vertical bar chart.
2. TMCHorizontalBarChart - Horizontal bar chart.
3. TMCStackedBarChart - Stacked bar chart for proportional comparison.
4. TMCLineChart - Smooth line chart with point markers.
5. TMCAreaChart - Trend chart with a shaded bottom area.
6. TMCPieChart - 360-degree proportional pie chart.
7. TMCRadarChart - Spider web/radar chart for multi-variables.
8. TMCComboChart - Visual combination of Bar Chart and Line Chart.
9. TMCBubbleChart - 3D scatter chart (X-axis, Y-axis, and Radius/Size).
10. TMCScatterChart - Standard scatter chart (X and Y axes).
11. TMCCandlestickChart - Financial candlestick chart (Open, High, Low, Close).

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before installing ModernChartPro, ensure you have installed the following library in Lazarus:

• BGRABitmap (Available and can be downloaded directly via the Online Package Manager / OPM in Lazarus).

🚀 Installation Guide

1. Clone or Download this repository to your computer.
2. Open the Lazarus IDE.
3. Go to the Package -> Open Package File (.lpk) menu.
4. Locate and select the modernchartpro.lpk file from the repository folder.
5. Click the Compile button and wait for the process to finish.
6. Click the Install button. Lazarus will ask for confirmation to rebuild the IDE. Click Yes.
7. Once Lazarus reopens, the ModernChartPro tab with custom icons will be available in your Component Palette.

📖 Quick Start

Adding data to the chart is very easy. You can use the Object Inspector on the Datasets property, or via code (Run-Time):

// Example: Adding data to a Bar Chart
BarChart1.Labels.CommaText := 'Jan,Feb,Mar,Apr,May';

with TMCChartDataset(BarChart1.Datasets.Add) do
begin
  LabelName := 'Sales 2023';
  DataValues := '150, 200, 180, 220, 250';
  BackgroundColor := $00E16941; // TColor Format
  BorderWidth := 2;
end;

☕ Support the Project

If you find ModernChartPro helpful and want to support its ongoing development, consider buying me a coffee or sending a tip. Any support is deeply appreciated!

💡 Your support keeps the momentum going!
Every contribution directly fuels my passion, energy, and motivation to continuously build, maintain, and release even more useful open-source desktop applications for the developer community.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute this library for both personal and commercial projects. See the LICENSE file for more information.

🙌 Acknowledgments

• ChartJS - For the incredible design system inspiration, color palettes, and aesthetics.
• BGRABitmap - An amazing graphics library that enables transparent rendering and anti-aliasing in Lazarus.
• streamlinehq - Visual icon references for the Component Palette.