Getting Started with SciChart for Xamarin

Make yourself a coffee and let’s get started with SciChart Xamarin!

Quickest of the Quick Start Guides

Ok, so you’ve chosen the SciChart charting library. Great! Now what?

Check out this Quickest of the QuickStart Guide below which shows you how to download, run the Xamarin Chart Examples Suite and see what SciChart Xamarin  can do.

01 Downloading the SciChart Xamarin SDK

The SciChart Xamarin examples is included as a ZIp file on our website however, the libraries themselves are integrated using the NuGet* package manager.

Note that SciChart Xamarin assemblies are hosted on a private NuGet feed. Make sure you add the SciChart Feed URL to Visual Studio.

We have also created a 5 minute video showing you how to setup the NuGet feed, compile the examples and get them running on your device.

02 Learning by Example – The Examples Suite

In case you have downloaded SciChart from our Download page you will find a rich Xamarin Chart examples app with over 30+ examples showing you how to create static and real-time Xamarin Chart types with SciChart.

You can find out more about what examples are available at the SciChart Xamarin Examples Suite page.

03 Learning by Tutorial

We know how it might be frustrating when you spend hours trying to create some simple thing. With this idea in our minds we have created a Tutorials set, which covers following topics:

Xamarin.iOS Tutorials

• Tutorial 01 – Linking SciChart Framework
• Tutorial 02 – Creating a SciChartSurface
• Tutorial 03 – Adding Series to a Chart
• Tutorial 04 – Adding Zooming, Panning behavior
• Tutorial 05 – Adding Tooltips and Legends
• Tutorial 06 – Adding Realtime Updates
• Tutorial 07 – Adding Annotations
• Tutorial 08 – Adding Multiple Axes
• Tutorial 09 – Linking Multiple Charts

Xamarin.Android Tutorials

• Tutorial 01 – Linking SciChart Framework
• Tutorial 02 – Creating a SciChartSurface
• Tutorial 03 – Adding Series to a Chart
• Tutorial 04 – Adding Zooming, Panning behavior
• Tutorial 05 – Adding Tooltips and Legends
• Tutorial 06 – Adding Realtime Updates
• Tutorial 07 – Adding Annotations
• Tutorial 08 – Adding Multiple Axes
• Tutorial 09 – Linking Multiple Charts

Each Tutorial has an appropriate Visual Studio project which you can find in SciChart Xamarin GitHub Repository.

04 Where is the Examples Source Code?

In case you’ve referenced the SciChart from our NuGet feed, you still have an ability to download the Examples Suite as well as Tutorials Demo just cloning our GitHub repository and also view our examples online.

You will find a lot of useful information which can help you to start using SciChart in the best way. The Examples Suite is a powerful demo application which contains more than 50 examples, some of them are listed below:

• Xamarin Line Chart 
• Xamarin Band Chart
• Xamarin Candlestick Chart
• Xamarin Column Chart
• Xamarin Mountain / Area Chart
• Xamarin Scatter Chart
• Xamarin Impulse / Stem Chart
• Xamarin Bubble Chart
• Xamarin Heatmap Chart
• Xamarin Error Bars Chart
• Xamarin Stacked Mountain Chart
• Xamarin Stacked Column Chart
• Xamarin 100% Stacked Column Chart
• Xamarin 100% Stacked Mountain Chart

05 I just want to build a Simple Line Chart

Ok, so check out our Tutorials on Creating your first SciChartSurface in Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android. It will walk you through the basics, including setting up a SciChartSurface, setting up X and Y Axes.

Then, take a look at The Line Series Type, which shows how to add a single line series with some XY data to the chart. Finally, see our sections on adding Zoom Behaviour and a Tooltip and you’re all set!

07 Where is Documentation

SciChart iOS/Android has online documentation, however SciChart for Xamarin does not. This is because xamarin is simply a binding library wrapper around the native iOS/Android controls, so the API is largely the same.

For reference, you can find the following resources below.

• SciChart iOS v2 Documentation
• SciChart iOS Tutorials (Xamarin)
• SciChart iOS API (Doxygen output) 
• SciChart Android v2 Documentation
• SciChart Android Tutorials (Xamarin)

08 Great, but I Have a Question about …

We believe you will not find a better supported Xamarin chart than SciChart!

If you have a question, please feel free to ask at our Forums page. This is a Q&A forum page where we aim to answer all queries promptly. Please direct Xamarin specific questions to the ios/android forums respectively.

But if you have specific sales or technical question, you can Contact us anytime and one of our staff will get back to you. We aim to answer all requests within 1-business day.

During your trial of SciChart Xamarin we will gladly answer your technical questions about the chart. After the trial expires, you may purchase a support subscription to maintain access to our 5-star priority support.

Thanks, and enjoy!