Using FusionCharts with VB.NET (ASP.NET) > Initial Settings

FusionCharts Free can effectively be used within ASP.NET applications. For the sake of better understanding, we have developed few sample applications using ASP.NET VB, where we have shown how easily FusionCharts can be integrated with ASP.NET.
 
System Requirements
We have used .NET Framework 2.0 to develop our applications. You can download .NET Framework 2.0 for Free from Microsoft Download Center. While developing your own project, you can integrate FusionCharts with any lower version of .NET Framework as well.
 
Getting Started
We have used Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition to build the projects. You may use other version too. Let's see how to get started with a new ASP.NET application:
  • Start Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition.
  • Once the Start page appears, click on the File menu and select New Web Site... option.
  • A new window opens up that prompts for Template, Language and Location of your application.
    • select the Template for your application (here it's ASP.NET Web Site)
    • select the Language from the list (here it's Visual Basic)
    • select/type the Location of your application (say, C:\FusionChartsASPNETVB)
  • Click OK

  • Default.aspx page opens.
  • Go to the Solution Explorer window. If you cannot find the Solution Explorer window at upper right corner, click on View menu and select Solution Explorer to show the window. Or simply press Ctrl+Alt+L.
  • In the Solution Explorer window right click on the root folder i.e., C:\FusionChartsASPNETVB\.
  • In the context menu move the mouse to the item Add ASP.NET Folder to open the list of folders.
  • Add the Bin folder.
  • Again right click on C:\FusionChartsASPNETVB\ to add App_Code folder.
  • Again right click on C:\FusionChartsASPNETVB\ in the Solution Explorer window to add a New Folder. Rename this New Folder as FusionCharts so as the whole set up looks like the snap below:
  • Now, we have to add the Items from FusionCharts download pack in all the folders App_Code, App_Data, Bin and FusionCharts. To do this, simply right click on each folder and select the items that you want to add.
    • Let's start with Bin folder: Right click on Bin folder and select Add Existing Item from the context menu.
    • Select FusionCharts.dll file from FusionCharts Download Pack to add it in the Bin folder.
    • Similarly, add Util.vb in App_Code folder and required chart SWF files in FusionCharts folder.
    • In the subsequent examples we will use an MS Access Database. Hence we will also add FactoryDB.mdb database in App_Data folder and DbConn.vb (a class to connect to database) in App_Code folder.

    The folder arrangements looks like the image below:

That's all you need to use FusionCharts in your application. You can start writing your code in the Default.aspx file (or any other file in separate folder) to start building your application.