dotnet-livecharts2

LiveCharts2 Development Guide

Use when implementing charts, gauges, heatmaps, or any LiveCharts2 visualization.

1. Installation

NuGet package per platform:

Platform	Package
Uno Platform	LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Uno.WinUI
WinUI 3	LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.WinUI
WPF	LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.WPF
MAUI	LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Maui
Avalonia	LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Avalonia
Blazor	LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Blazor

You MUST use the latest prerelease Nuget, E.g. for Uno Platform:

dotnet add package LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Uno.WinUI --prerelease

XAML Namespace

MUST use LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.WinUI — NOT LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.Uno.WinUI:

xmlns:lvc="using:LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.WinUI"

The Uno package re-exports from the WinUI namespace. Using the wrong namespace causes UXAML0001 build errors.

2. Series Approach: ViewModel-First vs XAML-First

Choose the right approach per chart type:

ViewModel-first (preferred for most charts)

Build ISeries[] / IReadOnlyList<ISeries> in the ViewModel; XAML just binds Series, XAxes, YAxes:

<lvc:CartesianChart Series="{Binding Series}" XAxes="{Binding XAxes}" YAxes="{Binding YAxes}"
                    TooltipPosition="Top" AnimationsSpeed="00:00:00.400" ZoomMode="X"/>

[ObservableProperty] public partial IReadOnlyList<ISeries> Series { get; set; }
public IReadOnlyList<Axis> XAxes { get; }
public IReadOnlyList<Axis> YAxes { get; }

Use ViewModel-first when:

• Data is computed/aggregated from injected services
• Paint objects need programmatic construction with helpers

XAML-first (for gauges and simple static charts)

Use SeriesCollection / AxesCollection wrappers with Xaml* types:

<lvc:CartesianChart>
    <lvc:CartesianChart.Series>
        <lvc:SeriesCollection>
            <lvc:XamlLineSeries Values="{Binding Values}" Fill="{x:Null}" GeometrySize="20"/>
        </lvc:SeriesCollection>
    </lvc:CartesianChart.Series>
    <lvc:CartesianChart.XAxes>
        <lvc:AxesCollection>
            <lvc:XamlAxis Labels="{Binding Labels}" MinStep="1" ForceStepToMin="True"/>
        </lvc:AxesCollection>
    </lvc:CartesianChart.XAxes>
</lvc:CartesianChart>

Use XAML-first when:

• Gauges — layout is inherently visual (DrawMargin, DataLabelsPadding, InnerRadius)
• Simple static charts where colors don't need programmatic variants

Even in XAML-first gauges, Paint objects can be bound from ViewModel (Fill="{Binding GaugeFill}") for dynamic colors.

XAML series types: XamlLineSeries, XamlColumnSeries, XamlRowSeries, XamlStackedAreaSeries, XamlStackedColumnSeries, XamlStackedRowSeries, XamlStackedStepAreaSeries, XamlScatterSeries, XamlStepLineSeries, XamlPieSeries, XamlHeatSeries, XamlBoxSeries, XamlCandlesticksSeries, XamlPolarLineSeries, XamlGaugeSeries, XamlGaugeBackgroundSeries, XamlAngularGaugeSeries, XamlNeedle, XamlAngularTicks.

XAML axis types: XamlAxis, XamlDateTimeAxis, XamlTimeSpanAxis, XamlLogarithmicAxis, XamlPolarAxis.

XAML collection wrappers: SeriesCollection (for Chart.Series), AxesCollection (for Chart.XAxes/Chart.YAxes).

Markup extensions

• {lvc:SolidColorPaint Color='#AARRGGBB'} — solid fill/stroke paint
• {lvc:Float Value='25'} — float literal
• {lvc:Padding Value='L,T,R,B'} or {lvc:Padding Value='15'} — padding
• {lvc:Margin Value='L,T,R,B'} — chart DrawMargin override
• {lvc:ColorArray Values='#FF4FC3F7, #FFFFF176, #FFFF5722'} — color gradient (for HeatMap property)

CRITICAL: {lvc:SolidColorPaint} only accepts the Color parameter. Do NOT add StrokeThickness or other properties inside the markup extension (e.g. Color='FF107C10', StrokeThickness=2). The comma causes UXAML0001 parse errors. Set stroke thickness separately on the series or in C#.

Anti-pattern: AddDefaultTheme overwrites explicit colors

AddDefaultTheme adds HasRuleForLineSeries/HasRuleForBarSeries etc. that unconditionally overwrite Fill/Stroke with palette colors, breaking explicit XAML {lvc:SolidColorPaint} values and ViewModel-set semantic colors. Use HasTheme directly with HasDefaultTooltip/HasDefaultLegend + selective HasRuleFor* to preserve explicit colors.

2b. Data Types

Choose the right data type for your series:

Type	When to use	Example chart
double / int	Simple categorical data, gauge values, sparklines	Column chart, gauge GaugeValue, sparkline
ObservableValue	Single value needing live update via .Value setter	Row bar with real-time noise (use with ObservableCollection<ObservableValue>)
ObservablePoint	Explicit X/Y coordinates	Scatter, custom-positioned points
DateTimePoint	Time-series data (X = DateTime)	Power flow, energy balance, range forecast
WeightedPoint	X/Y/weight (3 dimensions)	Heatmap (HeatSeries), bubble scatter
FinancialPoint	OHLC candle data	Candlestick chart

CRITICAL: XamlGaugeSeries.GaugeValue expects double, NOT ObservableValue. Binding to an ObservableValue object shows "0". Use [ObservableProperty] double GaugeValue with PropertyChanged notification. ObservableValue is a LiveCharts data container for ISeries-level data collections, not for XAML DependencyProperty bindings.

3. Theme Configuration

Call LiveCharts.Configure() once in App.xaml.cs (or a static method called from there) before any chart control renders. Typically in OnLaunched before InitializeComponent.

Built-in palette

Built-in palettes e.g. .FluentDesign are defined in LiveChartsCore.Themes.ColorPalletes (note double 'l' in Palletes).

Custom theme styling

Use theme.OnInitialized(() => { ... }) inside HasTheme callback (fluent API). Use it to populate palette colors, animation defaults, and axis/legend/tooltip styling for the theme instance.

Tooltips with custom themes

If you replace the default theme with HasTheme(...), keep the tooltip/legend factories and register the Hover visual state yourself.

Why:

• HasTheme(...) starts from an empty Theme
• without HasDefaultTooltip(() => new SKDefaultTooltip()), hover can produce no tooltip
• without series.HasState("Hover", ...), Series.OnPointerEnter() can throw KeyNotFoundException: 'Hover' before tooltips render

Safe pattern:

using LiveChartsCore.Drawing;
using LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharpView.SKCharts;
using LiveChartsCore.VisualStates;

LiveCharts.Configure(config => config
    .HasTheme(theme =>
        theme
            .OnInitialized(() =>
            {
                // axis/tooltip styling here
            })
            .HasDefaultTooltip(() => new SKDefaultTooltip())
            .HasDefaultLegend(() => new SKDefaultLegend())
            .HasRuleForAnySeries(series =>
            {
                _ = series.HasState("Hover",
                [
                    (nameof(DrawnGeometry.Opacity), 0.8f)
                ]);
            })
    )
);

If tooltips still do not appear:

• verify you did not remove HasDefaultTooltip
• verify your replacement theme still defines the Hover state
• only then inspect TooltipPosition

Theme rule methods reference

Use selective rules with HasTheme to control which series types get themed:

Method	Purpose
HasRuleForAxes(Action<IPlane>)	Style all axes (labels, separators, name paint)
HasRuleForAnySeries(Action<ISeries>)	Style all series (data labels, hover state)
HasRuleForLineSeries(...)	Style line series — overwrites Fill/Stroke
HasRuleForBarSeries(...)	Style bar/column series — overwrites Fill/Stroke
HasRuleForGaugeSeries(...)	Style gauge foreground (DataLabelsPosition, CornerRadius)
HasRuleForGaugeFillSeries(...)	Style gauge background arc (Fill)
HasRuleFor<BaseLabelVisual>(...)	Style label visual elements

Only include HasRuleForLineSeries/HasRuleForBarSeries etc. if you want palette auto-coloring. Omit them to preserve explicit series colors set in XAML or ViewModel.

4. Chart Layout Model

LiveCharts2 charts render inside a XAML control. The control's pixel size determines everything. The chart engine divides the control area into DrawMargin (the plot area) and surrounding space (title, legend, axes). All drawing happens in device-independent pixels on a SkiaSharp canvas.

CartesianChart layout

┌─────────────────────────────── ControlSize ─────────────────────────────┐
│ ┌─Title──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│         ┌──────────────── DrawMargin ───────────────────┐               │
│  Y-Axis │                                               │               │
│  Labels │          Series are drawn here                │               │
│  ◄─ls─► │          (plot area)                          │               │
│         │                                               │               │
│         └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘               │
│                    X-Axis Labels ◄─bs─►                                 │
│ ┌─Legend─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• ControlSize = the XAML control's actual rendered pixel size
• DrawMargin = ControlSize - (title + legend + axis labels + axis names)
• By default, DrawMargin is auto-calculated from measured axis/title/legend sizes
• Override with DrawMargin="left, top, right, bottom" on the chart (values in px; use Auto per side to keep auto-calculation for that side)
• Axis.Padding adds extra padding inside the axis (between labels and plot edge)
• Series render within DrawMargin; they fill it completely (no extra inset)

Key properties affecting CartesianChart size/position:

Property	On	Effect
DrawMargin	Chart	Override auto margin (px). "Auto" per side = auto
LegendPosition	Chart	Hidden / Top / Bottom / Left / Right — consumes space
Title	Chart	Title visual element — consumes top space
TextSize	Axis	Larger text = more margin consumed by labels
LabelsRotation	Axis	Rotated labels change measured height/width
ShowSeparatorLines	Axis	Visual only; no layout impact
Name / NamePaint	Axis	Axis name label — consumes additional margin
IsVisible	Axis	Hidden axis consumes no space
Padding	Axis (Cartesian)	Inner padding between labels and plot edge

PieChart layout

┌──────────────── ControlSize ──────────────────┐
│ ┌─Title─────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                               │
│         ┌── DrawMargin ──┐                    │
│         │   ╭─────────╮  │                    │
│         │  ╱           ╲ │                    │
│         │ │  (cx, cy)   ││                    │
│         │  ╲           ╱ │                    │
│         │   ╰─────────╯  │                    │
│         └────────────────┘                    │
│                                               │
│ ┌─Legend────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The pie/gauge is always centered in DrawMargin at (cx, cy):

• cx = DrawMarginLocation.X + DrawMarginSize.Width * 0.5
• cy = DrawMarginLocation.Y + DrawMarginSize.Height * 0.5
• radius = min(DrawMarginSize.Width, DrawMarginSize.Height) / 2 (square-fitted)

The pie always fits inside a square inscribed in DrawMargin. If DrawMargin is rectangular, extra space appears on the longer axis. This is why a 180° gauge wastes the bottom half.

Key properties affecting PieChart size/position:

Property	On	Effect
DrawMargin	Chart	Override auto margin (px)
LegendPosition	Chart	Consumes space → shrinks DrawMargin → smaller radius
Title	Chart	Consumes top space
InitialRotation	Chart	Rotation offset in degrees (0° = 3 o'clock)
MaxAngle	Chart	Total sweep angle (360 = full, 180 = half)
MaxValue / MinValue	Chart	Scale range for gauge series
InnerRadius	Series	Absolute inner radius (px). Creates donut hole
RelativeInnerRadius	Series	Additional inner offset between stacked rings (px)
RelativeOuterRadius	Series	Outer offset between stacked rings (px)
MaxRadialColumnWidth	Series	Max arc thickness (px). Excess → inner/outer offset per RadialAlign
RadialAlign	Series	Outer / Center / Inner — where to put excess when MaxRadialColumnWidth constrains
OuterRadiusOffset	Series	Shrink outer radius by this many px
Pushout	Series	Explode slice outward by this many px
CornerRadius	Series	Round the arc endpoints

DataLabels rendering model

DataLabels are text elements drawn on the SkiaSharp canvas (not XAML elements). Each label has a position (X, Y) computed from DataLabelsPosition, and a bounding box sized from the text + DataLabelsPadding. The box is aligned on (X, Y) using HorizontalAlign and VerticalAlign (both default to Middle):

           X (label position)
           │
     ┌─────┼─────┐ ← box top = Y - box.Height/2
     │ pad │ pad │
     │  "74"     │ ← text at Padding.Top from box top
     │           │
     │  (padding │
     │   bottom) │ ← extra bottom padding pushes text UP
     └───────────┘ ← box bottom = Y + box.Height/2

• box.Height = textHeight + Padding.Top + Padding.Bottom
• With VerticalAlign=Middle: box is centered on Y → boxTop = Y - box.Height/2
• Text renders at boxTop + Padding.Top
• Asymmetric padding shifts text: large Padding.Bottom → taller box → text moves up

DataLabels properties (all series types):

Property	Type	Effect
ShowDataLabels	bool	Enable/disable labels
DataLabelsPaint	Paint	Color/style. Use {lvc:SolidColorPaint} in XAML (bindings may not work on XamlGaugeSeries)
DataLabelsSize	double	Font size in px
DataLabelsRotation	double	Rotation in degrees
DataLabelsPadding	Padding	Space around text. Asymmetric values shift the visible text relative to the anchor point. Use {lvc:Padding Value='L,T,R,B'} in XAML
DataLabelsMaxWidth	double	Max width before wrapping
DataLabelsFormatter	Func	Custom text formatting (C# only, not settable in XAML)
DataLabelsPosition	enum	Anchor point computation (see below)

DataLabelsPosition — Cartesian charts (DataLabelsPosition enum):

Value	Anchor point
End	End of bar/point in axis direction
Start	Start of bar/point in axis direction
Middle	Center of bar/point
Top / Bottom / Left / Right	Absolute direction

DataLabelsPosition — Pie/Gauge/Polar charts (PolarLabelsPosition enum):

Value	Anchor point
ChartCenter	(cx, cy) — geometric center of the chart
Middle	Midpoint of arc thickness, at mid-sweep angle
Start	Inner radius, at sweep start angle
End	Outer radius, at sweep end angle
Outer	Outside the arc, at mid-sweep angle

Combining DrawMargin + DataLabelsPadding for precise layout

When DataLabelsPosition doesn't place the label where you need it, combine:

1. DrawMargin with negative values to shift the chart geometry (cx, cy, radius)
2. DataLabelsPadding with asymmetric values to shift the visible text relative to the computed anchor

Example: 180° gauge filling a card with value text above the arc's flat edge:

• DrawMargin="{lvc:Margin Value='-20,0,-20,-120'}" — large arc, cy near bottom
• DataLabelsPadding="{lvc:Padding Value='6,6,6,50'}" — 50px bottom padding pushes text up from cy
• DataLabelsPosition="ChartCenter" — anchor at (cx, cy)
• Result: arc fills the card, value text sits inside the arc above the flat edge

┌─────── Card (200×130 chart area) ────┐
│  ╭━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╮     │ ← arc (DrawMargin widens it)
│  ┃  value arc    bg arc        ┃     │
│  ╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯     │
│          "74"                        │ ← text shifted up by Padding
│ ···(cy + padding bottom: clipped)··· │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘

5. Gotchas & Patterns

Gauges

Anti-pattern: manual PieSeries gauge. Do NOT create gauges with new PieSeries<double> { Values = [75] } + new PieSeries<double> { Values = [25] } (manually calculating the background remainder). This is fragile. Use XamlGaugeSeries + XamlGaugeBackgroundSeries instead — the background auto-fills the remaining arc. See sample Pies/Gauge2.

• Top-half (speedometer) gauge: InitialRotation="180", MaxAngle="180". NOT -90 (that produces a right-side half). 0° = 3 o'clock in LiveCharts2.
• Set InnerRadius on the series (not the PieChart) to create the donut arc gap.
• Fill a 180° gauge into its card: use negative DrawMargin + DataLabelsPadding — see "Combining DrawMargin + DataLabelsPadding" in the Chart Layout Model section above.
• Always set LegendPosition="Hidden" and TooltipPosition="Hidden" on gauge PieCharts — default legend/tooltip are meaningless for gauges.
• AnimationsSpeed as XAML TimeSpan string: AnimationsSpeed="00:00:00.500" (500ms). Set on the PieChart control.
• GaugeValue expects double — NOT ObservableValue. Use [ObservableProperty] double GaugeValue in ViewModel.

<lvc:PieChart DrawMargin="{lvc:Margin Value='-20,0,-20,-120'}"
              InitialRotation="180" MaxAngle="180" MinValue="0" MaxValue="100"
              LegendPosition="Hidden" TooltipPosition="Hidden"
              AnimationsSpeed="00:00:00.500">
    <lvc:PieChart.Series>
        <lvc:SeriesCollection>
            <lvc:XamlGaugeSeries
                GaugeValue="{Binding GaugeValue}"
                InnerRadius="55"
                ShowDataLabels="True" DataLabelsSize="24"
                DataLabelsPadding="{lvc:Padding Value='6,6,6,50'}"
                DataLabelsPosition="ChartCenter"/>
            <lvc:XamlGaugeBackgroundSeries
                InnerRadius="55"/>
        </lvc:SeriesCollection>
    </lvc:PieChart.Series>
</lvc:PieChart>

HeatSeries

• HeatSeries has no Stroke property — don't set it.
• Data: WeightedPoint(x, y, weight) where weight maps to color gradient.
• Gradient: HeatMap = [coldColor.AsLvcColor(), ..., hotColor.AsLvcColor()].

Real-time Charts

Use PeriodicTimer with CancellationToken and IDisposable for proper lifecycle:

public sealed partial class PowerFlowChartViewModel : ObservableObject, IDisposable
{
    const int WindowMinutes = 240;
    readonly PeriodicTimer timer = new(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(5000));
    readonly CancellationTokenSource cts = new();

    public ObservableCollection<DateTimePoint> GenerationValues { get; } = [];
    [ObservableProperty] public partial IReadOnlyList<ISeries> Series { get; set; }
    public object Sync { get; } = new();  // thread-safety lock

    public PowerFlowChartViewModel()
    {
        SeedHistoricData();
        Series = BuildSeries();
        _ = TickLoop();
    }

    async Task TickLoop()
    {
        try { while (await timer.WaitForNextTickAsync(cts.Token)) AddDataPoint(); }
        catch (OperationCanceledException) { }
    }

    void AddDataPoint()
    {
        var now = DateTime.Now;
        GenerationValues.Add(new DateTimePoint(now, ComputeValue()));

        // Sliding window: trim old points
        var cutoff = now.AddMinutes(-WindowMinutes);
        while (GenerationValues.Count > 0 && GenerationValues[0].DateTime < cutoff)
            GenerationValues.RemoveAt(0);
    }

    public void Dispose() { cts.Cancel(); cts.Dispose(); timer.Dispose(); }
}

<lvc:CartesianChart Series="{Binding Series}" SyncContext="{Binding Sync}" ZoomMode="X"/>

Key points:

• ObservableCollection<DateTimePoint> for auto-updating time series
• SyncContext="{Binding Sync}" on the chart, where Sync is a shared object
• PeriodicTimer is preferred over Task.Delay loop (proper cancellation semantics)
• Sliding window: trim old points from index 0 to maintain bounded memory

Axes

DateTimeAxis in C# (ViewModel-first approach):

new DateTimeAxis(TimeSpan.FromHours(2), date => date.ToString("HH:mm", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))
{
    TextSize = 11,
}

DateTimeAxis in XAML (XamlDateTimeAxis):

<lvc:XamlDateTimeAxis Interval="0:0:1"
                      DateFormatter="{Binding TimeFormatter}"
                      AnimationsSpeed="0"
                      CustomSeparators="{Binding Separators}"/>

• AnimationsSpeed="0" on axis: disables axis label animation for real-time charts (prevents jitter)
• CustomSeparators: bind to double[] of tick values

Categorical axis (named labels):

<lvc:XamlAxis Labels="{Binding CategoryLabels}" MinStep="1" ForceStepToMin="True"/>

• MinStep="1" + ForceStepToMin="True": ensures one label per category (no interpolation)

Common axis properties:

Property	Effect
MinLimit / MaxLimit	Clamp axis range
MinStep	Minimum step between labels
ForceStepToMin	Force step to exactly MinStep (no auto-scaling)
IsVisible	Hide axis (consumes no space)
ShowSeparatorLines	Toggle gridlines
LabelsRotation	Rotate labels in degrees (e.g. -45)
AnimationsSpeed	Axis animation speed ("0" to disable)

• Axis separator paint for X-axis is typically null (no vertical gridlines); Y-axis gets horizontal gridlines.

6. Sample Index

Scan this index for keywords matching your chart type, then read the sample files using the paths in section 7.

Lines (CartesianChart + LineSeries)

• Lines/Basic — Simple line chart, XamlLineSeries in XAML, custom geometry
• Lines/Area — Line with Fill (area chart), SolidColorPaint fill
• Lines/Straight — LineSmoothness=0 for straight segments
• Lines/Custom — Custom visual geometry per point
• Lines/CustomPoints — Custom drawn point shapes via SolidColorPaint
• Lines/AutoUpdate — ObservableCollection + ObservableValue for live updates
• Lines/XY — Explicit X/Y values via ObservablePoint
• Lines/Zoom — ZoomMode="X" or "Y" for pan/zoom
• Lines/Padding — Series padding configuration
• Lines/Properties — All LineSeries visual properties demo

Stacked Area (CartesianChart + StackedAreaSeries)

• StackedArea/Basic — XamlStackedAreaSeries, multiple stacked fills
• StackedArea/StepArea — XamlStackedStepAreaSeries

Bars / Columns (CartesianChart + ColumnSeries/RowSeries)

• Bars/Basic — XamlColumnSeries with axis labels, SolidColorPaint
• Bars/RowsWithLabels — Horizontal bars (XamlRowSeries) with data labels
• Bars/Custom — Custom bar geometry
• Bars/Spacing — Padding, MaxBarWidth
• Bars/Layered — Overlapping bars (not stacked)
• Bars/WithBackground — Background column behind data
• Bars/AutoUpdate — Live-updating bars with ObservableCollection
• Bars/DelayedAnimation — Per-series animation delay
• Bars/Race — Animated bar race chart with ObservableValue

Stacked Bars (CartesianChart + StackedColumnSeries)

• StackedBars/Basic — XamlStackedColumnSeries
• StackedBars/Groups — Grouped stacked bars with axis labels

Pie / Doughnut (PieChart + PieSeries)

• Pies/Basic — XamlPieSeries, SolidColorPaint, title
• Pies/Doughnut — InnerRadius for doughnut shape
• Pies/Pushout — Exploded slice
• Pies/OutLabels — Labels outside slices
• Pies/Custom — Custom slice geometry
• Pies/Icons — SVG label geometry on slices
• Pies/Nested — Multiple concentric rings
• Pies/NightingaleRose — Variable-radius slices
• Pies/AutoUpdate — Live-updating pie with ObservableCollection

Gauges (PieChart + XamlGaugeSeries)

• Pies/Gauge — Basic gauge via ViewModel (PieSeries isGauge:true)
• Pies/Gauge1 — XAML gauge: XamlGaugeSeries + XamlGaugeBackgroundSeries, basic
• Pies/Gauge2 — XAML gauge: InnerRadius, ShowDataLabels, DataLabelsPosition=ChartCenter
• Pies/Gauge3 — XAML gauge: multiple gauge series (multi-value)
• Pies/Gauge4 — XAML gauge: slim arc, custom colors
• Pies/Gauge5 — XAML gauge: no background, value-only
• Pies/AngularGauge — Full angular gauge: XamlAngularGaugeSeries, XamlNeedle, XamlAngularTicks

Heat Map (CartesianChart + HeatSeries)

• Heat/Basic — XamlHeatSeries, WeightedPoint(x,y,weight), HeatMap gradient, axis labels

Scatter (CartesianChart + ScatterSeries)

• Scatter/Basic — XamlScatterSeries
• Scatter/Bubbles — WeightedPoint for variable-size bubbles
• Scatter/Custom — Custom scatter geometry
• Scatter/AutoUpdate — Live-updating scatter

Step Lines (CartesianChart + StepLineSeries)

• StepLines/Basic — XamlStepLineSeries with title
• StepLines/Area — Step line with fill
• StepLines/AutoUpdate — Live-updating step line

Polar (PolarChart + PolarLineSeries)

• Polar/Basic — XamlPolarLineSeries, XamlPolarAxis, angle/radius axes
• Polar/Coordinates — Explicit polar coordinates
• Polar/RadialArea — Filled radar/spider chart

Financial (CartesianChart + CandlesticksSeries)

• Financial/BasicCandlesticks — XamlCandlesticksSeries, FinancialPoint, DateTimeAxis

Box Plot (CartesianChart + BoxSeries)

• Box/Basic — XamlBoxSeries with axis styling

Error Bars

• Error/Basic — Error bars on line/column/scatter series

Axes

• Axes/DateTimeScaled — XamlDateTimeAxis with DateTimePoint data
• Axes/TimeSpanScaled — XamlTimeSpanAxis
• Axes/NamedLabels — Custom string labels on axis
• Axes/Logarithmic — XamlLogarithmicAxis
• Axes/Crosshairs — Crosshair on hover
• Axes/Multiple — Multiple Y axes
• Axes/Paging — Scrollable axis window (MinLimit/MaxLimit)
• Axes/Style — Axis paint, separator paint, text size
• Axes/LabelsRotation — Rotated axis labels

Design / Paint

• Design/LinearGradients — LinearGradientPaint on series
• Design/RadialGradients — RadialGradientPaint on pie slices
• Design/StrokeDashArray — Dashed stroke lines

General Patterns

• General/RealTime — Real-time line chart with DateTimePoint, ObservableCollection, timer
• General/Scrollable — Scrollable chart with sections
• General/Sections — RectangularSection overlays
• General/Tooltips — Tooltip configuration
• General/TemplatedTooltips — Custom tooltip templates
• General/Legends — Legend position and styling
• General/TemplatedLegends — Custom legend templates
• General/Visibility — Show/hide series
• General/VisualElements — Drawn visual elements overlay
• General/MultiThreading — Thread-safe chart updates

Maps

• Maps/World — GeoMap with HeatLandSeries

7. Reading Samples from the Repo

Prerequisites

Clone once per machine (reuse across sessions):

[ -d /tmp/LiveCharts2 ] || git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Live-Charts/LiveCharts2.git /tmp/LiveCharts2

Workflow

1. Find sample in the index above
2. Read ViewModel: cat /tmp/LiveCharts2/samples/ViewModelsSamples/{Category}/{Sample}/ViewModel.cs
3. Read View (for your platform — see table below)
4. Read helpers if any: ls /tmp/LiveCharts2/samples/WinUISample/WinUISample/Samples/{Category}/{Sample}/
5. Read docs for property reference: cat /tmp/LiveCharts2/docs/{topic}/{page}.md

ViewModel (shared across all platforms)

/tmp/LiveCharts2/samples/ViewModelsSamples/{Category}/{Sample}/ViewModel.cs

Platform-specific View

Platform	Path (under /tmp/LiveCharts2/)	Extension
WinUI / Uno	samples/WinUISample/WinUISample/Samples/{Category}/{Sample}/View.xaml	.xaml
Avalonia	samples/AvaloniaSample/{Category}/{Sample}/View.axaml	.axaml
MAUI	samples/MauiSample/{Category}/{Sample}/View.xaml	.xaml
WPF	samples/WPFSample/{Category}/{Sample}/View.xaml	.xaml
WinForms	samples/WinFormsSample/{Category}/{Sample}/View.cs	.cs
Blazor	samples/BlazorSample/Pages/{Category}/{Sample}.razor	.razor
Eto	samples/EtoFormsSample/{Category}/{Sample}/View.cs	.cs

Note: Uno Platform reuses the WinUI sample XAML (same namespace WinUISample.*).

Documentation files

Key doc files in /tmp/LiveCharts2/docs/:

• overview/1.2.install.md — Installation, first chart, SeriesSource/SeriesTemplate
• overview/1.12.themes.md — Theme configuration
• overview/1.6.paint tasks.md — SolidColorPaint, LinearGradient, RadialGradient
• overview/1.4.automatic updates.md — ObservableCollection auto-update
• overview/1.9.animations.md — Animation speed, easing
• cartesianChart/overview.md — CartesianChart control properties
• cartesianChart/lineseries.md — LineSeries properties
• cartesianChart/columnseries.md — ColumnSeries/RowSeries properties
• cartesianChart/heatseries.md — HeatSeries, HeatMap gradient, WeightedPoint
• cartesianChart/axes.md — Axis config, DateTimeAxis, labels, separators
• piechart/overview.md — PieChart control properties
• piechart/pieseries.md — PieSeries properties
• piechart/gauges.md — Gauge patterns (XamlGaugeSeries, angular gauge, needle)
• polarchart/overview.md — PolarChart, PolarAxis

Source code (for unstuck)

• src/skiasharp/_Shared.WinUI/ — CartesianChart.cs, PieChart.cs, ThemeListener.cs
• src/skiasharp/_Shared.Xaml/Series.cs — All Xaml series types
• src/skiasharp/_Shared/ — Source generators (SourceGenCartesianChart, SourceGenPieChart)
• src/LiveChartsCore/Themes/ — ColorPalletes.cs, Theme.cs
• src/skiasharp/LiveChartsCore.SkiaSharp/ThemesExtensions.cs — AddDefaultTheme, HasRuleFor*

8. Fallback: Website Access

If you need content only available on the website (e.g. rendered screenshots, API browser):

# livecharts.dev has an incomplete TLS certificate chain.
# Download the intermediate cert first (only if /tmp/sectigo-intermediate.pem doesn't exist or is outdated):
curl -s http://crt.sectigo.com/SectigoPublicServerAuthenticationCADVR36.crt -o /tmp/sectigo-intermediate.crt
openssl x509 -inform DER -in /tmp/sectigo-intermediate.crt -out /tmp/sectigo-intermediate.pem

# Then fetch any page:
curl -s --cacert /tmp/sectigo-intermediate.pem "https://livecharts.dev/docs/UnoWinUi/{library-version}/{page}"

Website platform URL prefixes: UnoWinUi, avalonia, blazor, maui, wpf, winforms, winui, eto