Diagramming software allows you to produce graphical diagrams which visualize an underlying structure or hierarchy (often XML or tree-data). The diagramming components listed below are all pure C# solutions for Microsoft .Net which support different types of diagrams (manual or auto-layout, trees or digraphs and so on) and different types of technologies (Silverlight, GDI, WPF, ASP.Net). Note that these components are not charting solutions (bar graphs, pie charts and such) for which the ambiguous term graphing component is sometimes used. Because diagramming as a software component is very dependent on the type of data one wishes to visualize and the application context inside which the diagrams are being displayed, the diagramming packages described here are more toolkits than all-in-one (no-coding) solutions.

Besides diagramming frameworks we also offer diverse professional components and frameworks for WPF and Silverlight, like the parallel graph control, the Crystalizer framework, the O2 application environment, the WPF property grid and more.

Please see the How page for more details on the offerings and how to obtain the source code.

Solutions for WPF

• WPF Property Grid v2.0
• G2, the high-end diagramming framework for WPF
• Graphite for WPF: data visualization with ease
• ParaGraph: data visualization through parallel coordinates

Solutions for Silverlight

• Database driven visualizations
• Graphite for Silverlight
• WPF diagramming starter kit (DSK): a collection of WPF applications (includes the Unfold library) to get you started in WPF diagramming.

Solutions for WinForms

• Netron: GDI diagramming (free)
• Lithium: trees and XML diagrams (free)
• Lithium: a library specifically for tree-data (XML), available for GDI+ and WPF.

In terms of technology

For WPF: the starter kit, Graphite for WPF and GraphSquare

For .Net 2.0 (in GDI/Win32): Netron and Lithium

For Silverlight: Graphite for Silverlight

If you target a particular type of application

• mindmapping: Graph² contains the mindmapping layout and the lighter starter kit also contains a mindmapping layout panel
• trees: all packages allow you to maniuplate tree-like data but Graphite, Lithium and the Diagramming Starter Kit have some specific tree-layout algorithms
• auto-layout: Lithium and Graphite are best suited to for real-time interactions with data

If you wish to develop your own diagramming framework then the starter kit is the best jump-start and contains a wealth of design patterns, ideas and starting points to extend your applications or to integrate into your own application.

See also

• The downloads as well as the ‘How‘ and ‘Who‘ pages for contact info and how to obtain a custom diagramming solution.
• A collection of screenshots.
• Our growing list of customers.
• All posts on this site related to diagramming
• Information about layout algorithms: Diagram analysis and large trees, Large diagrams and layout algorithms in WPF
• The series of articles on Graph²’s architecture (part I, part II, part III, part IV )
• The series of articles on Unity, ObjectBuilder, Extensibility and Interception (part I, part II, part III)
• The most popular articles on The Orbifold.
• A substantial list of diagramming products elsewhere on the web.