Creating a Chart image in PowerShell

As many of you know that PowerShell can tap into potential of .Net methods easily available with Microsoft Windows machines, the same can be utilized to create a pie chart or some other kind of chart image using a given dataset.

The below is just a sample that how it works and how it can be used. Further use cases might be creating pictures and then embedding them into HTML report

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization


function New-Chart {
    [cmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$xAxis,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$yAxis,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$width = 700,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$height = 400,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$left = 10,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$top = 10,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)]$title = "",
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)][ValidateScript({ $_ -in ([System.Drawing.Color] | Get-Member -Static -MemberType Properties).Name })]$chartColor = "Transparent",
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, mandatory = $false)][ValidateScript({ $_ -in ([System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.SeriesChartType] | Get-Member -Static -MemberType Properties).Name })]$chartType,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, ParameterSetName = "extra", mandatory = $true)][bool]$generateImage,
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, ParameterSetName = "extra", mandatory = $false)][string]$imgExt = "png",
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true, ParameterSetName = "extra", mandatory = $false)][string]$saveImagePath = "$env:TEMP\image.png"
    )    
    
    $Chart = New-object System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.Chart
    $ChartArea = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.ChartArea
    $Series = New-Object -TypeName System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.Series
    $ChartTypes = [System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.SeriesChartType]

    $Series.ChartType = $ChartTypes::$chartType
    $Chart.Series.Add($Series)
    $Chart.ChartAreas.Add($ChartArea)

    $Chart.Series['Series1'].Points.DataBindXY($xAxis, $yAxis)
    $Chart.Width = $width
    $Chart.Height = $height
    $Chart.Left = $left
    $Chart.Top = $top
    $Chart.BackColor = [System.Drawing.Color]::$chartColor
    $Chart.BorderColor = 'Black'
    $Chart.BorderDashStyle = 'Solid'    
    

    $ChartTitle = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.Title
    $ChartTitle.Text = $title
    $Font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font @('Microsoft Sans Serif', '12', [System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold)
    $ChartTitle.Font = $Font
    $Chart.Titles.Add($ChartTitle)

    $Legend = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting.Legend
    $Legend.IsEquallySpacedItems = $True
    $Legend.BorderColor = 'Black'
    $Chart.Legends.Add($Legend)
    $chart.Series["Series1"].LegendText = "#VALX (#VALY)"
    $Chart.Series['Series1']['PieLineColor'] = 'Black'
    $Chart.Series['Series1']['PieLabelStyle'] = 'Outside'
    $Chart.Series['Series1'].Label = "#VALX (#VALY)"

    $ChartArea.Area3DStyle.Enable3D = $True
    $ChartArea.Area3DStyle.Inclination = 60
    
    if ($generateImage) {
        $Chart.SaveImage($saveImagePath, $imgExt)
    }
    
    Return $Chart
}

$Processes = Get-Process | Sort-Object WS -Descending | Select-Object -First 10
$s = New-Chart -xAxis $Processes.Name -yAxis $Processes.WS -chartType "Pie" -generateImage $true