CSV Data Plotting Program using CsvHelper in C#

Question

This is a follow-up question for CSV Data Plotting Program in C#. I am trying to use CsvHelper to build an application for plotting CSV Data in this post. In the plotting part, I use ZedGraph Library to perform plotting operation.

The experimental implementation

using CsvHelper.Configuration;
using CsvHelper;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Globalization;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using ZedGraph;

namespace CSV_PlottingApp
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void button_load_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            OpenFileDialog openFileDialog = new OpenFileDialog();

            // Set the title and filter for the dialog
            openFileDialog.Title = "Open File";
            openFileDialog.Filter = "CSV files (*.csv)|*.csv|Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files (*.*)|*.*";

            // Display the dialog and check if the user clicked OK
            if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            {
                // Get the selected file name
                string fileName = openFileDialog.FileName;
                CSV_Processing(fileName);
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("No file selected.");
            }
        }

        private void CSV_Processing(in string filename)
        {
            var config = new CsvConfiguration(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
            {
                HasHeaderRecord = false,
            };
            PointPairList data_list1 = new PointPairList();
            PointPairList data_list2 = new PointPairList();
            using (var reader = new StreamReader(filename))
            using (var csv = new CsvReader(reader, config))
            {
                var records = csv.GetRecords<Channels>();
                uint index = 0;
                try
                {
                    foreach (var record in records)
                    {
                        data_list1.Add(index, record.Channel1);
                        data_list2.Add(index, record.Channel2);
                        index++;
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
                }
                CreateSignalGraph(zedGraphControl1, data_list1, "Signal", "X", "Y");
                
            }
        }

        private void CreateSignalGraph(
            ZedGraphControl zgc,
            PointPairList pointPairs,
            string title = "Signal",
            string x_axis_title = "X",
            string y_axis_title = "Y",
            bool legend_visibility = true,
            SymbolType symbolType = SymbolType.None,
            bool line_visibility = true)
        {
            GraphPane myPane = zgc.GraphPane;

            myPane.Legend.IsVisible = legend_visibility;
            myPane.CurveList.Clear();

            // Set the titles and axis labels
            myPane.Title.Text = title;
            myPane.XAxis.Title.Text = x_axis_title;
            myPane.YAxis.Title.Text = y_axis_title;

            // Create a curve
            LineItem myCurve = myPane.AddCurve("Signal", pointPairs, Color.Blue, symbolType);
            myCurve.Line.IsVisible = line_visibility;

            // Show the x axis grid
            myPane.XAxis.MajorGrid.IsVisible = true;

            // Make the Y axis scale red
            myPane.YAxis.Scale.FontSpec.FontColor = Color.Red;
            myPane.YAxis.Title.FontSpec.FontColor = Color.Red;

            // Fill the axis background with a gradient
            myPane.Chart.Fill = new Fill(Color.White, Color.LightGoldenrodYellow, 45.0f);

            // Fill the pane background with a gradient
            myPane.Fill = new Fill(Color.White, Color.FromArgb(220, 220, 255), 45.0f);

            // Add a zoom event handler
            zgc.ZoomEvent += new ZedGraphControl.ZoomEventHandler(zgc_ZoomEvent);

            zgc.AxisChange();
            zgc.Refresh();
        }

        private void zgc_ZoomEvent(ZedGraphControl sender, ZoomState oldState, ZoomState newState)
        {
            // Optionally handle the zoom event here
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Automatic arrange element size on window
            window_width = this.Width;
            window_height = this.Height;
            setTag(this);
        }

        #region -- Automatic arrange element size on window --
        private float window_width;
        private float window_height;
        private void setTag(Control cons)
        {
            foreach (Control con in cons.Controls)
            {
                con.Tag = con.Width + ";" + con.Height + ";" + con.Left + ";" + con.Top + ";" + con.Font.Size;
                if (con.Controls.Count > 0) setTag(con);
            }
        }
        private void setControls(float new_window_width_ratio, float new_window_height_ratio, Control cons)
        {
            foreach (Control con in cons.Controls)
            {
                if (con.Tag != null)
                {
                    string[] mytag = con.Tag.ToString().Split(new char[] { ';' });
                    con.Width = Convert.ToInt32(System.Convert.ToSingle(mytag[0]) * new_window_width_ratio);  // width
                    con.Height = Convert.ToInt32(System.Convert.ToSingle(mytag[1]) * new_window_height_ratio);  // height
                    con.Left = Convert.ToInt32(System.Convert.ToSingle(mytag[2]) * new_window_width_ratio);  // left
                    con.Top = Convert.ToInt32(System.Convert.ToSingle(mytag[3]) * new_window_height_ratio);  // top
                    System.Single new_font_size = System.Convert.ToSingle(mytag[4]) * new_window_height_ratio;  // font size
                    con.Font = new Font(con.Font.Name, new_font_size, con.Font.Style, con.Font.Unit);
                    if (con.Controls.Count > 0) setControls(new_window_width_ratio, new_window_height_ratio, con);
                }
            }
        }
        private void Form_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            setControls((this.Width) / window_width, (this.Height) / window_height, this);
        }
        #endregion
    }
}

• Channels class

  using CsvHelper.Configuration.Attributes;
  using System;
  using System.Collections.Generic;
  using System.Linq;
  using System.Text;
  using System.Threading.Tasks;
  
  namespace CSV_PlottingApp
  {
      public class Channels
      {
          [Index(0)]
          public double Channel1 { get; set; }
  
          [Index(1)]
          public double Channel2 { get; set; }
  
          [Index(2)]
          public double Channel3 { get; set; }
  
          [Index(3)]
          public double Channel4 { get; set; }
  
          [Index(4)]
          public double Channel5 { get; set; }
  
          public override string ToString()
          {
              return Channel1.ToString() + '\t' +
                     Channel2.ToString() + '\t' +
                     Channel3.ToString() + '\t' +
                     Channel4.ToString() + '\t' +
                     Channel5.ToString();
          }
      }
  }
  
  

All suggestions are welcome.

The summary information:

• Which question it is a follow-up to?

  CSV Data Plotting Program in C#

• What changes has been made in the code since last question?

  I am trying to use CsvHelper to build an application for plotting CSV Data in this post.

• Why a new review is being asked for?

  Please review all the revised code.

Answer 1

Highlights :

• CSV_Processing should be ProcessCsvFile or ProcessFile.
• config should be declared at class level as private static readonly and reused.
• data_list1 and data_list2 those should be avoided, and use a class that will hold each channel PointPairList to convert each row into PointPairLists.
• CreateSignalGraph too many arguments with default values. It needs to be converted into a class, so you can pass the class instance, and have more room to add more options in the future.
• setTag and setControls should be PascalCased.
• setTag should named after the control like SetContolTags.
• setControls should be also named based on the purpose like SetControlsWindowDimensions.
• method arguments and local variables should be camelCased.
• private class fields should be camelCased with an underscore prefix.
• Don't inline calculations within a method argument like what you have done in Form_Resize, instead store the values and pass them into the method arguments. This would add more readability and will be easier to debug.

For Channels mapping part. You have Channels class which represents a row in your CSV, and from the code I assumed you want to collect columns values and convert them into PointPairList. In this case, you will need another class to store and handle those values something like this would be a good start :

public sealed class ChannelsPointPairList
{
    private int _index; 
    
    public PointPairList Channel1 { get; set; } = new PointPairList();

    public PointPairList Channel2 { get; set; } = new PointPairList();

    public PointPairList Channel3 { get; set; } = new PointPairList();

    public PointPairList Channel4 { get; set; } = new PointPairList();

    public PointPairList Channel5 { get; set; } = new PointPairList();
    
    public void Add(Channels record) 
    {
        Channel1.Add(_index, record.Channel1);
        Channel2.Add(_index, record.Channel2);      
        Channel3.Add(_index, record.Channel3);  
        Channel4.Add(_index, record.Channel4);  
        Channel5.Add(_index, record.Channel5);  
        _index++;
    }
}

you can now do this :

var channels = new ChannelsPointPairList();
using (var reader = new StreamReader(filename))
using (var csv = new CsvReader(reader, _csvConfig)) // _csvConfig is declared as static private field.
{
    var records = csv.GetRecords<Channels>();

    try
    {
        foreach (var record in records)
        {
            channels.Add(record);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
    
    CreateSignalGraph(zedGraphControl1, channels.Channel1, "Signal", "X", "Y");     
}

You can declare channels as private class filed if you want to store them once and reuse the values across the class.

For the tagging part, you can improve it by also using a class, here is an example :

public sealed class TagOption
{
    public int Width { get; set; }
    public int Height { get; set; }
    public int Left { get; set; }
    public int Top { get; set; }
    public float FontSize { get; set; }
    
    public static TagOption Parse(Control control)
    {
        if(control is null) return null; 
        
        return new TagOption 
        {
            Width = control.Width,
            Height = control.Height,
            Left = control.Left,
            Top = control.Top,
            FontSize = control.Font.Size
        };
    }
    
    public static TagOption Parse(string tag, float widthRatio, float heightRatio)
    {
        if(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(tag)) return null; 
        
        string[] mytag = tag.Split(new char[] { ';' });
        
        if(mytag.Length != 5) return null;
        
        var option = new TagOption();
        
        option.Width = ParseDimension(mytag[0], widthRatio);  
        
        option.Height = ParseDimension(mytag[1], heightRatio); 
        
        option.Left = ParseDimension(mytag[2], widthRatio);
        
        option.Top = ParseDimension(mytag[3], heightRatio);
        
        option.FontSize = System.Convert.ToSingle(mytag[4]) * heightRatio;  // font size
        
        return option;
    }
    
    private static int ParseDimension(string number, float ratio)
    {
        if(float.TryParse(number, out var result))
        {
            return Convert.ToInt32(result * ratio);             
        }
        
        return 0;
    }
    
    public override string ToString() 
    {
        return $"{Width};{Height};{Left};{Top};{FontSize}";
    }
}

Now, you can do this :

private static void SetContolTags(Control control)
{
    foreach (Control ctrl in control.Controls)
    {
        var tag = TagOption.Parse(ctrl);
        
        ctrl.Tag = tag?.ToString();
        
        if (ctrl.Controls.Count > 0) 
            SetContolTags(ctrl);
    }
}

private static void SetControlsWindowDimensions(Control control, float windowWidthRatio, float windowHeightRatio)
{
    foreach (Control ctrl in control.Controls)
    {
        var tag = TagOption.Parse(ctrl.Tag.ToString(), windowWidthRatio, windowHeightRatio);
        
        if(tag is null) continue;
        
        ctrl.Width = tag.Width;
        ctrl.Height = tag.Height;
        ctrl.Left = tag.Left;
        ctrl.Top = tag.Top;
        ctrl.Font = new Font(ctrl.Font.Name, tag.FontSize, ctrl.Font.Style, ctrl.Font.Unit);
    
        if (ctrl.Controls.Count > 0) 
            SetControlsWindowDimensions(ctrl, windowWidthRatio, windowHeightRatio);
    }
}