Should I choose Line or FastLine in Windows Forms Chart Control?

Question

I am currently using Microsoft's chart control - the MSDN documentation for it is here

I am examining the SeriesChartType documentation, which is mostly unneeded, except for one question:

• What is the difference between the Line and FastLine types?
• When should I favor one type over the other?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Answer 1

It looks like the FastLine is optimized for HUGE datasets where you're trending a LOT of data. You lose some functionality like showing markers, which you won't want with a large dataset anyway.

If you have a few dozen points, use Line, if you have a few hundred points, use FastLine.

FastLine documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd489249.aspx

Line documenation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd489252.aspx

Answer 2

From MSDN:

The FastLine chart type is a variation of the Line chart that significantly 
reduces the   drawing time of a series that contains a very large number of 
data points. Use this chart in situations where very large data sets are used 
and rendering speed is critical.

Some charting features are omitted from the FastLine chart to improve performance. 
The features omitted include control of point level visual attributes, markers, 
data point labels, and shadows.

E.g. If you're going to be displaying tens or hundreds of thousands of points of data.

Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd489249.aspx

Answer 3

Just found this and was thinking, unless I need to use the point level indicator, markers, labels or shadows why would I use the normal line? My advice would be unless you need those 4 things use fastline and fastpoint (the faster scatter plot variant) by default.