Chart preview

Node.js application to generate standalone PNG images for chart preview of data source

Installation

Requirments

Make sure you have Node.js installed and package manager NPM (which is included in the node distribution).

If you are using Ubuntu or Debian, these commands will install the last Node.js version respectively:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Installation and build setup

Copying project files

Clone this repository into your /var/www directory:

git clone https://github.com/vschst/chart-preview.git

Install dependencies

cd chart-preview
npm install

Launch settings

This app listens on default port 3000 for connections. To change the port, open the file index.js where you will see the line

const port = 3000

You can change the value of the port variable to your own.

By default, the app updates charts every 30 minutes. To do this, we uses the node-cron task scheduler. To change cron syntax, in the index.js file find

const task = cron.schedule('0 */30 * * * *', async () => {
    
})

You can change the value '0 */30 * * * *' to your own according to the settings.

Test run command

npm start

Sample url for png file: https://<your-host>:3000/<chart-name>.png, where <your-host> and <chart-name> there are server host and config name of chart.

Terminate process

Run killall -9 node or pkill -f node

Start application to background

Install latest version of production process manager PM2:

npm install pm2 -g

Next, run command:

cd chart-preview
pm2 start npm --name "chart-preview" -- start

After that, process will run in the background. If you want to delete the app from the PM2 process list. You just have to enter the following command: pm2 delete chart-preview.

Data source for charts

Supported data formats: CSV, CSV and JSON. The data source structure for charts should be an JavaScript Array and look something like this:

[
    {
        name: "abc",
        value1: 123,
        value2: 321.789
    }, 
    {
        name: "def",
        value1: 789.012,
        value2: 456
    }
]

By default, the first key value from the array is taken as the argument for the chart (along the x axis), and the second is taken for the value (along the y axis):

const keys = Object.keys(d)   //  d - is a data item
const source = {
    argument: d[keys[0]],   //  argument is a d.name
    value: d[keys[1]]   //  value is a d.value1
}

However, you can customize the data selection using the accessor function (See chart configuration below).

Charts configuration

You can customize the graphics in the file names.js. Its structure is an associative array of objects:

module.exports = {
    ['<chart-name>']: {
        //  Chart configuration options
    }
}

where <chart-name> this is the name of the chart, which should be unique.

Configuration options

url string

Chart data source URL.

format string

Data source format. Possible values: csv, tsv or json.

accessor Function

Optional configuration to pick data from data item. Must be a function that returns a object with keys argument and value. Example:

accessor: d => ({argument: d.name, value: d.value1})

prepare Function

Optional configuration to prepare a value after it is read from the data source. Must be a function. Example:

prepare: d => Number(d) / 86400

type string

Chart type. It can take the following values:

line - to draw a linear chart
line_acc - to draw a linear chart with value accumulation
scatter - to draw a scatter chart
bar - to draw a bar chart
bar_acc - to draw a bar chart with value accumulation
pie - to draw a pie chart

options Object

Optional configuration for setting chart drawing options. Must be an object with the following attributes: color - color in hex format of the chart line (works for all charts except pie chart), colors - array of colors in hex format to fill slices of pie chart (only for pie chart).

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

vschst / chart-preview