Symfony UX Chart.js

Symfony UX Chart.js is a Symfony bundle integrating the Chart.js library in Symfony applications. It is part of the Symfony UX initiative.

Installation

Install the bundle using Composer and Symfony Flex:

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        $ composer require symfony/ux-chartjs
    

If you're using WebpackEncore, install your assets and restart Encore (not needed if you're using AssetMapper):

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        $ npm install --force
$ npm run watch
    

Note

For more complex installation scenarios, you can install the JavaScript assets through the @symfony/ux-chartjs npm package

Usage

To use Symfony UX Chart.js, inject the ChartBuilderInterface service and create charts in PHP:

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        // ...
use Symfony\UX\Chartjs\Builder\ChartBuilderInterface;
use Symfony\UX\Chartjs\Model\Chart;

class HomeController extends AbstractController
{
    #[Route('/', name: 'app_homepage')]
    public function index(ChartBuilderInterface $chartBuilder): Response
    {
        $chart = $chartBuilder->createChart(Chart::TYPE_LINE);

        $chart->setData([
            'labels' => ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July'],
            'datasets' => [
                [
                    'label' => 'My First dataset',
                    'backgroundColor' => 'rgb(255, 99, 132)',
                    'borderColor' => 'rgb(255, 99, 132)',
                    'data' => [0, 10, 5, 2, 20, 30, 45],
                ],
            ],
        ]);

        $chart->setOptions([
            'scales' => [
                'y' => [
                    'suggestedMin' => 0,
                    'suggestedMax' => 100,
                ],
            ],
        ]);

        return $this->render('home/index.html.twig', [
            'chart' => $chart,
        ]);
    }
}
    

All options and data are provided as-is to Chart.js. You can read Chart.js documentation to discover them all.

Once created in PHP, a chart can be displayed using Twig:

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        {{ render_chart(chart) }}

{# You can pass HTML attributes as a second argument to add them on the <canvas> tag #}
{{ render_chart(chart, {'class': 'my-chart'}) }}
    

Using Plugins

Chart.js comes with a lot of plugins to extend its default behavior. Let's see what it looks like to use the zoom plugin by following the zoom plugin documentation.

First, install the plugin:

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        $ npm install chartjs-plugin-zoom -D
    

Then register the plugin globally. This can be done in your app.js file:

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        // assets/app.js
import zoomPlugin from 'chartjs-plugin-zoom';

// register globally for all charts
document.addEventListener('chartjs:init', function (event) {
    const Chart = event.detail.Chart;
    Chart.register(zoomPlugin);
});

// ...
    

Finally, configure the plugin with the chart options. For example, the zoom plugin docs show the following example config:

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        // ...
options: {
    plugins: {
        zoom: {
            zoom: {
              wheel: { enabled: true },
              pinch: { enabled: true },
              mode: 'xy',
            }
        }
    }
}
// ...
    

To use this same config in Symfony UX Chart.js, you can use the setOptions() method:

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        $chart = $chartBuilder->createChart(Chart::TYPE_LINE);

// ...

$chart->setOptions([
    'plugins' => [
        'zoom' => [
            'zoom' => [
                'wheel' => ['enabled' => true],
                'pinch' => ['enabled' => true],
                'mode' => 'xy',
            ],
        ],
    ],
]);
    

Extend the default behavior

Symfony UX Chart.js allows you to extend its default behavior using a custom Stimulus controller:

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        // mychart_controller.js

import { Controller } from '@hotwired/stimulus';

export default class extends Controller {
    connect() {
        this.element.addEventListener('chartjs:pre-connect', this._onPreConnect);
        this.element.addEventListener('chartjs:connect', this._onConnect);
    }

    disconnect() {
        // You should always remove listeners when the controller is disconnected to avoid side effects
        this.element.removeEventListener('chartjs:pre-connect', this._onPreConnect);
        this.element.removeEventListener('chartjs:connect', this._onConnect);
    }

    _onPreConnect(event) {
        // The chart is not yet created
        // You can access the config that will be passed to "new Chart()"
        console.log(event.detail.config);

        // For instance you can format Y axis
        // To avoid overriding existing config, you should distinguish 3 cases:
        // # 1. No existing scales config => add a new scales config
        event.detail.config.options.scales = {
            y: {
                ticks: {
                    callback: function (value, index, values) {
                        /* ... */
                    },
                },
            },
        };
        // # 2. Existing scales config without Y axis config => add new Y axis config
        event.detail.config.options.scales.y = {
            ticks: {
                callback: function (value, index, values) {
                    /* ... */
                },
            },
        };
        // # 3. Existing Y axis config => update it
        event.detail.config.options.scales.y.ticks = {
            callback: function (value, index, values) {
                /* ... */
            },
        };
    }

    _onConnect(event) {
        // The chart was just created
        console.log(event.detail.chart); // You can access the chart instance using the event details

        // For instance you can listen to additional events
        event.detail.chart.options.onHover = (mouseEvent) => {
            /* ... */
        };
        event.detail.chart.options.onClick = (mouseEvent) => {
            /* ... */
        };
    }
}
    

Then in your render call, add your controller as an HTML attribute:

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        {{ render_chart(chart, {'data-controller': 'mychart'}) }}
    

There is also a chartjs:init event that is called just one time before your first chart is rendered. That's an ideal place to register Chart.js plugins globally or make other changes to any "static"/global part of Chart.js. For example, to add a global Tooltip positioner:

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        // assets/app.js

// register globally for all charts
document.addEventListener('chartjs:init', function (event) {
    const Chart = event.detail.Chart;
    const Tooltip = Chart.registry.plugins.get('tooltip');
    Tooltip.positioners.bottom = function(items) {
        /* ... */
    };
});
    

Backward Compatibility promise

This bundle aims at following the same Backward Compatibility promise as the Symfony framework: https://symfony.com/doc/current/contributing/code/bc.html.

This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.

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