Create multiple dynamic charts

Question

i'm developing a web application - MEAN stack. i'm trying to use ChartJS doughnut chart but i need it to be completely dynamic - first, the number of charts is dynamic (each chart represent something else) so sometimes it will be 3 and sometime 20. second, i want ti be able to access each of the charts for real-time data changing. does it even possible? i tried to create an array that will hold each of the charts data and use *ngFor to create each chart an canvas element but it didn't work.

my chartjs.component.ts:

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { DataService } from '../data.service';
import { Chart } from 'chart.js';
import { pieceLabel } from 'chart.piecelabel.js';
import {ElementRef} from '@angular/core';
@Component({
selector: 'app-chartjs',
templateUrl: './chartjs.component.html',
styleUrls: ['./chartjs.component.css']
})
export class ChartjsComponent implements OnInit {
constructor( private _dataService : DataService, private elementRef: ElementRef) { 

}
jsons: any;
NumberOfSystems: Number;
charts = [];
ngOnInit() {
this._dataService.getData().subscribe(data => {
  this.jsons = data
  this.NumberOfSystems = this.jsons.data[0][1].systems.length
  this.createChartsData()
}); 
}
createChartsData()
{
var array=[];
for(var i =0; i<this.NumberOfSystems;i++)
{
var pie ={
  type: 'doughnut',
  data: {
    labels: ["Disks", "Mgmt", "Hardware", "FC", "Vols&Pols"],
    datasets: [
      {
        backgroundColor:["#008000","#008000","#008000","#008000","#008000"],
        data: [20,20,20,20,20]
      }
    ]
  },
  options: {
    title: {
      display: false
    },
    animations: true,
    tooltips: {
      enabled: true
     },
     legend: {
      display: true
    }
  }
};
array.push(pie);
}
this.createCharts(array);
}
createCharts(pieData){
for(var j = 0; j<this.NumberOfSystems;j++)
{
  let htmlRef = this.elementRef.nativeElement.select(`#canvas`+j);
  console.log(htmlRef);
  var tempChart = new Chart(htmlRef,pieData[j]);
  this.charts.push(tempChart);
}   
}
}

and this is the chartjs.component.html:

<div>
<canvas *ngFor="let chart of charts; let i = index" id="canvas{{i}}">{{charts}}</canvas>
</div>

in this state, the ElementRef is null.

Answer 1

In your

canvas ... add a #yourId

(example : canvas *ngFor="let chart of charts; let i = index" id="canvas{{i}} #yourId")

Then you can use @ViewChildren('yourId') myCharts: any; (you can't use myCharts in ngOnInit, only in ngAfterViewInit and after) which will give you your array of charts.

I won't provide much more detail but you can use what's inside your myCharts (use a console.log(myCharts) to see in detail what's in there), you can use this to change data and so on.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Here is one of the possible implementations of the previously proposed solution. I created an array called "charts", which will contain as many elements as charts I want to create. Each element of this array has an identifier and the key where we will place the chart later (AfterViewInit).

HTML:

<div>
  <canvas *ngFor="let chart of charts; let i = index" id="mychart{{i}}" #mycharts>{{chart.chart}}</canvas>
</div>

.TS:

 import {Component, OnInit, Input, AfterViewInit, ViewChildren} from '@angular/core';
 import { Chart } from 'chart.js';

 // ...

 @ViewChildren('mycharts') allMyCanvas: any;  // Observe #mycharts elements
 charts: any;    // Array to store all my charts

 constructor() {
   this.charts = [
    {
      "id": "1",   // Just an identifier
      "chart": []            // The chart itself is going to be saved here
    },
    {
      "id": "2",
      "chart": []
    },
    {
      "id": "3",
      "chart": []
    }
  ]
 }

 ngAfterViewInit() {
   let canvasCharts = this.allMyCanvas._results;  // Get array with all canvas
   canvasCharts.map((myCanvas, i) => {   // For each canvas, save the chart on the charts array 
      this.charts[i].chart = new Chart(myCanvas.nativeElement.getContext('2d'), {
        // ...
      }
   })
 }