How to use D3 in Node.js properly?

Question

I\'ve been trying to invoke D3 within Node.js. I tried firstly to import d3.v2.js from D3\'s website with the script tag, but then read this thread:

I want to run d3

Answer 1

The correct way to use D3 within Node is to use NPM to install d3 and then to require it. You can either npm install d3 or use a package.json file, followed by npm install:

{
  "name": "my-awesome-package",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "dependencies": {
    "d3": "3"
  }
}

Once you have d3 in your node_modules directory, load it via require:

var d3 = require("d3");

And that's it.

Regarding your other issues: Canvas is not required to use D3. The node-canvas example you linked requires canvas because it renders to a canvas. The TypeError (Cannot read property 'BSON' of undefined) appears to be related to your use of mongoose / monogdb, not D3.