Date time axis in EJ2 JavaScript Chart control

8 May 202324 minutes to read

DateTime Axis

Date time axis uses date time scale and displays the date time values as axis labels in the specified format.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        // Date time scale in primary X Axis
        valueType: 'DateTime',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Note: To use datetime axis, we need to inject DateTime using Chart.Inject(DateTime) method and set the valueType of axis to DateTime.

DateTimeCategory Axis

Date-time category axis is used to display the date-time values with non-linear intervals. For example, the business days alone have been depicted in a week here.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'DateTimeCategory',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Note: To use dateTimeCategory axis, we need to inject DateTimeCategory using Chart.Inject(DateTimeCategory) method and set the valueType of axis to DateTimeCategory.

Range

Range of an axis will be calculated automatically based on the provided data, you can also customize the range of the axis using minimum, maximum and interval property
of the axis.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        // Date time range in primary X Axis
        valueType: 'DateTimeCategory',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM',
    
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Interval Customization

Date time intervals can be customized by using the interval and intervalType properties of the axis. For example, when you set interval as 2 and intervalType as years, it considers 2 years as interval. Datetime axis supports following interval types,

  • Auto
  • Years
  • Months
  • Days
  • Hours
  • Minutes
  • Seconds
var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'DateTimeCategory',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM',
        intervalType: 'Years'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Applying Padding to the Range

Padding can be applied to the minimum and maximum extremes of the range by using the rangePadding property. Date time axis supports the following types of padding,

  • None
  • Round
  • Additional

Datetime - None

When the rangePadding is set to None, minimum and maximum of an axis is based on the data.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'DateTime',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM',
        //Range padding as none
        rangePadding: 'None'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Datetime - Round

When the rangePadding is set to Round, minimum and maximum will be rounded to the nearest possible value, which is divisible by interval. For example, when the minimum is 15th Jan, interval is 1 and the interval type is ‘month’, then the axis minimum will be Jan 1st.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'DateTime',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM',
        //Range padding as round
        rangePadding: 'Round'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Datetime - Additional

When the rangePadding is set to Additional, interval of an axis will be padded to the minimum and maximum of the axis.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart= new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'DateTime',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        labelFormat: 'yMMM',
        //Range padding as additional
        rangePadding: 'Additional'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

Label Format

You can format and parse the date to all globalize format using labelFormat property in an axis.

var chartData = [
    { x: new Date(2000, 6, 11), y: 10 }, { x: new Date(2002, 3, 7), y: 30 },
    { x: new Date(2004, 3, 6), y: 15 }, { x: new Date(2006, 3, 30), y: 65 },
    { x: new Date(2008, 3, 8), y: 90 }, { x: new Date(2010, 3, 8), y: 85 }
];
var chart = new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'DateTime',
        title: 'Sales Across Years',
        //Label format as yMd
        labelFormat: 'yMd'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        title: 'Sales Amount in millions(USD)'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'x', yName: 'y',
        name: 'Sales', type: 'Line'
    }],
    title: 'Average Sales Comparison'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>

The following table describes the result of applying some common date time formats to the labelFormat property

Label Value Label Format Property Value Result Description
new Date(2000, 03, 10) EEEE Monday The Date is displayed in day format
new Date(2000, 03, 10) yMd 04/10/2000 The Date is displayed in month/date/year format
new Date(2000, 03, 10) MMM Apr The Shorthand month for the date is displayed
new Date(2000, 03, 10) hm 12:00 AM Time of the date value is displayed as label
new Date(2000, 03, 10) hms 12:00:00 AM The Label is displayed in hours:minutes:seconds format

Custom Label Format

Axis also supports custom label format using placeholder like {value}°C, in which the value represent the axis label e.g 20°C.

var chartData = [
      { country: "USA", gold: 50, silver: 70, bronze: 45 },
      { country: "China", gold: 40, silver: 60, bronze: 55 },
      { country: "Japan", gold: 70, silver: 60, bronze: 50 },
      { country: "Australia", gold: 60, silver: 56, bronze: 40 },
      { country: "France", gold: 50, silver: 45, bronze: 35 },
      { country: "Germany", gold: 40, silver: 30, bronze: 22 },
      { country: "Italy", gold: 40, silver: 35, bronze: 37 },
      { country: "Sweden", gold: 30, silver: 25, bronze: 27 }
];
var chart= new ej.charts.Chart({
    primaryXAxis: {
        valueType: 'Category',
        title: 'Countries'
    },
    primaryYAxis: {
        minimum: 0, maximum: 80,
        interval: 20, title: 'Medals',
        // Custom label format
        labelFormat: '${value}K'
    },
    series:[{
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'country', yName: 'gold',
        name: 'Gold', type: 'Column'
    }, {
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'country', yName: 'silver',
        name: 'Silver', type: 'Column'
    }, {
        dataSource: chartData,
        xName: 'country', yName: 'bronze',
        name: 'Bronze', type: 'Column'
    }],
    title: 'Olympic Medals'
}, '#element');
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head>
    <title>EJ2 Animation</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <meta name="description" content="Typescript UI Controls">
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion">
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">
    
    
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/29.1.33/dist/ej2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body>
    
    <div id="container">
        <div id="element"></div>
    </div>


<script>
var ele = document.getElementById('container');
if(ele) {
  ele.style.visibility = "visible";
}   
      </script>
<script src="index.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body></html>