Getting Started with React Chart

10 Aug 202613 minutes to read

This section explains the steps required to create a simple React Chart component and demonstrate its basic usage in a React environment.

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A quick video overview of the React Charts setup is available:

Prerequisites

Install the Syncfusion CLI

Install the Syncfusion CLI globally using the following command:

npm install -g @syncfusion/syncfusion-cli

Set up the Vite project using Syncfusion CLI

You can create a React Vite application using the Syncfusion CLI. The CLI provides two ways to create a project:

Non-interactive mode

Non-interactive mode allows you to create a project directly using a single command with the required command-line arguments.

sf new my-chart-app --framework react --type ts --template chart

In this mode, the project configuration is passed directly in the command. The above command creates a React Vite application configured with the Syncfusion® Chart component.

Interactive mode

Interactive mode guides you through the project creation process with step-by-step prompts.

sf

When you run the sf command, the CLI prompts you to select the required project configuration. To create a React Vite application with the Syncfusion® Chart component, select the following options:

√ Project name? ... my-chart-app
√ Choose Framework: » React
√ Choose Build Tool: » Vite
√ Choose Language: » Typescript
√ Choose Template: » Chart
√ Choose Theme: » Material3
√ Choose Style Format: » CSS
√ Would you like to integrate the Syncfusion MCP Server (AI Assistant) into this project? ... no
√ Would you like to install Syncfusion Component Skills for AI-powered development? ... no      
√ Install dependencies and start app now? ... no

The above selections generate a React Vite application configured with the Syncfusion® Chart component. You can choose different values for language, theme, style format, MCP setup, and skills installation based on your project requirements.

The Syncfusion® CLI creates the project with a predefined template. After the project is generated, you can customize or replace the component code based on your application requirements.

Run the project

Once the project is created, navigate to the project directory and run the following commands in your terminal.

cd my-chart-app
npm install
npm run dev

The output will appear as follows:

Chart Component

Prerequisites

Before getting started, ensure that your development environment meets the system requirements for Syncfusion® React UI components. That page documents the supported React, Node.js, and npm versions, and includes the React-version compatibility table for Syncfusion React components.

Set up a development environment

To set up a React application quickly, use create-vite-app, which provides a faster development environment, smaller bundle sizes, and optimized builds compared to traditional tools like create-react-app. For detailed steps, refer to the Vite installation instructions. Vite sets up the environment using JavaScript and optimizes applications for production.

As an alternative, you can create a React application using create-react-app. For detailed instructions, refer to this documentation.

To create a new React application, run one of the following commands based on your preferred language:

React with JavaScript

npm create vite@latest my-app -- --template react

React with TypeScript

npm create vite@latest my-app -- --template react-ts

During the setup process, the CLI will prompt you for a few configuration options. Select the following:

  • Which linter to use? → ESLint
  • Install with npm and start now? → Yes

Selecting Yes automatically installs the project dependencies and starts the development server.

After verifying that the application starts successfully, terminate the development server in the terminal and proceed to the next step.

Then, navigate to the project directory:

cd my-app

Install the Syncfusion® React Chart package

All Syncfusion Essential® JS 2 packages are published to the npm registry.

Install the React Chart package using the following command:

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-react-charts

Add the Chart component to the project

Add the Chart component to src/App.tsx using the following code.

import { ChartComponent } from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-charts';
function App() {
  return (<ChartComponent />);
}
export default App;

Running npm run dev at this point renders an empty Chart area. Continue with the next steps to inject modules, add data, and configure a series so the Chart can render the data.

Inject Required Modules

Chart features are delivered as separate modules and must be explicitly injected. The Inject component accepts a services array that registers the modules required by the Chart component. Injecting only the modules you need helps reduce the application bundle size.

In this example, the LineSeries and Category modules are injected to render monthly sales data on a category axis.

  • LineSeries - Inject this module into the services array to render a line series.
  • Category - Inject this module into the services array to enable the category axis.

Import the required modules from the Chart package and register them through the Inject component as shown below.

import { ChartComponent, LineSeries, Category, Inject } from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-charts';

function App() {
  return (
    <ChartComponent>
      <Inject services={[LineSeries, Category]} />
    </ChartComponent>
  );
}

export default App;

At this stage, no series are rendered because the Chart component has not yet been configured with a data source.

Populate the Chart with data

Chart data should be provided as a JSON array in the following format. You can define the data in the same src/App.tsx file or place it in a separate file (for example, src/datasource.ts) and import it into App.tsx.

export const data: Object[] = [
    { month: 'Jan', sales: 35 }, { month: 'Feb', sales: 28 },
    { month: 'Mar', sales: 34 }, { month: 'Apr', sales: 32 },
    { month: 'May', sales: 40 }, { month: 'Jun', sales: 32 },
    { month: 'Jul', sales: 35 }, { month: 'Aug', sales: 55 },
    { month: 'Sep', sales: 38 }, { month: 'Oct', sales: 30 },
    { month: 'Nov', sales: 25 }, { month: 'Dec', sales: 32 }
];

After defining the required data set, bind the data to the Chart component in the SeriesDirective tag. The following code snippet demonstrates the complete configuration required to render a basic chart.

import * as React from 'react';
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
import {
  ChartComponent,
  Inject,
  SeriesCollectionDirective,
  SeriesDirective,
  Category,
  LineSeries,
  Legend,
} from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-charts';

const data = [
  { month: 'Jan', sales: 35 },
  { month: 'Feb', sales: 28 },
  { month: 'Mar', sales: 34 },
  { month: 'Apr', sales: 32 },
  { month: 'May', sales: 40 },
  { month: 'Jun', sales: 32 },
  { month: 'Jul', sales: 35 },
  { month: 'Aug', sales: 55 },
  { month: 'Sep', sales: 38 },
  { month: 'Oct', sales: 30 },
  { month: 'Nov', sales: 25 },
  { month: 'Dec', sales: 32 },
];
const xAxisCategory = { valueType: 'Category' };

function App() {
  return (
    <ChartComponent id="charts" primaryXAxis={xAxisCategory}>
      <Inject services={[LineSeries, Category, Legend]} />
      <SeriesCollectionDirective>
        <SeriesDirective
          dataSource={data}
          xName="month"
          yName="sales"
          name="Sales"
          type="Line"
        />
      </SeriesCollectionDirective>
    </ChartComponent>
  );
}
export default App;
const root = createRoot(document.getElementById('charts'));
root.render(<App />);
import * as React from "react";
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
import {  ChartComponent, Inject, SeriesCollectionDirective, SeriesDirective, Category, LineSeries } from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-charts';

const data: Object[] = [
    { month: 'Jan', sales: 35 }, { month: 'Feb', sales: 28 },
    { month: 'Mar', sales: 34 }, { month: 'Apr', sales: 32 },
    { month: 'May', sales: 40 }, { month: 'Jun', sales: 32 },
    { month: 'Jul', sales: 35 }, { month: 'Aug', sales: 55 },
    { month: 'Sep', sales: 38 }, { month: 'Oct', sales: 30 },
    { month: 'Nov', sales: 25 }, { month: 'Dec', sales: 32 }
];
const xAxisCategory = { valueType: 'Category' };

function App() {
  return <ChartComponent id="charts" primaryXAxis={xAxisCategory}>
    <Inject services={[LineSeries, Category]} />
    <SeriesCollectionDirective>
      <SeriesDirective dataSource={data} xName='month' yName='sales' name='Sales' type='Line'/>
    </SeriesCollectionDirective>
  </ChartComponent>
}
export default App;
const root = createRoot(document.getElementById('charts'));
root.render(<App />);

Run the application

Run the application using the following command:

npm run dev

Open the generated local URL (for example, http://localhost:5173/) from terminal in the browser. The application displays the chart as shown below:

Getting Started

Troubleshooting

Use the following guidance to resolve common issues when getting started with the React Chart component.

  • Chart does not render (blank page)
    • Verify that index.html contains a container with id="root", and that main.tsx (or main.jsx) calls createRoot(document.getElementById("root")!).render(<App />).
    • Run npm install again to ensure all peer dependencies are installed.
  • Chart area renders but no series is displayed
    • Confirm that the required series module (for example, LineSeries or ColumnSeries) and axis module (for example, Category or DateTime) are listed in the services array of the Inject component.
    • Confirm that <SeriesDirective> is wrapped in a <SeriesCollectionDirective> and that dataSource, xName, yName, and type are set.
  • Series data is plotted in the wrong order or with wrong labels
    • Check that the property names passed to xName and yName exactly match the keys in the dataSource array (the comparison is case-sensitive).
    • If the x field holds Date values, set the valueType of primaryXAxis to DateTime; for string categories use Category.
  • Module not found: Can't resolve '@syncfusion/ej2-react-charts'
    • The package was not installed in the current project. Run npm install @syncfusion/ej2-react-charts from the project root.
  • Tooltip, legend, or data label is not visible after enabling it
    • Confirm that the corresponding module (for example, Tooltip, Legend, DataLabel) is included in the services array of the Inject component.

See also