Getting Started with the React Chart Component

22 Jul 20267 minutes to read

This section describes the steps to create a simple Chart component.

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

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.

Before You Begin

This guide uses the React application structure generated by Vite with the TypeScript template. The following files are part of that scaffold and work together as follows:

  • src/App.tsx — Defines the root React component that hosts the Chart component. This is the only file edited in this guide.
  • src/main.tsx — Application entry point that renders App into the #root element defined in index.html.
  • index.html — Root HTML file that contains the #root container element used to mount the React application.

Note: In a Vite React TypeScript application, the root component is commonly generated as src/App.tsx. If your application uses JavaScript, the equivalent file is typically src/App.jsx.

Note: This guide uses the TypeScript template for better type checking with Chart models.

Installation and configuration

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

Step 1: Create a React application with Vite

Use Vite to create and manage React applications. Vite provides a fast development environment and optimized builds for modern React applications. Syncfusion® React documentation also recommends Vite for setting up React applications.

Start by opening a terminal on your system (Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal). You may work from the default C: drive location or create a new folder and open the terminal in it.

Step 2: Create a React application

Create a new React application using the below command.

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

If Vite prompts you to install dependencies and start the project immediately, choose No. The Syncfusion package is installed in a later step.

Navigate to the project folder:

cd my-chart-app

Install the application dependencies:

npm install

Note: If you prefer JavaScript instead of TypeScript, create the application using npm create vite@latest my-chart-app -- --template react.

Step 3: 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

Installing @syncfusion/ej2-react-charts automatically pulls in the required peer dependencies (for example, @syncfusion/ej2-base and @syncfusion/ej2-charts).

After the install completes, run npm install once more if the package is not yet listed in package.json. Then open the project in your IDE to continue with the next step.

Step 4: 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;

Note: Running npm run dev (Step 7) 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.

Step 5: Inject required modules

Chart features are delivered as separate modules and must be explicitly injected. The Inject component takes a services array that registers the modules the Chart component is allowed to use; injecting only the modules you need keeps the bundle small. Here, the LineSeries and Category modules are used to render monthly sales data:

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

Import the modules from the Chart package and register them through the Inject component as follows.

import { ChartComponent, LineSeries, Category, Inject } from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-charts';
function App() {
    return <ChartComponent>
    <Inject services={[LineSeries, Category]}/>
  </ChartComponent>;
}
export default App;

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

Step 6: 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 {  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;

Step 7: Run the application

Run the application using the following command:

npm run dev

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

Getting Started