highcharts

What is highcharts?

The highcharts npm package is a charting library that allows developers to create interactive and responsive charts for web applications. It supports a wide range of chart types and features, including line, area, bar, pie, scatter, and more complex types like stock, maps, and Gantt charts. Highcharts is designed to work across all modern browsers and is compatible with various frameworks and platforms.

What are highcharts's main functionalities?

Line Charts

This code sample demonstrates how to create a basic line chart using Highcharts, showing the growth of solar employment in various sectors over time.

{"title": {"text": 'Solar Employment Growth by Sector, 2010-2016'},"subtitle": {"text": 'Source: thesolarfoundation.com'},"yAxis": {"title": {"text": 'Number of Employees'}},"legend": {"layout": 'vertical',"align": 'right',"verticalAlign": 'middle'},"plotOptions": {"series": {"label": {"connectorAllowed": false},"pointStart": 2010}},"series": [{"name": 'Installation',"data": [43934, 52503, 57177, 69658, 97031, 119931, 137133, 154175]},{"name": 'Manufacturing',"data": [24916, 24064, 29742, 29851, 32490, 30282, 38121, 40434]},{"name": 'Sales & Distribution',"data": [11744, 17722, 16005, 19771, 20185, 24377, 32147, 39387]},{"name": 'Project Development',"data": [null, null, 7988, 12169, 15112, 22452, 34400, 34227]},{"name": 'Other',"data": [12908, 5948, 8105, 11248, 8989, 11816, 18274, 18111]}],"responsive": {"rules": [{"condition": {"maxWidth": 500},"chartOptions": {"legend": {"layout": 'horizontal',"align": 'center',"verticalAlign": 'bottom'}}}]}}

Pie Charts

This code sample shows how to create an interactive pie chart with Highcharts, displaying browser market shares with options for selecting and slicing portions of the pie.

{"chart": {"plotBackgroundColor": null,"plotBorderWidth": null,"plotShadow": false,"type": 'pie'},"title": {"text": 'Browser market shares in January, 2018'},"tooltip": {"pointFormat": '{series.name}: <b>{point.percentage:.1f}%</b>'},"accessibility": {"point": {"valueSuffix": '%'}},"plotOptions": {"pie": {"allowPointSelect": true,"cursor": 'pointer',"dataLabels": {"enabled": true,"format": '<b>{point.name}</b>: {point.percentage:.1f} %'}}},"series": [{"name": 'Brands',"colorByPoint": true,"data": [{"name": 'Chrome',"y": 61.41,"sliced": true,"selected": true},{"name": 'Internet Explorer',"y": 11.84},{"name": 'Firefox',"y": 10.85},{"name": 'Edge',"y": 4.67},{"name": 'Safari',"y": 4.18},{"name": 'Other',"y": 7.05}]}]}

3D Charts

This code sample illustrates how to create a 3D column chart using Highcharts, which adds a new dimension to the data visualization for better analysis and presentation.

{"chart": {"type": 'column',"options3d": {"enabled": true,"alpha": 15,"beta": 15,"viewDistance": 25,"depth": 40}},"title": {"text": 'Total fruit consumption, grouped by gender'},"plotOptions": {"column": {"depth": 25}},"series": [{"name": 'John',"data": [2, 3, 0, 4, 5]},{"name": 'Joe',"data": [1, 1, 4, 7, 2]}]}

Other packages similar to highcharts

chart.js

Chart.js is a popular open-source charting library that is lightweight and offers a simple API. It supports eight chart types, including line, bar, radar, doughnut, pie, polar area, bubble, and scatter. Compared to Highcharts, Chart.js is more focused on simplicity and ease of use, but it may not offer as many features or as much flexibility for complex visualizations.

d3

D3.js is a powerful and flexible library for creating custom data visualizations using web standards. It provides a low-level approach, giving developers more control over the final visualization. While Highcharts offers a high-level API for creating standard chart types easily, D3.js requires more coding but allows for more unique and intricate visualizations.

echarts

ECharts is an open-source charting library that offers a rich set of chart types and options. It is capable of producing interactive and complex charts and maps. ECharts is similar to Highcharts in terms of functionality but is known for its strong support for mobile devices and ease of integration with the Baidu Map service.

amcharts

amCharts is a comprehensive charting library that provides a wide array of chart types and features, including 3D charts, gauge charts, and timelines. It is comparable to Highcharts in terms of its feature set and is known for its user-friendly interface and extensive documentation. However, amCharts uses a different licensing model, which may be a consideration for some projects.

README

Highcharts is a JavaScript charting library based on SVG, with fallbacks to VML and canvas for old browsers. This package also contains Highstock, the financial charting package, and Highmaps for geo maps.

For NPM users, please note that this module replaces the previous Highcharts Server module.

• Official website: www.highcharts.com
• Download page: www.highcharts.com/download
• Licensing: www.highcharts.com/license
• Support: www.highcharts.com/support
• Issues: Working repo

Example Usage in Node/Browserify/Webpack

Please note that there are several ways to use Highcharts. For general installation instructions, see the docs.

First, install the highcharts package.

npm install highcharts

Now load Highcharts in your project.

// Load Highcharts
var Highcharts = require('highcharts');

// Alternatively, this is how to load Highstock or Highmaps
// var Highcharts = require('highcharts/highstock');
// var Highcharts = require('highcharts/highmaps');

// This is how a module is loaded. Pass in Highcharts as a parameter.
require('highcharts/modules/exporting')(Highcharts);

// Generate the chart
var chart = Highcharts.chart('container', {
	series: [{
		data: [1, 3, 2, 4]
	}],
  	// ... more options - see http://api.highcharts.com/highcharts
});