vis

What is vis?

The vis npm package is a dynamic, browser-based visualization library. It is designed to handle large amounts of dynamic data and enables the creation of interactive timelines, 2D/3D graphs, and network visualizations.

What are vis's main functionalities?

Timeline

The Timeline feature allows you to create interactive timelines with items that can have start and end dates. This is useful for visualizing events over time.

const vis = require('vis');

// Create a DataSet (allows two way data-binding)
var items = new vis.DataSet([
  {id: 1, content: 'item 1', start: '2023-04-20'},
  {id: 2, content: 'item 2', start: '2023-04-14'},
  {id: 3, content: 'item 3', start: '2023-04-18'},
  {id: 4, content: 'item 4', start: '2023-04-16', end: '2023-04-19'},
  {id: 5, content: 'item 5', start: '2023-04-25'},
  {id: 6, content: 'item 6', start: '2023-04-27', type: 'point'}
]);

// Configuration for the Timeline
var options = {};

// Create a Timeline
var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, items, options);

Network

The Network feature allows you to create interactive network graphs with nodes and edges. This is useful for visualizing relationships and connections between entities.

const vis = require('vis');

// create an array with nodes
var nodes = new vis.DataSet([
  {id: 1, label: 'Node 1'},
  {id: 2, label: 'Node 2'},
  {id: 3, label: 'Node 3'},
  {id: 4, label: 'Node 4'},
  {id: 5, label: 'Node 5'}
]);

// create an array with edges
var edges = new vis.DataSet([
  {from: 1, to: 3},
  {from: 1, to: 2},
  {from: 2, to: 4},
  {from: 2, to: 5}
]);

// create a network
var container = document.getElementById('mynetwork');
var data = {
  nodes: nodes,
  edges: edges
};
var options = {};
var network = new vis.Network(container, data, options);

Graph2D

The Graph2D feature allows you to create interactive 2D graphs. This is useful for visualizing data points over a two-dimensional space.

const vis = require('vis');

// Create a DataSet (allows two way data-binding)
var data = new vis.DataSet();

// Add data
for (var i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
  data.add({x: i, y: Math.sin(i / 5)});
}

// Configuration for the Graph2d
var options = {
  start: '2023-04-10',
  end: '2023-04-30'
};

// Create a Graph2d
var container = document.getElementById('mygraph');
var graph2d = new vis.Graph2d(container, data, options);

Other packages similar to vis

d3

D3.js is a JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. It uses HTML, SVG, and CSS. Compared to vis, D3.js offers more flexibility and control over the visualizations but requires more effort to set up and use.

chart.js

Chart.js is a simple yet flexible JavaScript charting library for designers & developers. It offers a variety of chart types and is easy to use. Compared to vis, Chart.js is more focused on traditional chart types like bar, line, and pie charts, and is less suited for complex network or timeline visualizations.

cytoscape

Cytoscape.js is a graph theory library for visualizing and analyzing networks. It is highly customizable and supports a wide range of graph layouts. Compared to vis, Cytoscape.js is more specialized for network visualizations and offers more advanced features for graph analysis.

README

vis.js

Vis.js is a dynamic, browser based visualization library. The library is designed to be easy to use, handle large amounts of dynamic data, and enable manipulation of the data. The library consists of the following components:

• DataSet and DataView. A flexible key/value based data set. Add, update, and remove items. Subscribe on changes in the data set. A DataSet can filter and order items, and convert fields of items.
• DataView. A filtered and/or formatted view on a DataSet.
• Graph2d. Plot data on a timeline with lines or barcharts.
• Graph3d. Display data in a three dimensional graph.
• Network. Display a network (force directed graph) with nodes and edges.
• Timeline. Display different types of data on a timeline.

The vis.js library was initially developed by Almende B.V.

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Install

Install via npm:

$ npm install vis

Install via bower:

$ bower install vis

Link via cdnjs: http://cdnjs.com

Or download the library from the github project: https://github.com/almende/vis.git.

Load

To use a component, include the javascript and css files of vis in your web page:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="webroot/vis/dist/vis.js"></script>
  <link href="webroot/vis/dist/vis.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
  <script type="text/javascript">
    // ... load a visualization
  </script>
</body>
</html>

or load vis.js using require.js. Note that vis.css must be loaded too.

require.config({
  paths: {
    vis: 'path/to/vis/dist',
  }
});
require(['vis'], function (math) {
  // ... load a visualization
});

A timeline can be instantiated as:

var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, data, options);

Where container is an HTML element, data is an Array with data or a DataSet, and options is an optional object with configuration options for the component.

Example

A basic example on loading a Timeline is shown below. More examples can be found in the examples directory of the project.

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Timeline basic demo</title>
  <script src="vis/dist/vis.js"></script>
  <link href="vis/dist/vis.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

  <style type="text/css">
    body, html {
      font-family: sans-serif;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="visualization"></div>

<script type="text/javascript">
  var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
  var data = [
    {id: 1, content: 'item 1', start: '2013-04-20'},
    {id: 2, content: 'item 2', start: '2013-04-14'},
    {id: 3, content: 'item 3', start: '2013-04-18'},
    {id: 4, content: 'item 4', start: '2013-04-16', end: '2013-04-19'},
    {id: 5, content: 'item 5', start: '2013-04-25'},
    {id: 6, content: 'item 6', start: '2013-04-27'}
  ];
  var options = {};
  var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, data, options);
</script>
</body>
</html>

Build

To build the library from source, clone the project from github

$ git clone git://github.com/almende/vis.git

The source code uses the module style of node (require and module.exports) to organize dependencies. To install all dependencies and build the library, run npm install in the root of the project.

$ cd vis
$ npm install

Then, the project can be build running:

$ npm run build

To automatically rebuild on changes in the source files, once can use

$ npm run watch

This will both build and minify the library on changes. Minifying is relatively slow, so when only the non-minified library is needed, one can use the watch-dev script instead:

$ npm run watch-dev

Custom builds

The folder dist contains bundled versions of vis.js for direct use in the browser. These bundles contain all the visualizations and include external dependencies such as hammer.js and moment.js.

The source code of vis.js consists of commonjs modules, which makes it possible to create custom bundles using tools like Browserify or Webpack. This can be bundling just one visualization like the Timeline, or bundling vis.js as part of your own browserified web application.

Note that hammer.js version 2 is required as of v4.

Prerequisites

Before you can do a build:

• Install node.js and npm on your system: https://nodejs.org/

• Install the following modules using npm: browserify, babelify, and uglify-js:

  $ [sudo] npm install -g browserify babelify uglify-js
  

• Download or clone the vis.js project:

  $ git clone https://github.com/almende/vis.git
  

• Install the dependencies of vis.js by running npm install in the root of the project:

  $ cd vis
  $ npm install
  

Examples of custom builds

Example 1: Bundle only a single visualization type

For example, to create a bundle with just the Timeline and DataSet, create an index file named custom.js in the root of the project, containing:

exports.DataSet = require('./lib/DataSet');
exports.Timeline = require('./lib/timeline/Timeline');

Then create a custom bundle using browserify, like:

$ browserify custom.js -t [ babelify --presets [es2015] ] -o dist/vis-custom.js -s vis

This will generate a custom bundle vis-custom.js, which exposes the namespace vis containing only DataSet and Timeline. The generated bundle can be minified using uglifyjs:

$ uglifyjs dist/vis-custom.js -o dist/vis-custom.min.js

The custom bundle can now be loaded like:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="dist/vis-custom.min.js"></script>
  <link href="dist/vis.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
  ...
</body>
</html>

Example 2: Exclude external libraries

The default bundle vis.js is standalone and includes external dependencies such as hammer.js and moment.js. When these libraries are already loaded by the application, vis.js does not need to include these dependencies itself too. To build a custom bundle of vis.js excluding moment.js and hammer.js, run browserify in the root of the project:

$ browserify index.js -t [ babelify --presets [es2015] ] -o dist/vis-custom.js -s vis -x moment -x hammerjs

This will generate a custom bundle vis-custom.js, which exposes the namespace vis, and has moment.js and hammer.js excluded. The generated bundle can be minified with uglifyjs:

$ uglifyjs dist/vis-custom.js -o dist/vis-custom.min.js

The custom bundle can now be loaded as:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <!-- load external dependencies -->
  <script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/moment.js/2.17.1/moment.min.js"></script>
  <script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/hammer.js/2.0.8/hammer.min.js"></script>

  <!-- load vis.js -->
  <script src="dist/vis-custom.min.js"></script>
  <link href="dist/vis.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
  ...
</body>
</html>

Example 3: Bundle vis.js as part of your (commonjs) application

When writing a web application with commonjs modules, vis.js can be packaged automatically into the application. Create a file app.js containing:

var moment = require('moment');
var DataSet = require('vis/lib/DataSet');
var Timeline = require('vis/lib/timeline/Timeline');

var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
var data = new DataSet([
  {id: 1, content: 'item 1', start: moment('2013-04-20')},
  {id: 2, content: 'item 2', start: moment('2013-04-14')},
  {id: 3, content: 'item 3', start: moment('2013-04-18')},
  {id: 4, content: 'item 4', start: moment('2013-04-16'), end: moment('2013-04-19')},
  {id: 5, content: 'item 5', start: moment('2013-04-25')},
  {id: 6, content: 'item 6', start: moment('2013-04-27')}
]);
var options = {};
var timeline = new Timeline(container, data, options);

The application can be bundled and minified:

$ browserify app.js -o dist/app-bundle.js -t babelify
$ uglifyjs dist/app-bundle.js -o dist/app-bundle.min.js

And loaded into a webpage:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <link href="node_modules/vis/dist/vis.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
  <div id="visualization"></div>
  <script src="dist/app-bundle.min.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Example 4: Integrate vis.js components directly in your webpack build

You can integrate e.g. the timeline component directly in you webpack build. Therefor you just import the component-files from root direcory (starting with "index-").

var visTimeline = require('vis/index-timeline-graph2d');

var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
var data = new DataSet();
var timeline = new Timeline(container, data, {});

To get this to work you'll need to add the some babel-loader-setting:

module: {
	loaders: [{
		test: /node_modules[\\\/]vis[\\\/].*\.js$/,
		loader: 'babel',
		query: {
			cacheDirectory: true,
			presets: ["es2015"],
			plugins: [
				"transform-es3-property-literals",
				"transform-es3-member-expression-literals",
				"transform-runtime"
			]
		}
	}]
}

Test

To test the library, install the project dependencies once:

$ npm install

Then run the tests:

$ npm run test

License

Copyright (C) 2010-2017 Almende B.V. and Contributors

Vis.js is dual licensed under both

• The Apache 2.0 License http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

and

• The MIT License http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

Vis.js may be distributed under either license.

Changelog

2017-03-19, version 4.19.1

General

• FIX: #2685 Fixed babel dependencies (#2875)

Timeline / Graph2D

• FIX #2809: Fix docs typo in "showNested" (#2879)
• FIX #2594: Fixes for removing and adding items to subgroups (#2821)
• FIX: Allow nested groups to be removed (#2852)