Integration with React

This tutorial will help you integrate Flexmonster with React.

Prerequisites

Node.js and npm
Flexmonster CLI
Install it with the following command:
```
npm install -g flexmonster-cli
```

This guide contains the following sections:

Run a sample project from GitHub
Integrate with React ES6 or TypeScript
Integrate with React ES5
Examples of Flexmonster usage in React
Use Flexmonster with React Hooks
Improve Flexmonster performance in React

Run a sample project from GitHub

Download the sample project with the flexmonster create command. You can choose either the ES6 or TypeScript project:

React + ES6

flexmonster create react es6 -r

The flexmonster create react es6 command does the following:

Downloads the .zip archive with the sample React + ES6 project from GitHub.
Automatically unpacks the files in the current folder — as a result, the flexmonster-react-es6-project/ folder will appear in your working directory.

The -r option, which is short for --run, completes the following tasks:

Installs all the npm dependencies described in package.json.
Compiles the application and runs it in the browser.

React + TypeScript

flexmonster create react typescript -r

The flexmonster create react typescript command does the following:

Downloads the .zip archive with the sample React + TypeScript project from GitHub.
Automatically unpacks the files in the current folder — as a result, the flexmonster-react-typescript-project/ folder will appear in your working directory.

The -r option, which is short for --run, completes the following tasks:

Installs all the npm dependencies described in package.json.
Compiles the application and runs it in the browser.

The application can be shut down manually with Ctrl + C.

Integrate with React ES6 or TypeScript

Follow the steps below to integrate Flexmonster Pivot into a new React application. If you already have a React project, jump to Step 2. Install Flexmonster.

Step 1. Create a new React project

If you don’t have a React app yet, create one by running the following commands in the console. You can choose between ES6 and TypeScript projects:

React + ES6

npx create-react-app my-app
cd my-app

React + TypeScript

npx create-react-app my-app --template typescript
cd my-app

Step 2. Install Flexmonster

Install the Flexmonster React module by running this CLI command from the folder containing package.json:

flexmonster add react-flexmonster

The add command installs the react-flexmonster package to the node_modules/ folder and adds it as an npm dependency to package.json.

Step 3. Add Flexmonster styles

Import the Flexmonster styles.

React + ES6

Add the following import statement to index.js:

import 'flexmonster/flexmonster.css';

React + TypeScript

Add the following import statement to index.tsx:

import 'flexmonster/flexmonster.css';

Step 4. Import Flexmonster

Include the FlexmonsterReact component into your React project.

React + ES6

Add the following import statement to App.js:

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

React + TypeScript

Add the following import statement to App.tsx:

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

Step 5. Create the pivot table

You can now use Flexmonster in your React project.

React + ES6

Insert a pivot table into App.js:

function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <FlexmonsterReact.Pivot 
       toolbar={true}
       componentFolder="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/"
       width="100%"
       report="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/reports/report.json"
      />
    </div>
  );
}

React + TypeScript

Insert a pivot table into App.tsx:

function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <FlexmonsterReact.Pivot
       toolbar={true}
       componentFolder="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/"
       width="100%"
       report="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/reports/report.json"
      />
    </div>
  );
}

This step mentions only some of the FlexmonsterReact.Pivot props. These props are equivalent to Flexmonster’s initialization parameters. See the full list of available parameters.

Step 6. Run the project

Run your application from the console:

npm start

Integrate with React ES5

If needed, you can use the ES5 version of Flexmonster in your React project. Import FlexmonsterReact ES5 in App.js as follows:

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster/es5';

The ES5 version of Flexmonster will now be used instead of the ES6 one.

Examples of Flexmonster usage in React

Our sample React projects contain the following usage examples:

Creating the pivot table
Handling events
Using API calls
Updating data
Customizing the Toolbar
Customizing the grid
Integrating with Highcharts
Integrating with amCharts

Learn more about each of these examples in our guide: Flexmonster usage in React.

Use Flexmonster with React Hooks

Step 1. To use Flexmonster Pivot with React Hooks, import FlexmonsterReact as a class component:

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

Step 2. Embed Flexmonster into your React Hooks component:

import React from 'react';
import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

function PivotTableHooks (props) {
    const ref = React.useRef();

    const onReportComplete = () => {
        console.log(">>>>", ref.current.flexmonster.getReport()); 
    }

    return <>
        <div className="App">
            <FlexmonsterReact.Pivot
             ref={ref}
             toolbar={true}
             width="100%"          
             report="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/reports/report.json"
             reportcomplete={onReportComplete}
            />
        </div>
    </>;    
 }

 export default PivotTableHooks;

In the example above, notice this line:

console.log(">>>>", ref.current.flexmonster.getReport());

It demonstrates how to call Flexmonster methods when using React Hooks. Here is the full list of Flexmonster API calls.

Improve Flexmonster performance in React

One of the causes of slow Flexmonster performance in React is the babel-loader package, which is preinstalled in React applications. By default, babel-loader transpiles all files located in the node_modules/ folder, including Flexmonster files.

This issue can be fixed by manually configuring babel-loader, which requires running the npm run eject command. Note that this command’s effect is irreversible, so we recommend learning more about npm run eject before running it.

To improve Flexmonster performance, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Run the npm run eject command in the console.

Step 2. Open the webpack.config.js file and exclude Flexmonster from babel-loader:

// Process any JS outside of the app with Babel
// Unlike the application JS, we only compile the standard ES features
{
    test: /\.(js|mjs)$/,
    exclude: [
        /node_modules[\\/]flexmonster/,
        /@babel(?:\/|\\{1,2})runtime/
    ],
    loader: require.resolve('babel-loader'),
    …
}

If you completed the instructions above, but the performance is still slow, you can try passing data to the component in a different way.

For example, data can be aggregated on a server and passed to Flexmonster in a ready-to-show format. This will reduce the load on the browser and improve performance. This approach is implemented in Flexmonster Data Server – our tool for server-side data processing, so you are welcome to use it.

What’s next?

You may be interested in the following articles: