Integration with React

This tutorial will help you integrate Flexmonster with the React framework. 

Prerequisites

To work with React, you will need Node.js and npm. Get it here if it’s not already installed on your machine. 

One more tool needed is Flexmonster CLI, which is the most convenient way to work with Flexmonster. Install the CLI globally using npm:

npm install -g flexmonster-cli

Now a new flexmonster command is available in the console. Learn more about Flexmonster CLI and its commands in our documentation.

After that, choose one of the following options:

1. Run a sample project from GitHub
2. Integrate Flexmonster into a React application
3. See the examples of Flexmonster usage in React
4. Learn how to use Flexmonster with React Hooks
5. Improve Flexmonster performance in React

Run the sample project from GitHub

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

flexmonster create react es6 -r

flexmonster create react typescript -r

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

Integrate Flexmonster into a React application

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

Step 1. Create a new React project

Create a React app by running the commands below in the console. You can choose between React + ES6 and React + TypeScript projects:

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

npx create-react-app my-app --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 will install the react-flexmonster package to node_modules/ and add it as an npm dependency to package.json.

Step 3. Add Flexmonster styles

Import the styles of Flexmonster.

import 'flexmonster/flexmonster.css';

import 'flexmonster/flexmonster.css';

Step 4. Import Flexmonster

Include the FlexmonsterReact component into your React project.

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

Step 5. Create the pivot table

Instructions on how to use Flexmonster in React vary depending on the type of your React project.

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

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

Step 6. Run the project

Run your application from the console:

npm start

Examples

Both React + ES6 and React + TypeScript sample projects contain several Flexmonster usage examples. You can try them all on the projects’ starting page.

This section gives a detailed description of each example:

• Adding the pivot table
• Calling events
• Using API calls
• Updating data
• Customizing the Toolbar
• Customizing the grid
• Integrating with Highcharts
• Integrating with amCharts

Adding the pivot table

The first example demonstrates the basic usage of Flexmonster. See how the toolbar, report, and licenseKey initialization parameters are specified:

• In the React + ES6 project
• In the React + TypeScript project

Flexmonster has more initialization parameters. Have a look at all of them.

Calling events

This usage example is focused on Flexmonster events. It provides a toggle button for subscribing to all the events and unsubscribing from them. Here is the source code:

• For the React + ES6 project
• For the React + TypeScript project

When Flexmonster is subscribed to the events, the log output displays:

• Which event was triggered.
• When the event was triggered.
• Details on that event.

See the full list of Flexmonster events in our documentation.

Using API calls

The Using API calls section is about customizing the component with API calls. Switch the toggle buttons to:

• Show the pie chart.
• Show the grid.
• Make the component read-only.
• Make the component interactive.

Here is how the functionality is implemented:

• In the React + ES6 project
• In the React + TypeScript project

See the full list of Flexmonster API calls.

Updating data

The Updating data section contains an example of data updating at runtime. The example uses the updateData() API call in the function to update the data.

See the source code:

• For the React + ES6 project
• For the React + TypeScript project

Customizing the Toolbar

Go to the Customizing the Toolbar section to see the example of Toolbar customization.

We use the beforetoolbarcreated event to invoke the customizeToolbar() function. As a result, a custom tab with a custom functionality is added. See how it is implemented:

• In the React + ES6 project
• In the React + TypeScript project

Learn more about customizing the Toolbar.

Customizing the grid

The Customizing the grid example demonstrates how the component can be customized.

Switch the toggle buttons to apply or remove customization. Custom grid styles are defined in customizeCellFunction(). Have a look at the source code:

• For the React + ES6 project
• For the React + TypeScript project

See our documentation to learn more about cell customizing.

Integrating with Highcharts

See an example of integration with Highcharts in the With Highcharts section. Here is how the integration is implemented:

• In the React + ES6 project
• In the React + TypeScript project

Here are the main elements of this integration:

1. The Highcharts module and Flexmonster Connector for Highcharts.
2. A container for Highcharts.
3. The reportcomplete event; when triggered, the function to draw the chart is invoked.
4. The drawChart() function.

Integration with other charting libraries can be done in a similar way. Check out the integrations we provide.

Integrating with amCharts

In the With amCharts section, you can see a dashboard with Flexmonster and amCharts. Here is how the integration is implemented:

• In the React + ES6 project
• In the React + TypeScript project

The key elements of this integration are:

1. The amCharts module and Flexmonster Connector for amCharts.
2. A container for amCharts.
3. The reportcomplete event; when triggered, the function to draw the chart is invoked.
4. The drawChart() function.

Integration with other charting libraries can be done in a similar way. Check out the integrations we provide.

A React/JSX application with Flexmonster

On our GitHub, we also have examples of React/JSX application with Flexmonster Pivot:

• A simple React/JSX app with Flexmonster 
• A React/JSX app with Flexmonster embedded into an <App/> component
• A React/JSX app with Flexmonster events

To run these applications, just launch the needed HTML page from a browser.

Using Flexmonster with React Hooks

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

import * as FlexmonsterReact from 'react-flexmonster';

Now 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’s 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 built in the react-create-app command. By default, babel-loader transpiles 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.

Properties

All available attributes for FlexmonsterReact.Pivot are equivalent to those which are passed to the new Flexmonster() API call. Check out the full list of available attributes.

Here is an example demonstrating how different attributes are specified:

<FlexmonsterReact.Pivot
 toolbar={true}
 componentFolder="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/"
 width="100%"
 height="600"
 report="https://cdn.flexmonster.com/reports/report.json"
 reportcomplete={this.onReportComplete} 
/> 

In the example above, notice the following line:

reportcomplete={this.onReportComplete} 

This line means that onReportComplete handles the reportcomplete event. Any other event handling can be specified in the same way. Here is the full list of Flexmonster events.

What’s next?

You may be interested in the following articles:

• How to customize the Toolbar
• How to add localization
• How to customize appearance with CSS
• How to define a format for date and time
• How to set specific options common for all reports
• How to configure the way that data is exported