4 ms·

The thing I've wanted is a visualization library that also comes with the UI controls for configuring graphs: picking the graph type, picking the fields, pickin

The thing I've wanted is a visualization library that also comes with the UI controls for configuring graphs: picking the graph type, picking the fields, picking the labels, picking the aggregation, axis settings, etc. Almost no one is implementing libraries that do this. Everyone just keeps building "low-level" graph libraries that leave application developers to build up (in my case) crappy and inflexible configuration UIs.

noughtme 4y ago
my experience has been that non of these solutions provide enough control granularity, and i keep coming back to d3.js (or other libraries like deck.gl) and building my own UI.
- taeric 4y ago
  In a similar vein, my experience is that most visualizations that people are commonly making are reaching for what is available in R. https://r-graph-gallery.com/ggplot2-package.html https://r-graph-gallery.com/ggplot2-package.html
  - jeltz 4y ago
    In my case that is 100% true. What I actually want is R but for the web. All the JS libraries are either too simple and rigid or too low level like d3.
    - esperent 4y ago
      Has anyone done any work to compile R to wasm?
    - baandang 4y ago
      You can't have it both ways. You can't have a completely open data representation and an abstraction at a higher level than d3. What you are calling too low level is basically dealing with the fact the data can be anything. What we really need is a javascript dataframe that everyone uses by default but that is not going to happen. Javascript culture is practically all about reinventing and trying to improve the wheel so we can optimally go in circles. I think there is an emergent self interest at the group level to keep things complex and salaries growing on the front end too. The complexity and absurdity is hardly a bug at the individual level if getting paid.
  - baandang 4y ago
    The biggest difference IMO is that there is no default data representation that 99.99% of people use in javascript like pandas/dataframes/numpy/zoo in python/R. I would even say javascript has better visualization libraries than GGplot but because there is no javascriptDataframe.plot('line') the visualization libraries end up down their own path because of different data representations. My experience also is that every visualization library will lack something if you want to do anything beyond the most standard visualizations. Almost by definition it has to be that way.
    - taeric 4y ago
      Agreed, I think. Though, ggplot is very tough competition. And a lot of the niceties of small multiples and such are going to be a super power for folks using them.
go_prodev 4y ago
Yes, same here. I'd love an open source Power BI alternative.
- krebby 4y ago
  Check out Apache Superset: https://superset.apache.org/ https://superset.apache.org/ Originally from Airbnb. Very powerful and flexible OS frontend BI tool
  - otabdeveloper4 4y ago
    a) Apache Superset is neither powerful nor flexible. It has the absolute minimum functionality to still be called a "BI tool", but just barely. b) Sadly, Apache Superset is the only "BI tool" that is both free and open source, so you don't have any choice in the matter anyways.
texodus 4y ago
Ever try Perspective? https://github.com/finos/perspective https://github.com/finos/perspective
knutwannheden 4y ago
My personal favorites are Altair (Python/VegaLite) and Observable Plot. The latter just released a new version with GeoJSON support.
btbuildem 4y ago
You don't want a visualization library, you want a full-featured BI toolset. What OP posted isn't "low level", I'd describe it as low-feature, intermediate-level visualization library.
sails 4y ago
Cube has a nice set of React based examples, which helped highlight some of the better options along your thinking: Dashboard - https://highcharts-demo.cube.dev/#/ https://highcharts-demo.cube.dev/#/ Pivot - https://react-pivot-table-demo.cube.dev/#/ https://react-pivot-table-demo.cube.dev/#/ Query builder - https://react-dashboard-demo.cube.dev/#/explore https://react-dashboard-demo.cube.dev/#/explore I personally would avoid BI in the stricter definition (Superset, PowerBI, Metabase etc) unless you are building internal tools, as they have significant baggage catering for their designed use case.

noughtme 4y ago

my experience has been that non of these solutions provide enough control granularity, and i keep coming back to d3.js (or other libraries like deck.gl) and building my own UI.

taeric 4y ago
In a similar vein, my experience is that most visualizations that people are commonly making are reaching for what is available in R. https://r-graph-gallery.com/ggplot2-package.html https://r-graph-gallery.com/ggplot2-package.html
- jeltz 4y ago
  In my case that is 100% true. What I actually want is R but for the web. All the JS libraries are either too simple and rigid or too low level like d3.
  - esperent 4y ago
    Has anyone done any work to compile R to wasm?
  - baandang 4y ago
    You can't have it both ways. You can't have a completely open data representation and an abstraction at a higher level than d3. What you are calling too low level is basically dealing with the fact the data can be anything. What we really need is a javascript dataframe that everyone uses by default but that is not going to happen. Javascript culture is practically all about reinventing and trying to improve the wheel so we can optimally go in circles. I think there is an emergent self interest at the group level to keep things complex and salaries growing on the front end too. The complexity and absurdity is hardly a bug at the individual level if getting paid.
- baandang 4y ago
  The biggest difference IMO is that there is no default data representation that 99.99% of people use in javascript like pandas/dataframes/numpy/zoo in python/R. I would even say javascript has better visualization libraries than GGplot but because there is no javascriptDataframe.plot('line') the visualization libraries end up down their own path because of different data representations. My experience also is that every visualization library will lack something if you want to do anything beyond the most standard visualizations. Almost by definition it has to be that way.
  - taeric 4y ago
    Agreed, I think. Though, ggplot is very tough competition. And a lot of the niceties of small multiples and such are going to be a super power for folks using them.

go_prodev 4y ago

Yes, same here. I'd love an open source Power BI alternative.

krebby 4y ago
Check out Apache Superset: https://superset.apache.org/ https://superset.apache.org/ Originally from Airbnb. Very powerful and flexible OS frontend BI tool
- otabdeveloper4 4y ago
  a) Apache Superset is neither powerful nor flexible. It has the absolute minimum functionality to still be called a "BI tool", but just barely. b) Sadly, Apache Superset is the only "BI tool" that is both free and open source, so you don't have any choice in the matter anyways.

texodus 4y ago

Ever try Perspective? https://github.com/finos/perspective https://github.com/finos/perspective

knutwannheden 4y ago

My personal favorites are Altair (Python/VegaLite) and Observable Plot. The latter just released a new version with GeoJSON support.

btbuildem 4y ago

You don't want a visualization library, you want a full-featured BI toolset. What OP posted isn't "low level", I'd describe it as low-feature, intermediate-level visualization library.

sails 4y ago

Cube has a nice set of React based examples, which helped highlight some of the better options along your thinking: Dashboard - https://highcharts-demo.cube.dev/#/ https://highcharts-demo.cube.dev/#/ Pivot - https://react-pivot-table-demo.cube.dev/#/ https://react-pivot-table-demo.cube.dev/#/ Query builder - https://react-dashboard-demo.cube.dev/#/explore https://react-dashboard-demo.cube.dev/#/explore I personally would avoid BI in the stricter definition (Superset, PowerBI, Metabase etc) unless you are building internal tools, as they have significant baggage catering for their designed use case.