Your First JavaScript Chart

Overview

This guide is meant to be quick and take no longer than a couple minutes. You'll learn how to download, import and render your first ZingChart. Let's get started!

You don't need to set up a local environment to get started - learn about our Studio to get started right away!

Download the Library

There are several ways to download the library. All of these methods require you to execute our library in a script tag on the page.

CDN LinkDirect DownloadNPM Install

CDN Link

For the quickest setup, use the CDN link to import the library.

<script src="https://cdn.zingchart.com/zingchart.min.js"></script>

Direct Download

The second option is to download ZingChart from our site or our public GitHub repository.

Directly download the library zip here.

<script src="/zingchart/zingchart.min.js" defer></script>

NPM Install

You can use the command npm install to download the ZingChart package to your repository. If you are accessing it with imports, the following syntax will work:

For imports to work, you must specify the zingchart/es6 version of the library. You can see modules being explicitly loaded by their full path in the download package.

import {zingchart, ZC} from 'zingchart/es6';
// to import the pareto chart module
import 'zingchart/modules-es6/zingchart-pareto.min.js';

Referencing the Library

To use the library, you need to reference the script into your environment. Since we are using the CDN link, we'll just add it to the <head> tag.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <!-- Script Reference[1] -->
    <script src="https://cdn.zingchart.com/zingchart.min.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- Chart Placement[2] -->
    <div id="myChart"></div>
  </body>
</html>

Our CDN service is intended as an introductory tool. Once familiarized, we highly recommend users download ZingChart to their own environment for versioning and security purposes.

Rendering the Chart

Making your first chart is as simple as creating a div tag and adding an id attribute. This div container is where we will bind the chart on render.

Not sure which chart to use? Check our Guide to Choosing the Right Chart Type!

zingchart.render()

The chart rendering is done through the zingchart.render({...}) method. The minimum requirements for this method are the id and data properties.

// Render Method[3]
zingchart.render({ 
  id: 'myChart', 
  data: myConfig, 
});

You add features to the library through attributes. The minimum attributes to render a chart are the type and series attributes. In this getting started example, myConfig is a JavaScript object:

You can find a full list of available attributes and features in our JSON documentation.

let myConfig = {
  type: 'bar',
  title: {
    text: 'Data Basics',
    fontSize: 24,
  },
  legend: {
    draggable: true,
  },
  scaleX: {
    // Set scale label
    label: { text: 'Days' },
    // Convert text on scale indices
    labels: [ 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat', 'Sun' ]
  },
  scaleY: {
    // Scale label with unicode character
    label: { text: 'Temperature (°F)' }
  },
  plot: {
    // Animation docs here:
    // https://www.zingchart.com/docs/tutorials/styling/animation#effect
    animation: {
      effect: 'ANIMATION_EXPAND_BOTTOM', 
      method: 'ANIMATION_STRONG_EASE_OUT',
      sequence: 'ANIMATION_BY_NODE',
      speed: 275,
    }
  },
  series: [
    {
      // plot 1 values, linear data
      values: [23,20,27,29,25,17,15],
      text: 'Week 1',
    },
    {
      // plot 2 values, linear data
      values: [35,42,33,49,35,47,35],
      text: 'Week 2'
    },
    {
      // plot 2 values, linear data
      values: [15,22,13,33,44,27,31],
      text: 'Week 3'
    }
  ]
};

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <!--Script Reference[1] -->
  <script src="https://cdn.zingchart.com/zingchart.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <!-- Chart Placement[2] -->
  <div id="myChart"></div>

  <script>
    let myConfig = {
      type: 'bar',
      title: {
        text: 'Data Basics',
        fontSize: 24,
      },
      legend: {
        draggable: true,
      },
      scaleX: {
        // Set scale label
        label: { text: 'Days' },
        // Convert text on scale indices
        labels: [ 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat', 'Sun' ]
      },
      scaleY: {
        // Scale label with unicode character
        label: { text: 'Temperature (°F)' }
      },
      plot: {
        // Animation docs here:
        // https://www.zingchart.com/docs/tutorials/styling/animation#effect
        animation: {
          effect: 'ANIMATION_EXPAND_BOTTOM', 
          method: 'ANIMATION_STRONG_EASE_OUT',
          sequence: 'ANIMATION_BY_NODE',
          speed: 275,
        }
      },
      series: [
        {
          // Plot 1 values, linear data
          values: [23,20,27,29,25,17,15],
          text: 'Week 1',
        },
        {
          // Plot 2 values, linear data
          values: [35,42,33,49,35,47,35],
          text: 'Week 2'
        },
        {
          // Plot 2 values, linear data
          values: [15,22,13,33,44,27,31],
          text: 'Week 3'
        }
      ]
    };

    // Render Method[3]
    zingchart.render({ 
      id: 'myChart', 
      data: myConfig, 
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Notes

Script Reference - The main ZingChart script reference includes the vast majority of our chart types and features. A few of our more advanced options (e.g., Map charts, dragging tool, selection tool, 3D toolbar) do require the addition of individual module scripts. For more information, see our Modules page.
Chart Placement - The template starts you off with a single chart. To add a second (or more) charts, see our Adding Additional Charts page.
Render Method - This is where your chart is rendered with its corresponding data. The element id myChart and data chartConfig is specified here. Within your render method, you can also adjust your chart's height, width, and rendering type (SVG or canvas). See our Render Options page for more information.
Advanced Developers: Download the ZingChart library or get it from GitHub, and then place the scripts in your working directory.