8 How to create a Plugin in Chart JS | Chart JS Plugin Series

8 How to create a Plugin in Chart JS | Chart JS Plugin Series

Understanding how to create a plugin in Chart JS is an advanced skill. To create a plugin you will need to understand how to get the values within the chart. Have understanding of the values in canvas and how to draw in a canvas. Chart JS is in essence a simplified version of the canvas API in Javascript.

We will dive deep in this topic to explore the topic and look how to extract the values, pixel position and more.

This is quite an advance topic and requires solid understanding of the structure of Chart JS. Biggest challenge is understanding how to draw the line and how to pinpoint or extract the exact location. This is part of the Chart JS Plugin Series.

How to create a Chart JS Plugin?
The understanding of canvas and Chart JS is key for this. As canvas gives you full control. However finding the right datapoints from Chart JS is a struggle sometimes.

Let's explore how to do this in the latest updated version of Chartjs. Chart JS 3.4.1.

Got a question or special request about a specific item? Comment below and tell me your question. I will make sure to follow up on you!

Interested to learn about how to create charts? Check out below!

⭐ Chart JS Udemy Course ⭐:

Chart JS tutorials for Beginners:

Chart JS tutorials for Intermediate:

Chart JS Dashboard Series:
👍 Most Liked Video Series:

Why did I created these Chart JS video tutorials?
Have you ever used Excel where charts appear almost magically with a click on a button. You notice if you look at a chart or graph you can absorb information within seconds which would take you minutes if it is a table with data.

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

We all know that pictures and colors spark the mind. However, if you try to draw or code a 📊 bar chart or a 📈 line chart, or any type of chart in a Javascript library it is a big challenge. The documentation makes it hard and the it is very hard to work with a canvas tag.

Which was both logical and creative at the same time. And this is why I love charts as well. A chart is the closes to translating logic into visuals. Making the chart interactive is the best way to communicate your message to others.

If we know about this why is coding charts so complicated?

Because computer programming language is based on 100% logic. This is why when you look at Chart.JS, D3.JS, Chartist and other chart libraries in JS you will need to basically explain in logic to a computer what to make visual.

How and where can I help?

My goal and focus is on creating easy to understand Chart.JS videos so you can start using Chart JS in all your website endeavors making Chart.JS a topnotch and leading JS library for the years to come. Just like any programming library once more people use Chart JS it will attract more people to contribute and grow. The videos on Youtube and my complete course on Udemy are here to give a helping hand.

Seeing Chart.JS evolve from Chart.JS 1.0 to Chart.JS 3.0 and with their currently new expansion to Chart.JS 3.0 we can expect more new exciting charts in the near future.

About Chart.JS 3 | Chart JS 3
Chart JS is one of the most use Javascript libraries for the drawing charts. It is designed to create charts in the canvas tag which is great but at the same time slightly challenging for most people. However, knowing how to draw a chart will give you a big edge and most dashboards are consistently adding charts along data tables. Chart JS makes your data more alive and visually more appealing.

What type of charts can you make with Chart.JS?
With chart js you can make line chart, bar chart, pie chart, doughnut chart, scatter chart, polar area chart, radar chart, gauge chart and area chart. And with some clever tricks and visual adjustment more can be done.

#chartjs

[bannguyen]

Thank you for you videos!
Your series about Chart.js is so informative and useful, wonder why so many dont know to visit. By the way, I think if you make some editing on your videos as you put the result of tutorials in the beginning, it will be more attractive, esp for the new ones.

[グエンクアントー]

Thank you for your videos!
What is the purpose of "args" in beforeDraw(chart, args, options)?

[TeluguDevJourney]

How to send props variables to plugins.
Could please explain.