Nunjucks and Chartjs / Javascript

[lavolp3]

Can anyone help me placing a chartjs graph in a nunjucks template?

Using the usual JS it was problem for me.
I would use the getDom method and create the relevant divs and a canvas and later on place the chart using the described chart.js method which looks like this:

var myChart = new Chart(context, { options })

With a Nunjucks template I have my problems.
I had an empty canvas element in the template and tried to draw a graph in the JS part but it disappears after a very short time again. I have the suspicion the canvas gets “overwritten” by template updates.

Then I tried to create the canvas element itself on foot (document.createElement) in the function that creates the graph but it turns out that apparently the containing div is not even created. At least by calling document.getElementById inside the function I get “null”

When does Nunjucks create the document objects?
And if it does, does it overwrite any nodes created using a javascript function?

If I am reliant on Javascript to create a document object (like here), do I need to stuff this into a filter or is there another way to manipulate the DOM?

Hope my problem is comprehensible.

Thanks!

[sdetweil]

@lavolp3 according to the code in app/js/module.js

its either template OR dom, not both.

	/* getDom()
	 * This method generates the dom which needs to be displayed. This method is called by the Magic Mirror core.
	 * This method can to be subclassed if the module wants to display info on the mirror.
	 * Alternatively, the getTemplate method could be subclassed.

using Chart.js in my module I do

   				position: 'top_right',

in config, so that is the base location
then

create the canvas div, and then the chart in the canvas (I could have multiple charts to draw, from an array of data)

					var this_pin = wself.config.Pins[pin_index];
					// clear the work variable
					var canvas = null;
					// try to locate the existing chart
					if ((canvas = document.getElementById("myChart" + this_pin)) == null) {
						var c = document.createElement("div");
						c.style.width = wself.config.width + "px";
						c.style.height = wself.config.height + "px";
						if (!wself.config.stacked)
						{c.style.display = "inline-block";}
						wself.wrapper.appendChild(c);

						canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
						canvas.id = "myChart" + this_pin;
						c.appendChild(canvas);
					}
					// if the chart has been created
					if (wself.charts[pin_index] != null) {
						// destroy it, update doesn't work reliably
						wself.charts[pin_index].destroy();
						// make it unreferenced
						wself.charts[pin_index] = 0;
					}
					// create it now
					wself.charts[pin_index] = new Chart(canvas, {
						type: "line",
						showLine: true,
						data: {
...
            // then return the outer container div 
		return wself.wrapper;

U could download my module and look at it
https://github.com/sdetweil/WaterLevels

so, in the end I have

wrapper  (div)
     div (chart 1)
       chart canvas
     div (chart 2)
       chart canvas
     ...
     div (chart n)
       chart canvas

I have never used templates for anything… (I have enough trouble with normal code)

[lavolp3]

@sdetweil

Thanks Sam.
I have built a module with chart.js as well, no problme with that, however this time I am kind of dependant on nunjucks because I had forked a project and do not want to rebuild everything.

But thanks for pointing me to the core code. I always forget to have a look into that.

[lavolp3]

@sdetweil said in Nunjucks and Chartjs / Javascript:

its either template OR dom, not both.
/* getDom()

• This method generates the dom which needs to be displayed. This method is called by the Magic Mirror core.
• This method can to be subclassed if the module wants to display info on the mirror.
• Alternatively, the getTemplate method could be subclassed.

I understand this differently from the core code.
From what I see getDom is the parent function and getTemplate fills this with html code from a template. So in a module using nunjucks you could call getDom AND getTemplate separately.
And manipulate the dom after the template is loaded.
But that is something I fail to do…

[sdetweil]

@lavolp3 note… if you have the functions getDom, and getTemplate and getTemplateData
then the core methods will NOT be called.

i think IF you have getDom , then unless YOU call them , getTemplate and getTemplateData will NOT be called. (because u replaced the built in getDom() with your own version)

getTemplate and getTemplateData are ONLY called from the default getDom

I confirmed this in one of my modules that uses getDom()… I added the template methods, and logged when they were called…

getTemplate: function() {
	Log.log("in getTemplate");
	return "";
},
getTemplateData: function (){
	Log.log("in getTemplateData");
	return "";
}

they were not called

[lavolp3]

@sdetweil fully understood and agree.
Thinking about replacing getdom with the native one and somehow implementing my chart function but there has to be a simpler way.

After all getdom is the only function replacing the dom, in my case loading the template, isn’t it?. So there must be a way to manipulate the dom directly after it has been created.

[lavolp3]

Wait. There is an asynch function in the getdom function, isn’t there? So calling my function directly afterwards may lead to a state where the dom is not yet created. Hmm…

[sdetweil]

@lavolp3 the dom is created way back at the beginning when u receved the DOM_OBJECTS_CREATED notification… so, when your module is called later, the DOM exists… document. exists

YOUR contribution to the dom may not be there for some time after your getDom() routine returns. MM does not specify how long…

if I need to fiddle with the dom directly, I usually do that thru a time routine, set for 1-2 seconds after getdom returns.

[lavolp3]

@sdetweil
Sam, thanks again for your valuable contribution.
I tried to meddle with the getdom function, which does not work because the returned module div is appended to a parent node somewhere else in the MM code hierarchy. And only then I can refer to the DOM elements. (I guess that’s what you meant and I haven’t understood).

So, although I didn’t like it, I kind of did it your way and included a 3-second setTimeout() call directly after the updateDom() call, in which I called my chart function.

                    self.updateDom(self.config.animationSpeed);
                    setTimeout (function() {
                      self.createBarChart(...);
                    }, 3000);

It works now.
I still don’t like it. :-)
But I want to move on.

[sdetweil]

@lavolp3 said in Nunjucks and Chartjs / Javascript:

I tried to meddle with the getdom function, which does not work because the returned module div is appended to a parent node somewhere else in the MM code hierarchy. And only then I can refer to the DOM elements. (I guess that’s what you meant and I haven’t understood).

main.js

	var updateModuleContent = function(module, newHeader, newContent) {
		var moduleWrapper = document.getElementById(module.identifier);
        if (moduleWrapper === null) return;
		var headerWrapper = moduleWrapper.getElementsByClassName("module-header");
		var contentWrapper = moduleWrapper.getElementsByClassName("module-content");

		contentWrapper[0].innerHTML = "";
		contentWrapper[0].appendChild(newContent);

		if( headerWrapper.length > 0 && newHeader) {
			headerWrapper[0].innerHTML = newHeader;
		}
	};

takes the content returned from getDom() and inserts it into the div created by module_id in the dom tree in the ‘position’ specified.

in my code that is why i create the div ‘canvas’. I have the div object, in getDom, and can generate the content immediately… no timer waiting to look it up later

            canvas = document.createElement("canvas");    // < ---
            canvas.id = "myChart" + this_pin;
            c.appendChild(canvas);                                           // < ---
          }
          // if the chart has been created
          if (wLself.charts[pin_index] != null) {
              // destroy it, update doesn't work reliably
              wLself.charts[pin_index].destroy();
              // make it unreferenced
              wLself.charts[pin_index] = 0;
          }
					try { 
						// create it now
						wLself.charts[pin_index] = new Chart(canvas, {   // < ---

then getDom() returns the completed chart… no need for build later