‍SolidJS is a powerful JavaScript library for constructing user interfaces, and ApexCharts is a customizable JavaScript chart library that enables developers to create interactive visualizations for web applications. By integrating ApexCharts into a SolidJS application, you can enhance the user experience by providing intuitive and engaging data visualizations.

In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process of integrating ApexCharts into a SolidJS application to create a bar chart that displays weather data retrieved from the OpenWeatherMap API. We will cover all the necessary steps, from setting up the SolidJS project to retrieving data from the API and finally rendering the chart component.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the implementation, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

1. Node.js installed on your machine. You can follow the tutorial on How to Install Node.js to set it up.
2. A web browser such as Firefox or Chrome.
3. Basic knowledge of the SolidJS library. If you are not familiar with SolidJS, you can review the SolidJS documentation to get up to speed.
4. A text editor that supports JavaScript syntax highlighting, such as Visual Studio Code or Atom. This tutorial will use the command-line editor nano.

Step 1: Creating the SolidJS Project

To get started, you need to create a SolidJS project and install all the necessary dependencies for chart creation. Follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal session and navigate to a directory where you want to create your SolidJS project.
2. Create a new directory for your project by running the command mkdir charts.
3. Move into the newly created directory by running cd charts.
4. Clone the SolidJS template from the repository by running the command npx degit solidjs/templates/js solid-chart. Note that if you prefer using TypeScript, you can run npx degit solidjs/templates/ts solid-chart instead.
5. Once the template has been cloned to your project folder, navigate into the template folder by running cd solid-chart.
6. Install the necessary dependencies for the project by running npm install.
7. Install the ApexCharts and Solid-ApexCharts dependencies by running npm install apexcharts solid-apexcharts.
8. Start the development server by running npm run dev.
9. Open your web browser and visit http://localhost:3000 to access the SolidJS startup page. If you are following this tutorial on a remote server, you can use port forwarding to test the app in the browser.

At this point, you have set up the SolidJS project and installed all the required dependencies. Next, we will retrieve data from the OpenWeatherMap API.

Step 2: Retrieving Data from the API

In this step, we will use the Fetch API to retrieve weather data from the OpenWeatherMap API. Follow these steps to implement the data retrieval:

1. Open your preferred text editor and navigate to the src/App.jsx file.
2. Delete all the default content in the file.
3. Import the createEffect function from the solid-js library by adding this line of code at the top of the file: import { createEffect } from "solid-js";.
4. Create an effect using the createEffect function to fetch data from the OpenWeatherMap API. Replace the contents of the function body with the following code:

createEffect(() => {
const fetchData = async () => {
const res = await fetch("http://api.openweathermap.org/geo/1.0/direct?q=London&limit=5&appid=2c36818bb5ca9e829313dd736fd15859");
const data = await res.json();
// Use the data retrieved from the API here
};
fetchData();
});

In the fetchData function, we use the fetch function to make a GET request to the OpenWeatherMap API. Replace the placeholder URL with the actual API endpoint that retrieves weather data for a specific location. In this example, we are fetching weather data for London.

Once the response is received, we convert it to JSON format using the json method and store it in the data variable.

Now that we have retrieved the data from the API, we need to store it in a signal and export it for use in other components. Add the following code after the fetchData function:

import { createSignal } from "solid-js";

const [chartData, setChartData] = createSignal({});

createEffect(() => {
const fetchData = async () => {
const res = await fetch("http://api.openweathermap.org/geo/1.0/direct?q=London&limit=5&appid=2c36818bb5ca9e829313dd736fd15859");
const data = await res.json();
setChartData({
series: [
{ name: 'Latitudes in London', data: data.map((d) => d.lat) }
],
xaxis: { categories: data.map((d) => d.name) }
});
};
fetchData();
});

export { chartData };

In this code snippet, we import the createSignal function and use it to create a signal called chartData. The chartData signal will store the data retrieved from the API. We also define a setter function setChartData to update the value of the chartData signal.

Inside the fetchData function, we use the setChartData function to update the value of the chartData signal. We map over the data array and extract the latitude values to create a series of latitudes for the chart. We also map over the data array to extract the city names and use them as categories for the x-axis of the chart.

Finally, we export the chartData signal so that it can be used in other components.

Save the file and proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Creating a Chart with Data from the API

In this step, we will create a chart component that consumes the data from the API and displays the chart. Follow these steps to implement the chart component:

1. In your text editor, navigate to the src/components folder and create a new file called Charts.jsx.
2. Import the SolidApexCharts component from the solid-apexcharts library and the chartData signal from the ../App file by adding the following lines of code at the top of the Charts.jsx file:

import { SolidApexCharts } from 'solid-apexcharts';
import { chartData } from '../App';

3. Create a function called Charts that returns the SolidApexCharts component with the necessary props. Replace the contents of the function body with the following code:

function Charts() {
return (
<SolidApexCharts width="1200" type="bar" options={chartData()} />
);
}

export default Charts;

In this code snippet, we define a function component called Charts that returns the SolidApexCharts component. We set the width of the chart to 1200 pixels and the type to bar. The options prop is set to the value of the chartData signal, which contains the necessary data for the chart.

Save the file and open the src/App.jsx file.

4. Import the Charts component into the App.jsx file by adding the following line of code at the top of the file:

import Charts from './components/Charts';

5. Replace the contents of the App function component with the following code:

function App() {
return (
<div>
<h2>Using ApexCharts.js to create charts in SolidJS</h2>
<h3>Bar Chart</h3>
<Charts />
</div>
);
}

export default App;

In this code snippet, we replace the default content of the App function component with a heading for the chart and the Charts component. The Charts component will render the bar chart with the dynamic data retrieved from the API.

Save the file and open your web browser. Visit http://localhost:3000 to see the bar chart with the weather data rendered in your SolidJS application.

Congratulations! You have successfully integrated ApexCharts into your SolidJS application to create a bar chart that displays weather data. You can now explore other types of charts supported by ApexCharts and customize them according to your requirements.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have covered the process of adding charts to a SolidJS application using ApexCharts. We started by setting up the SolidJS project and installing the necessary dependencies. Then, we retrieved data from the OpenWeatherMap API and stored it in a signal. Finally, we created a chart component that consumed the data and rendered the chart.

By incorporating data visualizations into your SolidJS applications, you can provide users with a more intuitive and engaging experience. ApexCharts offers a wide range of flexible and responsive charts that can be easily integrated into SolidJS projects.

To further explore SolidJS and its features, we recommend referring to the official SolidJS documentation. For more information on ApexCharts and its various configuration options, you can consult the ApexCharts documentation.

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Christian Wells