React Dot Visualization

An interactive React component for visualizing data as positioned dots with zoom, pan, and hover interactions. Extracted from the cybird visualization project.

Features

• Interactive Dots: Display data points as SVG circles with customizable size, color, and stroke
• Zoom & Pan: Smooth zoom with mouse wheel + ctrl/cmd or trackpad pinch, pan with mouse wheel or trackpad
• Hover Interactions: Customizable hover callbacks with automatic debouncing during zoom operations
• Click Interactions: Handle dot clicks with custom callbacks
• Collision Detection: Optional D3 force simulation to prevent dot overlap
• Automatic Layout: Calculates optimal viewBox from data bounds with configurable margins
• Performance Optimized: Efficient rendering and interaction handling for large datasets

Installation

npm install react-dot-visualization

Basic Usage

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { DotVisualization } from 'react-dot-visualization';

const MyComponent = () => {
  // Just x, y coordinates - that's it!
  const data = [
    { x: 100, y: 150 },
    { x: 200, y: 100 },
    { x: 150, y: 200 }
  ];

  const [hovered, setHovered] = useState(null);

  return (
    <div style={{ width: '100%', height: '400px' }}>
      <DotVisualization 
        data={data} 
        onHover={setHovered} 
      />
      {hovered && <div>Hovering: {hovered.name}</div>}
    </div>
  );
};

That's literally all the code you need!

The component automatically provides:

• ✅ Zoom: Ctrl/Cmd + mouse wheel or trackpad pinch
• ✅ Pan: Mouse wheel or trackpad scroll
• ✅ Hover callbacks: Work during pan/zoom
• ✅ Collision detection: Prevents dot overlap
• ✅ Auto-generated IDs: No manual ID management
• ✅ Optimal layout: Calculates viewBox from data bounds
• ✅ Beautiful colors: Generated automatically

Local Development

Development Workflow

# Clone and install dependencies
git clone <your-repo>
cd react-dot-visualization
npm install

# Start development server for testing
npm run dev
# Opens http://localhost:3011 with demo

# Build library for distribution
npm run build:lib

# Link for local development in other projects
npm run link:local

Using in Other Projects

After running npm run link:local, you can use the library in other React projects:

# In your other project
cd ../my-other-project
npm link react-dot-visualization

Then import and use normally:

import { DotVisualization } from 'react-dot-visualization';

Making Changes

1. Edit source files in src/
2. Test changes with npm run dev
3. Rebuild library with npm run build:lib
4. Linked projects automatically get updates

Testing the Package

To test the built package:

# Navigate to the package directory
cd react-dot-visualization

# Start development server
npm run dev

# Open in browser  
open http://localhost:3011

Test the interactions:

• Hover: Move mouse over dots to see hover callbacks
• Zoom: Ctrl/Cmd + mouse wheel or trackpad pinch
• Pan: Mouse wheel or trackpad scroll
• Click: Click dots to test click callbacks

Props

Prop	Type	Default	Description
data	Array	[]	Array of data points with {x, y} required, optional {id, size, color, ...customData}
onHover	Function	-	Callback when hovering over a dot: (item, event) => {}
onLeave	Function	-	Callback when leaving a dot: (item, event) => {}
onClick	Function	-	Callback when clicking a dot: (item, event) => {}
onZoomStart	Function	-	Callback when zoom starts: (event) => {}
onZoomEnd	Function	-	Callback when zoom ends: (event) => {}
enableCollisionDetection	Boolean	true	Enable D3 force simulation to prevent dot overlap
zoomExtent	Array	[0.7, 10]	Min/max zoom levels [min, max]
margin	Number	0.1	Margin around data bounds as fraction (0.1 = 10% margin)
dotStroke	String	"#111"	Default stroke color for dots
dotStrokeWidth	Number	0.2	Default stroke width for dots
defaultColor	String	null	Default color for dots without color property
defaultSize	Number	2	Default size for dots without size property
className	String	""	CSS class name for the SVG element
style	Object	{}	Inline styles for the SVG element

Data Format

Each data point should be an object with these properties:

{
  id: string | number,    // Required: Unique identifier
  x: number,              // Required: X coordinate
  y: number,              // Required: Y coordinate
  size?: number,          // Optional: Dot radius
  color?: string,         // Optional: Fill color (CSS color value)
  ...customData           // Optional: Any additional properties for your callbacks
}

Advanced Usage

import { DotVisualization } from 'react-dot-visualization';

const AdvancedExample = () => {
  const [selectedItem, setSelectedItem] = useState(null);
  
  // Generate data with custom properties
  const data = Array.from({ length: 200 }, (_, i) => ({
    id: i,
    x: Math.random() * 1000,
    y: Math.random() * 1000,
    size: Math.random() * 8 + 2,
    color: `hsl(${i * 137.508}deg, 70%, 50%)`, // Golden angle color distribution
    category: ['A', 'B', 'C'][Math.floor(Math.random() * 3)],
    value: Math.random() * 100
  }));

  return (
    <DotVisualization
      data={data}
      onHover={(item) => console.log(`Hovering: ${item.category} - ${item.value}`)}
      onClick={(item) => setSelectedItem(item)}
      onZoomStart={() => setSelectedItem(null)} // Clear selection on zoom
      enableCollisionDetection={true}
      zoomExtent={[0.5, 20]}
      margin={0.2}
      dotStroke="#333"
      dotStrokeWidth={1}
      style={{ 
        border: '2px solid #ddd',
        borderRadius: '8px'
      }}
    />
  );
};

Browser Support

• Modern browsers with SVG and ES6+ support
• Tested with React 18+

Dependencies

• react (peer dependency)
• react-dom (peer dependency)
• d3 - For zoom/pan behavior and force simulation