D3js - change Vertical bar chart to Horizontal bar chart

EnigmaRM picture EnigmaRM · Apr 24, 2013 · Viewed 30.8k times · Source

I have a vertical bar chart that is grouped in pairs. I was trying to play around with how to flip it horizontally. In my case, the keywords would appear on the y axis, and the scale would appear on the x-axis.

I tried switching various x/y variables, but that of course just produced funky results. Which areas of my code do I need to focus on in order to switch it from vertical bars to horizontal ones?

My JSFiddle: Full Code

var xScale = d3.scale.ordinal()
    .domain(d3.range(dataset.length))
    .rangeRoundBands([0, w], 0.05);

// ternary operator to determine if global or local has a larger scale
var yScale = d3.scale.linear()
    .domain([0, d3.max(dataset, function (d) {
    return (d.local > d.global) ? d.local : d.global;
})])
    .range([h, 0]);

var xAxis = d3.svg.axis()
    .scale(xScale)
    .tickFormat(function (d) {
        return dataset[d].keyword;
    })
    .orient("bottom");

var yAxis = d3.svg.axis()
    .scale(yScale)
    .orient("left")
    .ticks(5);

var commaFormat = d3.format(',');

//SVG element
var svg = d3.select("#searchVolume")
    .append("svg")
    .attr("width", w + margin.left + margin.right)
    .attr("height", h + margin.top + margin.bottom)
    .append("g")
    .attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")");

// Graph Bars
var sets = svg.selectAll(".set")
    .data(dataset)
    .enter()
    .append("g")
    .attr("class", "set")
    .attr("transform", function (d, i) {
        return "translate(" + xScale(i) + ",0)";
    });

sets.append("rect")
    .attr("class", "local")
    .attr("width", xScale.rangeBand() / 2)
    .attr("y", function (d) {
        return yScale(d.local);
    })
    .attr("x", xScale.rangeBand() / 2)
    .attr("height", function (d) {
        return h - yScale(d.local);
    })
    .attr("fill", colors[0][1])
    ;

sets.append("rect")
    .attr("class", "global")
    .attr("width", xScale.rangeBand() / 2)
    .attr("y", function (d) {
        return yScale(d.global);
    })
    .attr("height", function (d) {
    return h - yScale(d.global);
    })
    .attr("fill", colors[1][1])
    ;

    sets.append("rect")
        .attr("class", "global")
        .attr("width", xScale.rangeBand() / 2)
        .attr("y", function (d) {
        return yScale(d.global);
    })
        .attr("height", function (d) {
        return h - yScale(d.global);
    })
        .attr("fill", colors[1][1])
    ;

Answer

Mike picture Mike · Aug 22, 2013

I just did the same thing last night, and I basically ended up rewriting the code as it was quicker than fixing all the bugs but here's the tips I can give you.

The biggest issues with flipping the x and y axis will be with things like return h - yScale(d.global) because height is calculated from the "top" of the page not the bottom.

Another key thing to remember is that when you set .attr("x", ..) make sure you set it to 0 (plus any padding for the left side) so = .attr("x", 0)"

I used this tutorial to help me think about my own code in terms of horizontal bars instead - it really helped

http://hdnrnzk.me/2012/07/04/creating-a-bar-graph-using-d3js/

here's my own code making it horizontal if it helps:

var w = 600;
var h = 600;
var padding = 30;

var xScale = d3.scale.linear()
        .domain([0, d3.max(dataset, function(d){
                                return d.values[0]; })]) //note I'm using an array here to grab the value hence the [0]
        .range([padding, w - (padding*2)]);

        var yScale = d3.scale.ordinal()
            .domain(d3.range(dataset.length))
            .rangeRoundBands([padding, h- padding], 0.05);

        var svg = d3.select("body")
            .append("svg")
            .attr("width", w)
            .attr("height", h)

        svg.selectAll("rect")
            .data(dataset)
            .enter()
            .append("rect")
            .attr("x", 0 + padding)
            .attr("y", function(d, i){
            return yScale(i);
            })
            .attr("width", function(d) {
                return xScale(d.values[0]);
            })
            .attr("height", yScale.rangeBand())