react-d3-tree vs react-treebeard
React Tree Visualization Libraries Comparison
1 Year
react-d3-treereact-treebeardSimilar Packages:
What's React Tree Visualization Libraries?

React tree visualization libraries are specialized tools designed to represent hierarchical data structures in a visually appealing manner. They enable developers to create interactive tree diagrams that can display relationships and data hierarchies effectively. These libraries are particularly useful in applications that require data representation such as organizational charts, file explorers, or any nested data structure. The choice between different libraries often depends on the specific needs for customization, performance, and ease of use in rendering complex data structures.

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react-d3-tree138,4911,123121 kB14321 days agoMIT
react-treebeard34,5971,688-726 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: react-d3-tree vs react-treebeard

Customization

  • react-d3-tree:

    react-d3-tree offers extensive customization options through D3.js, allowing developers to manipulate styles, shapes, and animations at a granular level. This flexibility enables the creation of visually complex and interactive trees that can adapt to various data presentations and user interactions.

  • react-treebeard:

    react-treebeard provides a simpler customization interface, focusing on basic styling and behavior adjustments. While it allows for some level of customization, it is less flexible than react-d3-tree, making it more suitable for straightforward tree visualizations.

Performance

  • react-d3-tree:

    react-d3-tree is optimized for performance with large datasets, leveraging D3's efficient rendering capabilities. It can handle complex trees with many nodes without significant performance degradation, making it suitable for applications with extensive hierarchical data.

  • react-treebeard:

    react-treebeard performs well with smaller to medium-sized trees but may experience performance issues with very large datasets due to its simpler rendering approach. It is best used when the tree structure is not overly complex.

Ease of Use

  • react-d3-tree:

    react-d3-tree has a steeper learning curve due to its reliance on D3.js, which requires familiarity with data-driven documents and SVG manipulation. Developers may need to invest more time in understanding how to effectively use the library and D3's concepts.

  • react-treebeard:

    react-treebeard is designed for ease of use and quick integration into projects. Its API is straightforward, making it accessible for developers who may not have extensive experience with tree visualizations or D3.js.

Interactivity

  • react-d3-tree:

    react-d3-tree supports advanced interactivity features, including drag-and-drop functionality, zooming, and panning. This makes it ideal for applications that require user interaction with the tree structure, enhancing the overall user experience.

  • react-treebeard:

    react-treebeard offers basic interactivity, such as expanding and collapsing nodes, but lacks the depth of interaction found in react-d3-tree. It is suitable for applications where simple tree navigation is sufficient.

Community and Support

  • react-d3-tree:

    react-d3-tree benefits from the large D3.js community, providing access to a wealth of resources, examples, and support. This can be advantageous for developers looking to implement complex visualizations and needing guidance.

  • react-treebeard:

    react-treebeard has a smaller community compared to react-d3-tree, which may result in fewer resources and examples available for troubleshooting. However, it still has sufficient documentation to assist developers in getting started.

How to Choose: react-d3-tree vs react-treebeard
  • react-d3-tree:

    Choose react-d3-tree if you need a highly customizable and flexible tree visualization that leverages D3.js for rendering. It is ideal for developers looking for extensive control over the appearance and behavior of the tree, as well as those who require advanced features like animations and transitions.

  • react-treebeard:

    Choose react-treebeard if you prefer a simpler, more straightforward implementation for displaying tree structures. It is well-suited for applications that require basic tree functionality with a focus on ease of use and quick setup, making it a good choice for smaller projects or when rapid development is a priority.

README for react-d3-tree

React D3 Tree

build status coverage status npm package npm package: downloads monthly npm package: minzipped size npm package: types code style: prettier

👾 Playground

📖 API Documentation (v3)

React D3 Tree is a React component that lets you represent hierarchical data (e.g. family trees, org charts, file directories) as an interactive tree graph with minimal setup, by leveraging D3's tree layout.

Upgrading from v1? Check out the v2 release notes.

Legacy v1 docs

Contents

Installation

npm i --save react-d3-tree

Usage

import React from 'react';
import Tree from 'react-d3-tree';

// This is a simplified example of an org chart with a depth of 2.
// Note how deeper levels are defined recursively via the `children` property.
const orgChart = {
  name: 'CEO',
  children: [
    {
      name: 'Manager',
      attributes: {
        department: 'Production',
      },
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Foreman',
          attributes: {
            department: 'Fabrication',
          },
          children: [
            {
              name: 'Worker',
            },
          ],
        },
        {
          name: 'Foreman',
          attributes: {
            department: 'Assembly',
          },
          children: [
            {
              name: 'Worker',
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
};

export default function OrgChartTree() {
  return (
    // `<Tree />` will fill width/height of its container; in this case `#treeWrapper`.
    <div id="treeWrapper" style={{ width: '50em', height: '20em' }}>
      <Tree data={orgChart} />
    </div>
  );
}

Props

For details on all props accepted by Tree, check out the TreeProps reference docs.

The only required prop is data, all other props on Tree are optional/pre-defined (see "Default value" on each prop definition).

Working with the default Tree

react-d3-tree provides default implementations for Tree's nodes & links, which are intended to get you up & running with a working tree quickly.

This section is focused on explaining how to provide data, styles and event handlers for the default Tree implementation.

Need more fine-grained control over how nodes & links appear/behave? Check out the Customizing the Tree section below.

Providing data

By default, Tree expects each node object in data to implement the RawNodeDatum interface:

interface RawNodeDatum {
  name: string;
  attributes?: Record<string, string | number | boolean>;
  children?: RawNodeDatum[];
}

The orgChart example in the Usage section above is an example of this:

  • Every node has at least a name. This is rendered as the node's primary label.
  • Some nodes have attributes defined (the CEO node does not). The key-value pairs in attributes are rendered as a list of secondary labels.
  • Nodes can have further RawNodeDatum objects nested inside them via the children key, creating a hierarchy from which the tree graph can be generated.

Styling Nodes

Tree provides the following props to style different types of nodes, all of which use an SVG circle by default:

  • rootNodeClassName - applied to the root node.
  • branchNodeClassName - applied to any node with 1+ children.
  • leafNodeClassName - applied to any node without children.

To visually distinguish these three types of nodes from each other by color, we could provide each with their own class:

/* custom-tree.css */

.node__root > circle {
  fill: red;
}

.node__branch > circle {
  fill: yellow;
}

.node__leaf > circle {
  fill: green;
  /* Let's also make the radius of leaf nodes larger */
  r: 40;
}
import React from 'react';
import Tree from 'react-d3-tree';
import './custom-tree.css';

// ...

export default function StyledNodesTree() {
  return (
    <div id="treeWrapper" style={{ width: '50em', height: '20em' }}>
      <Tree
        data={data}
        rootNodeClassName="node__root"
        branchNodeClassName="node__branch"
        leafNodeClassName="node__leaf"
      />
    </div>
  );
}

For more details on the className props for nodes, see the TreeProps reference docs.

Styling Links

Tree provides the pathClassFunc property to pass additional classNames to every link to be rendered.

Each link calls pathClassFunc with its own TreeLinkDatum and the tree's current orientation. Tree expects pathClassFunc to return a className string.

function StyledLinksTree() {
  const getDynamicPathClass = ({ source, target }, orientation) => {
    if (!target.children) {
      // Target node has no children -> this link leads to a leaf node.
      return 'link__to-leaf';
    }

    // Style it as a link connecting two branch nodes by default.
    return 'link__to-branch';
  };

  return (
    <Tree
      data={data}
      // Statically apply same className(s) to all links
      pathClassFunc={() => 'custom-link'}
      // Want to apply multiple static classes? `Array.join` is your friend :)
      pathClassFunc={() => ['custom-link', 'extra-custom-link'].join(' ')}
      // Dynamically determine which `className` to pass based on the link's properties.
      pathClassFunc={getDynamicPathClass}
    />
  );
}

For more details, see the PathClassFunction reference docs.

Event Handlers

Tree exposes the following event handler callbacks by default:

Note: Nodes are expanded/collapsed whenever onNodeClick fires. To prevent this, set the collapsible prop to false.
onNodeClick will still fire, but it will not change the target node's expanded/collapsed state.

Customizing the Tree

renderCustomNodeElement

The renderCustomNodeElement prop accepts a custom render function that will be used for every node in the tree.

Cases where you may find rendering your own Node element useful include:

  • Using a different SVG tag for your nodes (instead of the default <circle>) - Example (codesandbox.io)
  • Gaining fine-grained control over event handling (e.g. to implement events not covered by the default API) - Example (codesandbox.io)
  • Building richer & more complex nodes/labels by leveraging the foreignObject tag to render HTML inside the SVG namespace - Example (codesandbox.io)

pathFunc

The pathFunc prop accepts a predefined PathFunctionOption enum or a user-defined PathFunction.

By changing or providing your own pathFunc, you are able to change how links between nodes of the tree (which are SVG path tags under the hood) are drawn.

The currently available enums are:

  • diagonal (default)
  • elbow
  • straight
  • step

Want to see how each option looks? Try them out on the playground.

Providing your own pathFunc

If none of the available path functions suit your needs, you're also able to provide a custom PathFunction:

function CustomPathFuncTree() {
  const straightPathFunc = (linkDatum, orientation) => {
    const { source, target } = linkDatum;
    return orientation === 'horizontal'
      ? `M${source.y},${source.x}L${target.y},${target.x}`
      : `M${source.x},${source.y}L${target.x},${target.y}`;
  };

  return (
    <Tree
      data={data}
      // Passing `straight` function as a custom `PathFunction`.
      pathFunc={straightPathFunc}
    />
  );
}

For more details, see the PathFunction reference docs.

Development

Setup

To set up react-d3-tree for local development, clone the repo and follow the steps below:

# 1. Set up the library, create a reference to it for symlinking.
cd react-d3-tree
npm i
npm link

# 2. Set up the demo/playground, symlink to the local copy of `react-d3-tree`.
cd demo
npm i
npm link react-d3-tree

Tip: If you'd prefer to use your own app for development instead of the demo, simply run npm link react-d3-tree in your app's root folder instead of the demo's :)

Hot reloading

npm run build:watch

If you're using react-d3-tree/demo for development, open up another terminal window in the demo directory and call:

npm start

Contributors

A huge thank you to all the contributors, as well as users who have opened issues with thoughtful suggestions and feedback.