<p>A dynamic, browser based visualization library.
The library consists of the components DataSet, Timeline, Network, Graph2d and Graph3d. This blog is about the latest developments, roadmap and releases.
The library consists of the components DataSet, Timeline, Network, Graph2d and Graph3d. This blog is about
the latest developments, roadmap and releases.
</p>
</div>
<divclass="postsMenu">
<divclass="postsMenuContent">
Posts:
<adata-scrollclass="post"href="#V4Release">- V4, ES6 and what's next</a>
<adata-scrollclass="post"href="#Released version 3.11.0">- Released version 3.11.0</a>
<adata-scrollclass="post"href="#Released version 3.10.0">- Released version 3.10.0</a>
<adata-scrollclass="post"href="#Released version 3.9.0">- Released version 3.9.0</a>
@ -199,13 +222,177 @@
</div>
</div>
<divclass="post">
<divclass="postHeader"id="V4Release">V4, ES6 and what's next</div>
Today we released vis.js version 3.11.0. The Timeline has gotten quite some attention in this release: For example, the Timeline finally has gotten more event handlers to enable custom behavior in a flexible way. Network is evolving at a steady speed. It's really great to get more and more substantial contributions from the community latest months! Thanks.
Today we released vis.js version 3.11.0. The Timeline has gotten quite some attention in this release:
For example, the Timeline finally has gotten more event handlers to enable custom behavior in a flexible
way. Network is evolving at a steady speed. It's really great to get more and more substantial
contributions from the community latest months! Thanks.
</p>
<p>Changelog:</p>
@ -213,15 +400,25 @@
<h3>Network</h3>
<ul>
<li>(added gradient coloring for lines, but set for release in 4.0 due to required refactoring of options).</li>
<li>Fixed bug where a network that has frozen physics would resume redrawing after setData, setOptions etc.</li>
<li>Added option to bypass default groups. If more groups are specified in the nodes than there are in the groups, loop over supplied groups instead of default.</li>
<li>(added gradient coloring for lines, but set for release in 4.0 due to required refactoring of
options).
</li>
<li>Fixed bug where a network that has frozen physics would resume redrawing after setData, setOptions
etc.
</li>
<li>Added option to bypass default groups. If more groups are specified in the nodes than there are in
the groups, loop over supplied groups instead of default.
</li>
<li>Added two new static smooth curves modes: curveCW and curve CCW.</li>
<li>Added request redraw for certain internal processes to reduce number of draw calls (performance improvements!).</li>
<li>Added request redraw for certain internal processes to reduce number of draw calls (performance
improvements!).
</li>
<li>Added pull request for usage of Icons. Thanks @Dude9177!
<li>Allow hierarchical view to be set in setOptions.</li>
<li>Fixed manipulation bar for mobile.</li>
<li>Fixed #670: Bug when updating data in a DataSet, when Network is connected to the DataSet via a DataView.</li>
<li>Fixed #670: Bug when updating data in a DataSet, when Network is connected to the DataSet via a
DataView.
</li>
<li>Fixed #688: Added a css class to be able to distinguish buttons "Edit node" and "Edit edge".</li>
</ul>
@ -229,20 +426,25 @@
<ul>
<li>Implemented orientation option `'both'`, displaying a time axis both on top
and bottom (#665).</li>
and bottom (#665).
</li>
<li>Implemented creating new range items by dragging in an empty space with the
ctrl key down.</li>
ctrl key down.
</li>
<li>Implemented configuration option `order: function` to define a custom ordering
for the items (see #538, #234).</li>
for the items (see #538, #234).
</li>
<li>Implemented events `click`, `doubleClick`, and `contextMenu`.</li>
<li>Fixed #664: end of item not restored when canceling a move event.</li>
<li>Fixed #609: reduce the left/right dragarea when an item range is very small,
so you can still move it as a whole.</li>
so you can still move it as a whole.
</li>
<li>Fixed #676: misalignment of background items when using subgroups and the
group label's height is larger than the contents.</li>
group label's height is larger than the contents.
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Graph2d</h3>
@ -268,7 +470,8 @@
<divclass="postDate">11th of February 2015</div>
<divclass="postContent">
<p>
Version 3.10.0 has been released. Lots of improvements in Network, and some smaller bug fixes and improvements in Timeline and DataSet.
Version 3.10.0 has been released. Lots of improvements in Network, and some smaller bug fixes and
improvements in Timeline and DataSet.
</p>
<p>Changelog:</p>
@ -276,13 +479,20 @@
<h3>Network</h3>
<ulclass="task-list">
<li>Added option bindToWindow (default true) to choose whether the keyboard binds are global or to the network div.</li>
<li>Improved images handling so broken images are shown on all references of images that are broken.</li>
<li>Added option bindToWindow (default true) to choose whether the keyboard binds are global or to the
network div.
</li>
<li>Improved images handling so broken images are shown on all references of images that are broken.
</li>
<li>Added getConnectedNodes method.</li>
<li>Added fontSizeMin, fontSizeMax, fontSizeMaxVisible, scaleFontWithValue, fontDrawThreshold to Nodes.</li>
<li>Added fontSizeMin, fontSizeMax, fontSizeMaxVisible, scaleFontWithValue, fontDrawThreshold to
Nodes.
</li>
<li>Added fade in of labels (on nodes) near the fontDrawThreshold.</li>
<li>Added nodes option to zoomExtent to zoom in on specific set of nodes.</li>
<li>Added stabilizationIterationsDone event which fires at the end of the internal stabilization run. Does not imply that the network is stabilized.</li>
<li>Added stabilizationIterationsDone event which fires at the end of the internal stabilization run.
Does not imply that the network is stabilized.
</li>
<li>Added freezeSimulation method.</li>
<li>Added clusterByZoom option.</li>
<li>Added class name 'network-tooltip' to the tooltip, allowing custom styling.</li>
@ -296,7 +506,8 @@
<li>`Timeline.redraw()` now also recalculates the size of items.</li>
<li>Implemented option `snap: function` to customize snapping to nice date when dragging items.</li>
<li>Implemented option `timeAxis: {scale: string, step: number}` to set fixed scale.</li>
<li>Fixed width of range items not always being maintained when moving due to snapping to nice dates.</li>
<li>Fixed width of range items not always being maintained when moving due to snapping to nice dates.
</li>
<li>Fixed not being able to drag items to an other group on mobile devices.</li>
<li>Fixed `setWindow` not working when applying an interval larger than the configured `zoomMax`.</li>
</ul>
@ -306,7 +517,9 @@
<ulclass="task-list">
<li>Added property `length` holding the total number of items to the `DataSet and `DataView`.</li>
<li>Added a method `refresh()` to the `DataView`, to update filter results.</li>
<li>Fixed a bug in the `DataSet` returning an empty object instead of `null` when no item was found when using both a filter and specifying fields.</li>
<li>Fixed a bug in the `DataSet` returning an empty object instead of `null` when no item was found when
using both a filter and specifying fields.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
@ -318,15 +531,18 @@
<divclass="postDate">16th of January 2015</div>
<divclass="postContent">
<p>
We have been very busy fixing a lot of the open Github issues over the last week. We have also received multiple pull requests that could be added quickly! Special thanks to
We have been very busy fixing a lot of the open Github issues over the last week. We have also received
multiple pull requests that could be added quickly! Special thanks to
our community members contributing this release: @klmdb, @pavlos256, @T-rav, @brendon1982.
Since this is a release with new features, we push the version number up to 3.9.0. Next up: big refactoring and version 4.0.0!
Since this is a release with new features, we push the version number up to 3.9.0. Next up: big
<li>Added byUser flag to options of the rangechange and rangechanged event.</li>
@ -363,36 +588,81 @@
<divclass="postDate">9th of January 2015</div>
<divclass="postContent">
<p>
I initially wanted to do a small recap of vis.js so far but it became larger (and more off topic) than I expected. To understand some of the motivations for our roadmap, <ahref="#A look back on vis.js">take a look at the post below this one first</a>.
</p><p>
So now for our plans for 2015! We have added a lot of features over the last year, and we have to be careful that vis does not die of option-obesity. To mediate this we thought of a few solutions.
Firstly, we will make the docs collapsible using a similar system to <ahref="https://www.jsoneditoronline.org/"target="_blank">Jos′s great online JSON editor</a>. This is naturally a temporary fix but
the docs are one of the most important ways to get information. We think we ourselves may be the most frequent visitor of those pages so it's a good start!
</p><p>
Secondly, the actual changes, we plan to reorganize some of the option structure. This will unfortunately (but by definition) be a breaking change from our old versions. The new structure will be clearer and more intuitive. The work our current
users will have to do to update will be minimal. If you're using the options we reorganize, you'll have to update your options. Breaking releases are always a shame, but we feel it is necessary.
</p><p>
The third step we want to take is to go over the code of each module and modularize everything much more. This will make the code easier to maintain as we move away from very large .js files, as well as make it easier to expand on.
</p><p>
Once everything is modularized, we want to change the API to allow users to plug their own parts of vis together. As an example: You start a network module, plug in the type of node module, edge module, physics module and optionally navigation module (etc.) and you're good to go!
All of these modules will be individually configured. This means the huge list of options will be segmented into smaller, more manageable parts. Additionally, the docs will become smaller and clearer.
</p><p>
Of course, we do not want to abandon all our plug-and-play functionality! We will also start to supply more preconfigured constructors (i.e. a vis.BarChart that will give you a preconfigured graph2d module). Apart from these constructors
we will continue to publish examples which will include code snippets that you can use in your own project.
</p><p>
Once this has been completed, we expect there will be more options that accept functions as arguments which gives you more control over vis. Finally, because everything (well, more than now) would be split up into
modules, it becomes easier for the community to create additional modules, further improving vis!
</p><p>
The things I have listed here are the ideas that we have now. This is subject to change. We also cannot provide a timeline for this because we work on vis whenever we have time. No deadlines, no constrains, just when we have time.
</p><p>
To wrap up, there are a few things I did not mention here but I'd like to add to the post anyway.
I initially wanted to do a small recap of vis.js so far but it became larger (and more off topic) than I
expected. To understand some of the motivations for our roadmap, <ahref="#A look back on vis.js">take a
look at the post below this one first</a>.
</p>
<p>
So now for our plans for 2015! We have added a lot of features over the last year, and we have to be
careful that vis does not die of option-obesity. To mediate this we thought of a few solutions.
Firstly, we will make the docs collapsible using a similar system to <a
href="https://www.jsoneditoronline.org/" target="_blank">Jos′s great online JSON editor</a>.
This is naturally a temporary fix but
the docs are one of the most important ways to get information. We think we ourselves may be the most
frequent visitor of those pages so it's a good start!
</p>
<p>
Secondly, the actual changes, we plan to reorganize some of the option structure. This will
unfortunately (but by definition) be a breaking change from our old versions. The new structure will be
clearer and more intuitive. The work our current
users will have to do to update will be minimal. If you're using the options we reorganize, you'll have
to update your options. Breaking releases are always a shame, but we feel it is necessary.
</p>
<p>
The third step we want to take is to go over the code of each module and modularize everything much
more. This will make the code easier to maintain as we move away from very large .js files, as well as
make it easier to expand on.
</p>
<p>
Once everything is modularized, we want to change the API to allow users to plug their own parts of vis
together. As an example: You start a network module, plug in the type of node module, edge module,
physics module and optionally navigation module (etc.) and you're good to go!
All of these modules will be individually configured. This means the huge list of options will be
segmented into smaller, more manageable parts. Additionally, the docs will become smaller and clearer.
</p>
<p>
Of course, we do not want to abandon all our plug-and-play functionality! We will also start to supply
more preconfigured constructors (i.e. a vis.BarChart that will give you a preconfigured graph2d module).
Apart from these constructors
we will continue to publish examples which will include code snippets that you can use in your own
project.
</p>
<p>
Once this has been completed, we expect there will be more options that accept functions as arguments
which gives you more control over vis. Finally, because everything (well, more than now) would be split
up into
modules, it becomes easier for the community to create additional modules, further improving vis!
</p>
<p>
The things I have listed here are the ideas that we have now. This is subject to change. We also cannot
provide a timeline for this because we work on vis whenever we have time. No deadlines, no constrains,
just when we have time.
</p>
<p>
To wrap up, there are a few things I did not mention here but I'd like to add to the post anyway.
<ul>
<li>We want to improve the fusion of graph2d and the timeline, with the ideal that a graph2d can be used like a group in timeline now.</li>
<li>Examples will be split in simple option/configuration examples and larger, feature demonstration/exploration examples.</li>
<li>We want to improve the fusion of graph2d and the timeline, with the ideal that a graph2d can be used
like a group in timeline now.
</li>
<li>Examples will be split in simple option/configuration examples and larger, feature
demonstration/exploration examples.
</li>
<li>Graph2d will be expanded.</li>
<li>We will move to hammer.js 2.0.</li>
<li>We will add features <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">from the list</a> when we can</li>
<li>We hope to keep up the <communi></communi>cation with our community!</li>
<li>We will add features <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">from the list</a> when we can
</li>
<li>We hope to keep up the
<communi></communi>
cation with our community!
</li>
</ul>
Let's make 2015 as good as last year!
</p>
@ -405,24 +675,49 @@
<divclass="postDate">9th of January 2015</div>
<divclass="postContent">
<p>
In April 2013, the initial commit was made for vis.js by <ahref="https://github.com/josdejong">Jos</a> because the old CHAP LINKS library was becoming too large to expand and maintain.
Vis.js was a clean, new start using all the knowledge gathered from the CHAP library with the ideal that the new infrastructure would be more stable, faster and easier to maintain.
</p><p>
In January 2014, I joined the project and started to expand the Network module, which was called Graph back then. I have been working alongside Jos since then we have poured a lot of hours into vis.
</p><p>
On the 16th of April 2014, exactly a year after the initial commit, <ahref="https://twitter.com/hackernewsbot/status/456231005678874624"target="_blank">a twitterbot with a lot of followers</a> notified
the world that we were featured on hackernews! This was the boost we needed to really reach a large community. We saw the amount of visitors and Github stars increase greatly over the months that followed.
</p><p>
The 14th of October, we have altered the license of vis.js to MIT or APACHE 2.0. This allowed <ahref="http://tiddlywiki.com/"target="_blank">Tiddlywiki</a> to add vis.js to their keychain. From what we hear,
their developers really enjoy working with vis and we look forward to hearing how their community uses our software!
</p><p>
Now, we have a great community that helps out in issues, fixes our typos in the docs, notifies us of bugs and sometimes fixes them for us. We have received pull requests with new features and improvements and
it has been fantastic!
</p><p>
This post started out as the roadmap for vis in 2015, but the review was longer than I initially expected thereby deserving its own post.
</p><p>
Have fun using vis!
</p>
In April 2013, the initial commit was made for vis.js by <ahref="https://github.com/josdejong">Jos</a>
because the old CHAP LINKS library was becoming too large to expand and maintain.
Vis.js was a clean, new start using all the knowledge gathered from the CHAP library with the ideal that
the new infrastructure would be more stable, faster and easier to maintain.
</p>
<p>
In January 2014, I joined the project and started to expand the Network module, which was called Graph
back then. I have been working alongside Jos since then we have poured a lot of hours into vis.
</p>
<p>
On the 16th of April 2014, exactly a year after the initial commit, <a
href="https://twitter.com/hackernewsbot/status/456231005678874624" target="_blank">a twitterbot with
a lot of followers</a> notified
the world that we were featured on hackernews! This was the boost we needed to really reach a large
community. We saw the amount of visitors and Github stars increase greatly over the months that
followed.
</p>
<p>
The 14th of October, we have altered the license of vis.js to MIT or APACHE 2.0. This allowed <a
href="http://tiddlywiki.com/" target="_blank">Tiddlywiki</a> to add vis.js to their keychain. From
what we hear,
their developers really enjoy working with vis and we look forward to hearing how their community uses
our software!
</p>
<p>
Now, we have a great community that helps out in issues, fixes our typos in the docs, notifies us of
bugs and sometimes fixes them for us. We have received pull requests with new features and improvements
and
it has been fantastic!
</p>
<p>
This post started out as the roadmap for vis in 2015, but the review was longer than I initially
expected thereby deserving its own post.
</p>
<p>
Have fun using vis!
</p>
</div>
</div>
@ -432,29 +727,59 @@
<divclass="postDate">9th of January 2015</div>
<divclass="postContent">
<p>
The old website served us well, but now that we arrived in 2015... it is really time for an upgrade! We hope the new website is more informative, modern and a good promotion for vis.js!
It also allows us to keep the community updated through this blog and to <ahref="./showcase/index.html"target="_blank">show off great projects that make use of vis.js in our showcase</a>.
</p><p>If you have made something and would like it featured,
please make an <ahref="https://github.com/almende/vis/issues"target="_blank">issue on Github</a> with your project and how you'd like to be credited.</p>
The old website served us well, but now that we arrived in 2015... it is really time for an upgrade! We
hope the new website is more informative, modern and a good promotion for vis.js!
It also allows us to keep the community updated through this blog and to <ahref="./showcase/index.html"
target="_blank">show off
great projects that make use of vis.js in our showcase</a>.
</p>
<p>If you have made something and would like it featured,
please make an <ahref="https://github.com/almende/vis/issues"target="_blank">issue on Github</a> with
your project and how you'd like to be credited.</p>
</p><p>
The new website is in beta so if anyone spots a typo or other mistake, please let us know on our <ahref="https://www.github.com/almende/vis"target="_blank">Github</a> page.
</p><p>
There is no forum on this website. We prefer to keep all the communication with the community through Github. We believe this is the best solution so everyone only has to check the Github issues
when there is a problem or suggestion.
</p><p>
A big change introduced with our new website, is the <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">feature request page</a>. There are a lot of issues on Github that suggest features but we do not
always have time to implement these ourselves. On the other hand, there have been issues where people tell us they want to contribute but are now sure where to start. To mediate this (and to make a clear overview
for ourselves) we listed everything <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">here</a>.
</p><p>Once a feature is added to <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">the list</a>, it is not the end of the line. At each new release, we'll look at the list and see which features we may want to pick up for the next one. Discussions on these features
can still continue on the referenced Github issues. When we have added a feature to this list, we will close the Github issue that requested it to keep our open issues more of a bug-todo list. The main motivation for this
is because we have noticed that old bugs (on pages after 2) would be overlooked from time to time.
</p><p>
This feature page is an experiment. If it turns out that the community does not like us closing issues with open feature requests or if it does not have the impact we'd like it to have, we'll revert back to the old model.
</p><p>
We thank you all for using vis! Last year has seen a great increase in our user base and it is a great motivating factor knowing that our work is used by others!
</p><p>
Here's to a great 2015!
The new website is in beta so if anyone spots a typo or other mistake, please let us know on our <a
There is no forum on this website. We prefer to keep all the communication with the community through
Github. We believe this is the best solution so everyone only has to check the Github issues
when there is a problem or suggestion.
</p>
<p>
A big change introduced with our new website, is the <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">feature
request page</a>. There are a lot of issues on Github that suggest features but we do not
always have time to implement these ourselves. On the other hand, there have been issues where people
tell us they want to contribute but are now sure where to start. To mediate this (and to make a clear
overview
for ourselves) we listed everything <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">here</a>.
</p>
<p>Once a feature is added to <ahref="./featureRequests.html"target="_blank">the list</a>, it is not the
end of the line. At each new release, we'll look at the list and see which features we may want to pick
up for the next one. Discussions on these features
can still continue on the referenced Github issues. When we have added a feature to this list, we will
close the Github issue that requested it to keep our open issues more of a bug-todo list. The main
motivation for this
is because we have noticed that old bugs (on pages after 2) would be overlooked from time to time.
</p>
<p>
This feature page is an experiment. If it turns out that the community does not like us closing issues
with open feature requests or if it does not have the impact we'd like it to have, we'll revert back to
the old model.
</p>
<p>
We thank you all for using vis! Last year has seen a great increase in our user base and it is a great
motivating factor knowing that our work is used by others!
</p>
<p>
Here's to a great 2015!
</p>
</div>
</div>
@ -464,15 +789,20 @@
<divclass="postDate">9th of January 2015</div>
<divclass="postContent">
<p>
We're proud to present a new version of the vis.js library: 3.8.0! This release has a lot of new features and bugfixes, nearly all of which were suggested and/or discovered
by our community on <ahref="https://www.github.com/almende/vis"target="_blank">Github</a>. A lot of the issues on Github have been handled in this release and it is likely to be the
last release before 4.0.0. The 4.0.0 release will break compatibility with old code (only options will be revisited on the API side) but more on that in <ahref="#The 2015 roadmap for vis.js">the roadmap post</a>.
We're proud to present a new version of the vis.js library: 3.8.0! This release has a lot of new
features and bugfixes, nearly all of which were suggested and/or discovered
by our community on <ahref="https://www.github.com/almende/vis"target="_blank">Github</a>. A lot of
the issues on Github have been handled in this release and it is likely to be the
last release before 4.0.0. The 4.0.0 release will break compatibility with old code (only options will
be revisited on the API side) but more on that in <ahref="#The 2015 roadmap for vis.js">the roadmap
Alex de Mulder
9 years ago