Highcharts Angular

Official minimal Highcharts integration for Angular

Table of Contents

1. Getting started
   1. General prerequisites
   2. Installing
   3. Hello world demo
   4. Angular Universal - SSR
   5. Angular Elements and useHTML
2. Options details
3. Chart instance
4. Highcharts instance details
   1. Core
   2. To load a module
   3. To load a plugin
   4. To load a map for Highcharts Maps
   5. To load a wrapper
   6. To use setOptions
5. Demo app
   1. Play with the app
   2. Files to play with
6. Online examples
7. Changing the Component
8. Help and FAQ

Getting started

General prerequisites

Make sure you have node, NPM and Angular up to date.

Version	Node	Angular	Highcharts
4.0.0	>=16.14	>=16.0.0	>=11.0.0
3.1.2	>=14.13	>=15.0.0	>=10.3.3
3.0.0	>=14.13	>=9.0.0	>=8.0.0
<2.10.0	>=6.10.2	>=6.0.0	>=6.0.0

Installing

Get package from NPM in your Angular app:

npm install highcharts-angular --save

In your app.module.ts add the HighchartsChartModule:

...
import { HighchartsChartModule } from 'highcharts-angular';

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    ...
    HighchartsChartModule

In a component that will be building your Highcharts charts you will need to import Highcharts first, so in system console, while in your Angular app:

npm install highcharts --save

Next, in the app.component.ts, in top lines where other imports are add another one for Highcharts:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';

In the same file (app.component.ts) add to the template Highcharts-angular component selector highcharts-chart:

<highcharts-chart
  [Highcharts]="Highcharts"

  [constructorType]="chartConstructor"
  [options]="chartOptions"
  [callbackFunction]="chartCallback"

  [(update)]="updateFlag"
  [oneToOne]="oneToOneFlag"
  [runOutsideAngular]="runOutsideAngular"

  style="width: 100%; height: 400px; display: block;"
></highcharts-chart>

Right side names, in double quotes, are just names of variables you are going to set next, so you could name them whatever you like. Style at the bottom of the selector is optional, but browsers do not know how to display <highcharts-chart>, so you should set some styles.

In the same file (app.component.ts) all variables should be set in export class AppComponent { like:

export class AppComponent {
  Highcharts: typeof Highcharts = Highcharts; // required
  chartConstructor: string = 'chart'; // optional string, defaults to 'chart'
  chartOptions: Highcharts.Options = { ... }; // required
  chartCallback: Highcharts.ChartCallbackFunction = function (chart) { ... } // optional function, defaults to null
  updateFlag: boolean = false; // optional boolean
  oneToOneFlag: boolean = true; // optional boolean, defaults to false
  runOutsideAngular: boolean = false; // optional boolean, defaults to false
  ...

Used options are explained below.

Hello world demo

To create a simple demo start with installing.

Next for app.component.ts's HTML template use:

<highcharts-chart 
  [Highcharts]="Highcharts"
  [options]="chartOptions"

  style="width: 100%; height: 400px; display: block;"
></highcharts-chart>

and export variables:

export class AppComponent {
  Highcharts: typeof Highcharts = Highcharts;
  chartOptions: Highcharts.Options = {
    series: [{
      data: [1, 2, 3],
      type: 'line'
    }]
  };
  ...

Build and run your Angular app to see a basic line chart.

Angular Universal - SSR

The code running in the server-side rendering runs twice. The first run is done in an environment that lacks window (server-side) and causes Highcharts to be loaded, but not initialized. Because Highcharts is strictly bound with the browser events we need to prevent it from running on the server-side. To achieve that you can check if typeof Highcharts is equal to object (this condition won't be true on the server-side), and then use it under the *ngIf directive.

export class AppComponent {
  isHighcharts = typeof Highcharts === 'object';
  Highcharts: typeof Highcharts = Highcharts;
  chartOptions: Highcharts.Options = {...};
}

<highcharts-chart
  *ngIf="isHighcharts"
  [Highcharts]="Highcharts"
  [options]="chartOptions"
></highcharts-chart>

Angular Elements and useHTML

First, install angular elements:

npm install @angular/elements --save

Include in main.ts file your element tag inside allowedTags and element properties inside allowedAttributes:

if (Highcharts && Highcharts.AST) {
  Highcharts.AST.allowedTags.push('translation-element');
  Highcharts.AST.allowedAttributes.push('translation-key');
}

Define your element in the constructor of the component that will use it:

private defineTranslationElement() {
  if (isNil(customElements.get('translation-element'))) {
    const translationElement = createCustomElement(TranslationComponent, {
      injector: this.injector,
    });
    customElements.define('translation-element', translationElement);
  }
}

Then, create the element, set properties and use it in the chart:

const translationEl: NgElement & WithProperties<TranslationComponent> =
      document.createElement(translationElementTag);

translationEl.setAttribute(
  'translation-key',
  'shared.title'
);      

const chartOptions: Highcharts.Options = {
    title: {
      text: translationEl.outerHTML,
      useHTML: true,
    },
    xAxis: [
      ...

For a more detailed view take a look at the Online Examples - Angular Elements and useHTML

Options details

Parameter	Type	Required	Defaults	Description
[Highcharts]	Object	yes	-	This is a Highcharts instance with required core and optional modules, plugin, maps, wrappers, and set global options using setOptions. More detail for the option in the next documentation section.
[constructorType]	String	no	'chart'	String for constructor method. Official constructors: - 'chart' for Highcharts charts - 'stockChart' for Highcharts Stock - 'mapChart' for Highcharts Maps - 'ganttChart' for Highcharts Gantt Keep in mind that 'stockChart', 'mapChart', 'ganttChart' require loading the appropriate package or module.
[options]	Object	yes	-	Possible chart options could be found in Highcharts API reference.The minimal working object that could be set for basic testing is { series:[{ data:[1, 2] }] }.
[(update)]	Boolean	no	-	A boolean to trigger an update on a chart as Angular is not detecting nested changes in an object passed to a component. Set corresponding variable (updateFlag in the example) to true and after update on a chart is done it will be changed asynchronously to false by Highcharts-angular component.
[oneToOne]	Boolean	no	false	The oneToOne parameter for updates. When true, the series, xAxis and yAxis collections will be updated one to one, and items will be either added or removed to match the new updated options. For example, if the chart has two series and we call the chart.update (and this is called on each chart's data change or if updateFlag is set to true) with a configuration containing three series, one will be added. If we call the chart.update with one series, one will be removed. Setting an empty series array will remove all series, but leaving out the series property will leave all series untouched. If the series have id's, the new series options will be matched by id, and the remaining ones removed. The option presented in the demo in the first chart - try setting new chart options with different amounts of series in the textarea input to see this option in action.
[callbackFunction]	Function	no	-	A callback function for the created chart. The first argument for the function will hold the created chart. Default this in the function points to the chart.
[runOutsideAngular]	Boolean	no	false	When this option is set to true chart is created and updated outside of Angular's zone and Highcharts events do not trigger Angular change-detection. Details about runOutsideAngular are available in Angular documentation. This option is more useful for bigger, more complex application (see discussion). The option is presented in this demo.

Chart instance

A chart instance could be obtained using:

• chart's callback function - chart is provided as first argument (see demo app and first hcCallback function)
• chart's events - context of all chart's events functions is the chart instance
• component output chartInstance - emitted after chart is created (see demo app and logChartInstance function)

Notice: If you are getting chart instance from chart's load event or chart's callback funciton and will be supporting exporting, then this function runs again when the chart is exported, because a chart for export is being created. To distinguish when the function is called for the chart and when it's called for the for-export chart you could check chart.renderer.forExport. If will be set to true for the for-export chart and undefined for the main chart.

Highcharts instance details

This is a Highcharts instance optionally with initialized modules, plugins, maps, wrappers and set global options using setOptions. The core is required.

Notice: The Highcharts instance is shared through components in an Angular app, so loaded modules will affect all charts.

Core

As core you could load Highcharts, Highcharts Stock, Highcharts Maps or Highcharts Gantt (v. 6.2.0+).

• For Highcharts:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';

• For Highcharts Stock:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts/highstock';

or as Highcharts with stock module:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
import HC_stock from 'highcharts/modules/stock';
HC_stock(Highcharts);

• For Highcharts Maps:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts/highmaps';

or as Highcharts with map module:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
import HC_map from 'highcharts/modules/map';
HC_map(Highcharts);

• For Highcharts Gantt:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts/highcharts-gantt';

or as Highcharts with gantt module:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
import HC_gantt from 'highcharts/modules/gantt';
HC_gantt(Highcharts);

To load a module

A module is a Highcharts official addon - including Highcharts Stock Technical Indicators, style themes, specialized series types (e.g. Bullet, Venn). After Highcharts is imported using Highcharts, Highcharts Stock or Highcharts Maps use import and initialize each module on the Highcharts variable.

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
import HC_exporting from 'highcharts/modules/exporting';
HC_exporting(Highcharts);

Alternatively, this could be done with require, but usually (depends on your app configuration) additional declaration declare var require: any; is needed at the top of the TypeScript file in which the modules are loaded.

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
require('highcharts/modules/exporting')(Highcharts);

To load a plugin

A plugin is a third party/community made Highcharts addon (plugins are listed in the Highcharts plugin registry). First, make sure that a plugin support loading over NPM and load the required files. In example Custom-Events supports NPM loading, so after installing the package you could initialize it like:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
import * as HC_customEvents from 'highcharts-custom-events';
HC_customEvents(Highcharts);

If a plugin doesn't support loading through NPM you could treat it as a wrapper - see instructions below.

If a lack of TypeScirpt definitions d.ts is showing as an error - see Solving problems section of Highcharts documentation for Typescript usage.

To load a map for Highcharts Maps

Official map collection is published and here are basic instructions for loading a map. An example can also be found in the demo app.

To load a wrapper

A wrapper is a custom extension for Highcharts. To load a wrapper the same way as a module you could save it as a Javascript file and edit it by adding below code to beginning and end of a file:

(function (factory) {
  if (typeof module === 'object' && module.exports) {
    module.exports = factory;
  } else {
    factory(Highcharts);
  }
}(function (Highcharts) {

...
/* wrapper code */
...

}));

Next, you will be loading a local .js file, so you should add in tsconfig.json in your app allowJs: true:

...
"compilerOptions": {
    "allowJs": true,
    ...

The wrapper is ready to be imported to your app. Use require instead of import to prevent TS5055 errors.

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts';
require('./relative-path-to-the-wrapper-file/wrapper-file-name')(Highcharts);

Where relative-path-to-the-wrapper-file should be relative (for the module importing the wrapper) path to the wrapper file and wrapper-file-name should be the name of the wrapper file.

If a lack of TypeScirpt definitions d.ts is showing as an error - see Solving problems section of Highcharts documentation for Typescript usage.

To use setOptions

The best place to use setOptions is after your Highcharts instance is ready and before Highcharts variable is set in the main component. Example:

import * as Highcharts from 'highcharts/highstock';

...

Highcharts.setOptions({
  title: {
    style: {
      color: 'orange'
    }
  }
});

...

export class AppComponent {
  Highcharts: typeof Highcharts = Highcharts;

Demo app

Download (or clone) the contents of the highcharts-angular GitHub repository.
The demo app is not using external dependencies but the build of the highcharts-angular package thus here it is required to run npm start to generate this package.

In system console, in main repo folder run:

npm install
npm start

This opens http://localhost:4200/ in your default browser with the app.

To open on a different port, for example 12345, use:

npm start -- --port 12345

Play with the app

Keep the console running and change some files - after a save the app will rebuild and refresh the localhost preview.

Files to play with

• app.component.ts (in src\app)

Contains Angular main component that uses the chart component.

• chart.component.ts (in src\app\chart)

Contains the chart component that creates Highcharts chart.

Online examples

• Basic line
• Stock
• Stock + indicators
• Stock + GUI
• Map
• Gantt
• Map + mapppoints with lat/lon
• Map + mapppoints with proj4
• Optimal way to update
• Data from the service
• Applying a custom plugin/wrap
• Property XXX does not exist on type YYY
• Using portals to render an angular component within a chart
• Angular Elements and useHTML

Changing the Component

Using Angular CLI v6, the library must be manually rebuilt on each change in order to reflect in the demo app.

Run the following command on each change to the highcharts-chart.component.ts file:

npm run build

If you are running the demo app in another terminal window when you rebuild the library, the changes should be reflected in your browser (note: you may need to refresh the browser a second time after the live reload in order to see the change).

See https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/wiki/stories-create-library for details on library builds.

For CHANGELOG.md update use npm run release.

Help and FAQ

For technical support please contact Highcharts technical support.

For TypeScript problems with Highcharts first see Highcharts documentation for TypeScript usage.

FAQ:

How to add and use indicators?

Add indicators as any other module. Live demo

How to add and use themes?

Add themes as any other module. See the demo app in this repository for an example.

More info about custom themes in Highcharts general documentation.

I have a general issue with Highcharts and TypeScript

The correct repository to report such issues is main Highcharts repository.

Synchronized Charts Angular demo

Based on original Highcharts demo for Synchronized charts.

Additionally added class based sync between charts - demo.

Property XXX does not exist on type YYY

It is happening when you are trying to use non-existing property or one of our internal properties that are not publicly available for example axis.dataMin. To fix that you need to create your own type that will extend the default Highcharts one with the new properties. Then all you need to do is to cast the selected option / to the extended type - demo.

How to use Highcharts Maps with the proj4?

Install the proj4 library and its types @types/proj4. Then pass it to chartOptions.chart.proj4 property. See the demo app in this repository or live demo example.

I want to render angular component in the tooltip/axis formatter

To render angular component within the chart you can use the angular portals - demo