Create a React Dashboard Application

• Jul 28, 2023
• 5 minutes to read

Important

If you are not familiar with the basic concepts and patterns of React, please review the fundamentals before you continue: reactjs.org.

The Web Dashboard consists of client and server parts:

Client

The client is a JavaScript application that supplies users with a UI to design and interact with a dashboard. The DashboardControl is the underlying control. The client communicates with the server using HTTP requests.

Server

The server is an ASP.NET Core or ASP.NET MVC application that handles client data requests and provides access to data sources, dashboard storage and other backend capabilities.

The tutorial creates and configures a client React application that contains the Web Dashboard and a server ASP.NET Core application that targets .NET Core 3.1.

View Example

Prerequisites

• Node.js 6+ and npm 5.2+
• .NET Core SDK
• Visual Studio (the minimum required version based on the target .NET Core SDK version)

Requirements

• The script version on the client should match the library version on the server.
• Versions of the DevExpress npm packages should be identical.

Step 1. Create a Client Application

In the command prompt, create a React application:

npx create-react-app dashboard-react-app

Navigate to the created folder after the project is created:

cd dashboard-react-app

Install the following npm packages:

npm install devexpress-dashboard@21.2.15 devexpress-dashboard-react@21.2.15 @devexpress/analytics-core@21.2.15 devextreme@21.2.15 devextreme-react@21.2.15 --save

You can find all the libraries in the node_modules folder after the installation is completed.

Modify the src/App.js file as shown below to display a dashboard component on the page.

import React from 'react';
import './App.css';
import DashboardControl from 'devexpress-dashboard-react';

function App() {  
  return (
    <div style={{ position : 'absolute', top : '0px', left: '0px', right : '0px', bottom: '0px' }}>
      <DashboardControl style={{ height: '100%' }} 
        endpoint="https://demos.devexpress.com/services/dashboard/api">
      </DashboardControl>
  </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Open the index.css file and add the following global styles:

@import url("../node_modules/jquery-ui/themes/base/all.css");
@import url("../node_modules/devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css");
@import url("../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-analytics.common.css");
@import url("../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-analytics.light.css");
@import url("../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-querybuilder.css");
@import url("../node_modules/devexpress-dashboard/dist/css/dx-dashboard.light.css");

Use the command below to launch the application.

npm start

Open http://localhost:3000/ in your browser to see the result. The Web Dashboard uses data from the preconfigured server (https://demos.devexpress.com/services/dashboard/api).

Tip

Related Article: Dashboard Component for React

Step 2. Create a Server Application

Create the Application

Create a custom server application to show your data. In Visual Studio, create an ASP.NET Core 3.1 application. Select the Empty template, name it asp-net-core-server.

Install NuGet Packages

In the project, open the NuGet Package Manager and set the package source to All. Install the following npm package: DevExpress.AspNetCore.Dashboard.

Configure the Dashboard Controller

In the root directory, create an empty MVC Controller named DefaultDashboardController. Inherit the DashboardController:

using DevExpress.DashboardAspNetCore;
using DevExpress.DashboardWeb;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection;

namespace AspNetCoreDashboardBackend {
    public class DefaultDashboardController : DashboardController {
        public DefaultDashboardController(DashboardConfigurator configurator, IDataProtectionProvider dataProtectionProvider = null)
            : base(configurator, dataProtectionProvider) {
        }
    }
}

Configure the Server

In your application, create the App_Data/Dashboards folder that will store dashboards.

Replace the content of the Startup.cs file with the code below to configure the following parameters:

• Configure CORS policy.
• Add and use services for DevExpress Controls.
• Map the dashboard route.
• Add a JSON data Source to a data source storage.

using DevExpress.AspNetCore;
using DevExpress.DashboardAspNetCore;
using DevExpress.DashboardCommon;
using DevExpress.DashboardWeb;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Json;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.FileProviders;
using System;

namespace AspNetCoreDashboardBackend {
    public class Startup {
        public Startup(IConfiguration configuration, IWebHostEnvironment hostingEnvironment) {
            Configuration = configuration;
            FileProvider = hostingEnvironment.ContentRootFileProvider;
        }

        public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }
        public IFileProvider FileProvider { get; }

        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) {
            services
                // Configures CORS policies.                
                .AddCors(options => {
                    options.AddPolicy("CorsPolicy", builder => {
                        builder.AllowAnyOrigin();
                        builder.AllowAnyMethod();
                        builder.WithHeaders("Content-Type");
                    });
                })
                // Adds the DevExpress middleware.
                .AddDevExpressControls()
                // Adds controllers.
                .AddControllers();
            // Configures the dashboard backend.
            services.AddScoped<DashboardConfigurator>((IServiceProvider serviceProvider) => {
                DashboardConfigurator configurator = new DashboardConfigurator();                
                configurator.SetDashboardStorage(new DashboardFileStorage(FileProvider.GetFileInfo("App_Data/Dashboards").PhysicalPath));
                configurator.SetDataSourceStorage(CreateDataSourceStorage());
                configurator.ConfigureDataConnection += Configurator_ConfigureDataConnection;
                return configurator;
            });
        }

        public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env) {
            // Registers the DevExpress middleware.            
            app.UseDevExpressControls();
            // Registers routing.
            app.UseRouting();
            // Registers CORS policies.
            app.UseCors("CorsPolicy");
            app.UseEndpoints(endpoints => {
                // Maps the dashboard route.
                EndpointRouteBuilderExtension.MapDashboardRoute(endpoints, "api/dashboard", "DefaultDashboard");
                // Requires CORS policies.
                endpoints.MapControllers().RequireCors("CorsPolicy");
            });
        }

        public DataSourceInMemoryStorage CreateDataSourceStorage() {
            DataSourceInMemoryStorage dataSourceStorage = new DataSourceInMemoryStorage();
            DashboardJsonDataSource jsonDataSourceSupport = new DashboardJsonDataSource("Support");
            jsonDataSourceSupport.ConnectionName = "jsonSupport";
            jsonDataSourceSupport.RootElement = "Employee";
            dataSourceStorage.RegisterDataSource("jsonDataSourceSupport", jsonDataSourceSupport.SaveToXml());
            DashboardJsonDataSource jsonDataSourceCategories = new DashboardJsonDataSource("Categories");
            jsonDataSourceCategories.ConnectionName = "jsonCategories";
            //jsonDataSourceCategories.RootElement = "";
            dataSourceStorage.RegisterDataSource("jsonDataSourceCategories", jsonDataSourceCategories.SaveToXml());
            return dataSourceStorage;
        }

        private void Configurator_ConfigureDataConnection(object sender, ConfigureDataConnectionWebEventArgs e) {
            if (e.ConnectionName == "jsonSupport") {
                Uri fileUri = new Uri(FileProvider.GetFileInfo("App_Data/Support.json").PhysicalPath, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute);
                JsonSourceConnectionParameters jsonParams = new JsonSourceConnectionParameters();
                jsonParams.JsonSource = new UriJsonSource(fileUri);
                e.ConnectionParameters = jsonParams;
            }
            if (e.ConnectionName == "jsonCategories") {
                Uri fileUri = new Uri(FileProvider.GetFileInfo("App_Data/Categories.json").PhysicalPath, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute);
                JsonSourceConnectionParameters jsonParams = new JsonSourceConnectionParameters();
                jsonParams.JsonSource = new UriJsonSource(fileUri);
                e.ConnectionParameters = jsonParams;
            }
        }
    }
}

Open the asp-net-core-server folder and run the following command:

dotnet run

To use this server in the client application, go to the App.js file. Set the following URL as an endpoint: http://localhost:5000/api/dashboard

import React from 'react';
import './App.css';
import DashboardControl from 'devexpress-dashboard-react';

function App() {  
  return (
    <div style={{ position : 'absolute', top : '0px', left: '0px', right : '0px', bottom: '0px' }}>
      <DashboardControl style={{ height: '100%' }} 
        endpoint="http://localhost:5000/api/dashboard">
      </DashboardControl>
  </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Use the command below to launch the application.

npm start

Open http://localhost:3000/ in your browser to see the result. The client Web Dashboard app uses data from the newly created server (http://localhost:5000/api/dashboard).

Tip

Related Articles:

• Server-Side Configuration (ASP.NET Core)
• Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

Step 3. Switch to Viewer Mode

Once you create and save a dashboard, you can switch your Dashboard Designer to Viewer mode. Open the App.js file and set the workingMode property to ViewerOnly:

<DashboardControl style={{ height: '100%' }} 
    endpoint="http://localhost:5000/api/dashboard">
    workingMode="ViewerOnly"
</DashboardControl>

Tip

Related Article: Change Control Properties

Next Steps

• Create Dashboards on the Web

  Describes how to create and configure dashboards in the Web Dashboard control.

• Dashboard Component for React

  Contains instructions on how to use the Dashboard Component for React.