Chartjs Bar Chart showing old data when hovering

Question

I have a bar chart that's created using chart.js. Everything works fine on page load, but when I change the time frame using a daterangepicker, a glitch appears. The new data is brought in, but when I hover over it, the old data is shown. I'm new to javascript so I'm hoping to get some help. It looks like I need to incorporate .destroy(); somehow, but I don't know how. A snippet of my code is below:

function loadFTPRChart(startdate, enddate){ var BCData = { labels: [], datasets: [  {   label: "Pass %",   backgroundColor: "#536A7F",   data: [],   stack: 1 }, {   label: "Fail %",   backgroundColor: "#e6e6e6",   data: [],   stack: 1 }, {   label: "Auto %",   backgroundColor: "#286090",   data: [],   stack: 2 }, {   label: "Manual %",   backgroundColor: "#f0f0f0",   data: [],   stack: 2 }  ] };   $.getJSON( "content/FTPR_AM_Graph_ajax.php", {     startdate: startdate,     enddate: enddate,     location: "M" }) .done(function( data ) {     console.log("data", data);     $.each( data.aaData, function( key, val ) {       if(val == ""){return true}       BCData.labels.push("Coater " + val[0]);       BCData.datasets[0].data.push(parseFloat(val[2]));       BCData.datasets[1].data.push(parseFloat(100-val[2]));       BCData.datasets[2].data.push(parseFloat(val[1]));       BCData.datasets[3].data.push(parseFloat(100-val[1]));     });      var option = {         responsive:true, }; console.log("BCData", BCData);   //console.log("PrevData", data); var ctx = document.getElementById("mybarChart2").getContext("2d"); new Chart(ctx, {   type: 'groupableBar',   data: BCData,   options: {     scales: {       yAxes: [{         ticks: {           max: 100,         },         stacked: true,       }]     }   } }); });  }   loadFTPRChart($('#reportrange').data().daterangepicker.startDate.format('MM/DD/YYYY'), $('#reportrange').data().daterangepicker.endDate.format('MM/DD/YYYY')); 

What is the best way to destroy the original data so that when I change the date range and hover over the new chart, the old data no longer flickers?

Thanks

Answer 1

With the approach you are taking (e.g. creating a new Chart object each time the date range changes), then you must first destroy the previous chart and then create the new one.

You can use the .destroy() prototype method to do this. Here is exactly what the API states.

Use this to destroy any chart instances that are created. This will clean up any references stored to the chart object within Chart.js, along with any associated event listeners attached by Chart.js. This must be called before the canvas is reused for a new chart.

Therefore, your code would look something like this (notice that we destroy and re-create).

// define a variable to store the chart instance (this must be outside of your function) var myChart;  function loadFTPRChart(startdate, enddate) {   var BCData = {     labels: [],     datasets: [{       label: "Pass %",       backgroundColor: "#536A7F",       data: [],       stack: 1     }, {       label: "Fail %",       backgroundColor: "#e6e6e6",       data: [],       stack: 1     }, {       label: "Auto %",       backgroundColor: "#286090",       data: [],       stack: 2     }, {       label: "Manual %",       backgroundColor: "#f0f0f0",       data: [],       stack: 2     }]   };    $.getJSON("content/FTPR_AM_Graph_ajax.php", {       startdate: startdate,       enddate: enddate,       location: "M"     })     .done(function(data) {       console.log("data", data);       $.each(data.aaData, function(key, val) {         if (val == "") {           return true         }         BCData.labels.push("Coater " + val[0]);         BCData.datasets[0].data.push(parseFloat(val[2]));         BCData.datasets[1].data.push(parseFloat(100 - val[2]));         BCData.datasets[2].data.push(parseFloat(val[1]));         BCData.datasets[3].data.push(parseFloat(100 - val[1]));       });        var option = {         responsive: true,       };       console.log("BCData", BCData);        // if the chart is not undefined (e.g. it has been created)       // then destory the old one so we can create a new one later       if (myChart) {         myChart.destroy();       }        var ctx = document.getElementById("mybarChart2").getContext("2d");       myChart = new Chart(ctx, {         type: 'groupableBar',         data: BCData,         options: {           scales: {             yAxes: [{               ticks: {                 max: 100,               },               stacked: true,             }]           }         }       });     }); } 

With that said, it's expensive the destroy/create over and over and actually it isn't even necessary. There is another prototype method called .update() that you can use to just re-render the chart if you have changed it's underlying data or label objects.

Here is a jsfiddle showing an example of changing the underlying data and labels and then re-rendering the chart. I would highly recommend you take this approach instead.

Here is how your code would look taking this better approach.

// define a variable to store the chart instance (this must be outside of your function) var myChart;  function loadFTPRChart(startdate, enddate) {   var BCData = {     labels: [],     datasets: [{       label: "Pass %",       backgroundColor: "#536A7F",       data: [],       stack: 1     }, {       label: "Fail %",       backgroundColor: "#e6e6e6",       data: [],       stack: 1     }, {       label: "Auto %",       backgroundColor: "#286090",       data: [],       stack: 2     }, {       label: "Manual %",       backgroundColor: "#f0f0f0",       data: [],       stack: 2     }]   };    $.getJSON("content/FTPR_AM_Graph_ajax.php", {       startdate: startdate,       enddate: enddate,       location: "M"     })     .done(function(data) {       console.log("data", data);       $.each(data.aaData, function(key, val) {         if (val == "") {           return true         }         BCData.labels.push("Coater " + val[0]);         BCData.datasets[0].data.push(parseFloat(val[2]));         BCData.datasets[1].data.push(parseFloat(100 - val[2]));         BCData.datasets[2].data.push(parseFloat(val[1]));         BCData.datasets[3].data.push(parseFloat(100 - val[1]));       });        var option = {         responsive: true,       };       console.log("BCData", BCData);        // if the chart is not undefined (e.g. it has been created)       // then just update the underlying labels and data for each       // dataset and re-render the chart       if (myChart) {         myChart.data.labels = BCData.labels;         myChart.data.datasets[0].data = BCData.datasets[0].data;         myChart.data.datasets[1].data = BCData.datasets[1].data;         myChart.data.datasets[2].data = BCData.datasets[2].data;         myChart.data.datasets[3].data = BCData.datasets[3].data;         myChart.update();       } else {         // otherwise, this is the first time we are loading so create the chart         var ctx = document.getElementById("mybarChart2").getContext("2d");         myChart = new Chart(ctx, {           type: 'groupableBar',           data: BCData,           options: {             scales: {               yAxes: [{                 ticks: {                   max: 100,                 },                 stacked: true,               }]             }           }         });       }     }); }