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Wrapping Long Labels
Raw
.block
license: gpl-3.0
Raw
README.md

This example, using satirical data from The Onion, demonstrates how to wrap long axis labels to fit on multiple lines.

Raw
data.tsv
name value
Family in feud with Zuckerbergs .17
Committed 671 birthdays to memory .19
Ex is doing too well .10
High school friends all dead now .15
Discovered how to “like” things mentally .27
Not enough politics .12
Raw
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<style>
.bar {
fill: steelblue;
}
.bar:hover {
fill: brown;
}
.title {
font: bold 14px "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
}
.axis {
font: 10px sans-serif;
}
.axis path,
.axis line {
fill: none;
stroke: #000;
shape-rendering: crispEdges;
}
.x.axis path {
display: none;
}
</style>
<body>
<script src="//d3js.org/d3.v3.min.js"></script>
<script>
var margin = {top: 80, right: 180, bottom: 80, left: 180},
width = 960 - margin.left - margin.right,
height = 500 - margin.top - margin.bottom;
var x = d3.scale.ordinal()
.rangeRoundBands([0, width], .1, .3);
var y = d3.scale.linear()
.range([height, 0]);
var xAxis = d3.svg.axis()
.scale(x)
.orient("bottom");
var yAxis = d3.svg.axis()
.scale(y)
.orient("left")
.ticks(8, "%");
var svg = d3.select("body").append("svg")
.attr("width", width + margin.left + margin.right)
.attr("height", height + margin.top + margin.bottom)
.append("g")
.attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")");
d3.tsv("data.tsv", type, function(error, data) {
x.domain(data.map(function(d) { return d.name; }));
y.domain([0, d3.max(data, function(d) { return d.value; })]);
svg.append("text")
.attr("class", "title")
.attr("x", x(data[0].name))
.attr("y", -26)
.text("Why Are We Leaving Facebook?");
svg.append("g")
.attr("class", "x axis")
.attr("transform", "translate(0," + height + ")")
.call(xAxis)
.selectAll(".tick text")
.call(wrap, x.rangeBand());
svg.append("g")
.attr("class", "y axis")
.call(yAxis);
svg.selectAll(".bar")
.data(data)
.enter().append("rect")
.attr("class", "bar")
.attr("x", function(d) { return x(d.name); })
.attr("width", x.rangeBand())
.attr("y", function(d) { return y(d.value); })
.attr("height", function(d) { return height - y(d.value); });
});
function wrap(text, width) {
text.each(function() {
var text = d3.select(this),
words = text.text().split(/\s+/).reverse(),
word,
line = [],
lineNumber = 0,
lineHeight = 1.1, // ems
y = text.attr("y"),
dy = parseFloat(text.attr("dy")),
tspan = text.text(null).append("tspan").attr("x", 0).attr("y", y).attr("dy", dy + "em");
while (word = words.pop()) {
line.push(word);
tspan.text(line.join(" "));
if (tspan.node().getComputedTextLength() > width) {
line.pop();
tspan.text(line.join(" "));
line = [word];
tspan = text.append("tspan").attr("x", 0).attr("y", y).attr("dy", ++lineNumber * lineHeight + dy + "em").text(word);
}
}
});
}
function type(d) {
d.value = +d.value;
return d;
}
</script>
@pistou
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pistou commented Jul 11, 2017 •
edited
Loading

There is an issue with you wrap function.
If you use it on a non-displayed chart (one that you can toggle for instance), the legend won't be wrapped.

This comes from getComputedTextLength() that will return 0 if the text is not displayed.

The (ugly) solution I found was to clone my text element and use that clone to compute the original legend.

function wrap(text, width) {
    text.each(function() {
        var text = d3.select(this);
        
        // clone
        let clone = document.createElement('div');
        clone.setAttribute('style', "position:absolute; visibility:hidden; width:0; height:0;");
        document.body.appendChild(clone);
        
        let svg = document.createElementNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'svg');
        clone.appendChild(svg);
        
        let elt = text.node().cloneNode(true);
        svg.appendChild(elt);
        
        
        var cloneText = d3.select(elt), // cloned text
            words = cloneText.text().split(/\s+/).reverse(),
            word,
            line = [],
            lineNumber = 0,
            lineHeight = 1.4,
            y = cloneText.attr("y"),
            x = cloneText.attr("x"),
            dy = parseFloat(cloneText.attr("dy")),
            tspan = text.text(null).append("tspan").attr("x", x).attr("y", y).attr("dy", dy + "em"),
            cloneTspan = cloneText.text(null).append("tspan").attr("x", x).attr("y", y).attr("dy", dy + "em"); // equivalent of tspan from the clone

        while (word = words.pop()) {
            line.push(word);
            tspan.text(line.join(" "));
            cloneTspan.text(line.join(" ")); // keep them equivalent
            
            if (cloneTspan.node().getComputedTextLength() > width) {
                line.pop();
                tspan.text(line.join(" "));
                cloneTspan.text(line.join(" ")); // keep them equivalent
                line = [word];
                
                lineNumber++;
                tspan = text.append("tspan").attr("x", x).attr("y", y).attr("dy", lineNumber * lineHeight + dy + "em").text(word);
                cloneTspan = cloneText.append("tspan").attr("x", x).attr("y", y).attr("dy", lineNumber * lineHeight + dy + "em").text(word); // keep them equivalent
            }
        }
        
        document.body.removeChild(clone); // remove the clone to not pollute the page
    });
}

@praveenuics
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praveenuics commented Oct 22, 2017

Is there any such link where i can find the wrap function in typescript, please. i am working with d3v4 in angular2

@clchow
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clchow commented Oct 31, 2017

I changed the variable definition for words to use the data for that text element instead of pulling the rendered text, because I need to recall this text wrapper for showing on hover details when I zoom in and out of a timeline. Not sure if there is a better way but it seems to work for me.

@jbetley
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jbetley commented Feb 23, 2022

Re: hidden text. In my case, the text was hidden in a 'tab-pane.' My solution, also ugly, was to remove the class immediately before the getComputedTextLength() calculation and then restore the class immediately after. Would love to hear if there is a better way to do this now.

function wrap(text, width) {
    text.each(function() {
      var text = d3.select(this),
          words = text.text().split(/\s+/).reverse(),
          word,
          line = [],
          lineNumber = 0,
          lineHeight = 1.1, // ems
          x = text.attr("x"),
          y = text.attr("y"),
          dy = parseFloat(text.attr("dy") || 0),
          tspan = text.text(null).append("tspan").attr("x", x).attr("y", y).attr("dy", dy + "em");

       var tabs = d3.selectAll('div.tab-pane').classed('tab-pane', false); // remove tab-pane class
    
       while (word = words.pop()) {
         line.push(word);
         tspan.text(line.join(" "));

         if (tspan.node().getComputedTextLength() > width) { 
           line.pop();
           tspan.text(line.join(" "));
           line = [word];
           tspan = text.append("tspan").attr("x", x).attr("y", y).attr("dy", ++lineNumber * lineHeight + dy + "em").text(word); // add 'x'
         }
       }
      tabs.classed('tab-pane', true); // add tab-pane class back
    });
  }

Original idea here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27886734/how-to-word-wrap-legend-labels-in-d3.

@solastley
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solastley commented Jul 3, 2024

Small bug I found for anyone else who runs into this:

If the max width of the tick is less than the width of the first word, it seems the code as-written will append an empty <tspan> at the top of the <text>. To fix this, just add an additional check in if conditional on line 107 that line.length > 1.

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