API Reference

Under Construction

Complete API documentation is coming soon. See the TypeScript source.

Modules

structure(options)

Generates navigation structure from data. This is accomplished using our Dimensions API.

Dimensions API

The Dimensions API enables multiple, simultaneous, tree-like, hierarchical data structures by defining dimensional relationships. This is ideal for hierarchical charts like stacked bars, grouped bars, multi-line charts, or any visualization with more than one category or dimension that should be navigable.

Example: Stacked Bar Chart with Hierarchy

import dataNavigator from 'data-navigator'

// Data: fruit sales by store
const data = [
  { fruit: 'apple', store: 'A', value: 3 },
  { fruit: 'banana', store: 'A', value: 0.75 },
  { fruit: 'apple', store: 'B', value: 2.75 },
  { fruit: 'banana', store: 'B', value: 1.25 }
]

// Define dimensions: fruit > store
const dimensions = [
  {
    name: 'fruit',
    values: ['apple', 'banana']
  },
  {
    name: 'store',
    values: ['A', 'B']
  }
]

// Build structure with dimensions
const { nodes, edges, navigationRules } = dataNavigator.structure({
  data,
  dimensions,
  // Map data to dimension values
  dimensionMap: (d) => ({
    fruit: d.fruit,
    store: d.store
  })
})

How it works:

The dimensions API creates two simultaneous tree structures:

Tree 1: Organized by Fruit

apple
├─ apple-A
└─ apple-B

banana
├─ banana-A
└─ banana-B

Navigate: Left/Right between fruits, Up/Down between stores within the same fruit

Tree 2: Organized by Store

Store A
├─ apple-A
└─ banana-A

Store B
├─ apple-B
└─ banana-B

Navigate: Up/Down between stores, Left/Right between fruits within the same store

Result: You can move in any direction while staying within a dimensional constraint:

• Left/Right - Move between fruits (apple ↔ banana)
• Up/Down - Move between stores (A ↔ B)
• Enter - Drill into child dimensions
• Backspace - Return to parent dimensions

This creates intuitive 2D navigation where both dimensions are always accessible.

input(options)

Creates input handler for keyboard navigation.

const handler = input({
  structure: Structure,
  navigationRules: NavigationRules,
  entryPoint?: string,
  exitPoint?: string
})

handler.enter()              // Returns entry node
handler.exit()               // Returns exit ID
handler.move(id, direction)  // Returns next node
handler.keydownValidator(e)  // Converts event to direction
handler.focus(renderId)      // Focuses element

rendering(options)

Creates renderer for accessible HTML.

const renderer = rendering({
  elementData: Nodes,
  suffixId: string,
  root: { id, description?, width?, height? },
  entryButton?: { include, callbacks? },
  exitElement?: { include, callbacks? }
})

renderer.initialize()
renderer.render(nodeData)
renderer.remove(renderId)
renderer.clearStructure()

Utilities

import { describeNode, createValidId } from 'data-navigator/utilities'

describeNode(datum, options)  // Generate description
createValidId(str)            // Create valid HTML ID

Further Reading

• TypeScript Source
• Research Paper