docs/md/how_to/javascript/installation.md
Perspective is designed for flexibility, allowing developers to pick and choose which modules they need. The main modules are:
@perspective-dev/client
The data engine library, as both a browser ES6 and Node.js module. Provides a
WebAssembly, WebWorker (browser) and Process (node.js) runtime.
@perspective-dev/viewer
A user-configurable visualization widget, bundled as a
Web Component. This module
includes the core data engine module as a dependency.
<perspective-viewer> by itself only implements a trivial debug renderer, which
prints the currently configured view() as a CSV. Plugin modules for popular
JavaScript libraries, such as d3fc, are packaged separately
and must be imported individually.
@perspective-dev/viewer-datagrid
A custom high-performance data-grid component based on HTML <table>.
@perspective-dev/viewer-d3fc
A <perspective-viewer> plugin for the d3fc charting
library.
When imported after @perspective-dev/viewer, the plugin modules will register
themselves automatically, and the renderers they export will be available in the
plugin dropdown in the <perspective-viewer> UI.
Perspective's WebAssembly data engine is available via NPM in the same package
as its Node.js counterpart, @perspective-dev/client. The Perspective Viewer UI
(which has no Node.js component) must be installed separately:
$ npm add @perspective-dev/client @perspective-dev/viewer
By itself, @perspective-dev/viewer does not provide any visualizations, only
the UI framework. Perspective Plugins provide visualizations and must be
installed separately. All Plugins are optional - but a <perspective-viewer>
without Plugins would be rather boring!
$ npm add @perspective-dev/viewer-d3fc @perspective-dev/viewer-datagrid @perspective-dev/viewer-openlayers
To use Perspective from a Node.js server, simply install via NPM.
$ npm add @perspective-dev/client