datahub/library.html

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---
layout: default
title: Library - Home
---
<div class="container">
<div class="page-header">
<h1>
The Data Library
</h1>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="span12">
<h2 id="docs-using">Examples</h2>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> A quick read through of the Concepts section will
likely be useful in understanding the details of the examples.</p>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: for all the following examples you should have
included relevant Recline dependencies.</p>
<h4>Simple in-memory dataset.</h4>
<pre>
// Some data you have
// Your data must be in the form of list of documents / rows
// Each document/row is an Object with keys and values
var data = [
{id: 0, x: 1, y: 2, z: 3, country: 'UK', label: 'first'}
, {id: 1, x: 2, y: 4, z: 6, country: 'UK', label: 'second'}
, {id: 2, x: 3, y: 6, z: 9, country: 'US', label: 'third'}
];
// Create a Dataset object from local in-memory data
// Dataset object is a Backbone model - more info on attributes in model docs below
var dataset = recline.Backend.createDataset(data);
// Now create the main explorer view (it will create other views as needed)
// DataExplorer is a Backbone View
var explorer = recline.View.DataExplorer({
model: dataset,
// you can specify any element to bind to in the dom
el: $('.data-explorer-here')
});
// Start Backbone routing (if you want routing support)
Backbone.history.start();
</pre>
<h4>Creating a Dataset Explicitly with a Backend</h4>
<pre>
// Connect to ElasticSearch index/type as our data source
// There are many other backends you can use (and you can write your own)
var backend = new recline.Backend.ElasticSearch();
// Dataset is a Backbone model so the first hash become model attributes
var dataset = recline.Model.Dataset({
id: 'my-id',
// url for source of this dataset - will be used by backend
url: 'http://localhost:9200/my-index/my-type',
// any other metadata e.g.
title: 'My Dataset Title'
},
backend
);
</pre>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="span12">
<h2 id="docs-concepts">Concepts and Structure</h2>
</div>
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<div class="span6">
<p>Recline has a simple structure layered on top of the basic Model/View
distinction inherent in Backbone.</p>
<h4>Models</h4>
<p>There are two main model objects:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="docs/model.html#dataset">Dataset</a>: represents the dataset.
Holds dataset info and a pointer to list of data items (Documents in our
terminology) which it can load from the relevant Backend.</li>
<li><a href="docs/model.html#document">Document</a>: an individual data item
(e.g. a row from a relational database or a spreadsheet, a document from from
a document DB like CouchDB or MongoDB).</li>
</ul>
<p>Additional, related models:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="docs/model.html#field">Field</a>: a field/column on a
dataset.</li>
<li><a href="docs/model.html#query">Query</a>: an object to encapsulate a
query to the backend (useful both for creating queries and for storing and
manipulating query state - e.g. from a query editor).</li>
<li><a href="docs/model.html#facte">Facet</a>: Object to store Facet
information, that is summary information (e.g. values and counts) about a
field obtained by some faceting method on the backend.</li>
</ul>
<p>More detail of how these work can be found in the <a
href="docs/model.html">Model source docs</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="span6">
<h4>Backends</h4>
<p>Backends connect Dataset and Documents to data from a
specific 'Backend' data source. They provide methods for loading and saving
Datasets and individuals Documents as well as for bulk loading via a query API
and doing bulk transforms on the backend.</p>
<p>A template Base class can be found <a href="docs/backend/base.html">in the
Backend base module of the source docs</a>. It documents both the relevant
methods a Backend must have and (optionally) provides a base 'class' for
inheritance. You can also find detailed examples of backend implementations in
the source documentation below.</p>
<h4>Views</h4>
<p>Complementing the model are various Views (you can
also easily write your own). Each view holds a pointer to a Dataset:</p>
<ul>
<li>DataExplorer: the parent view which manages the overall app and sets up
sub views.</li>
<li>Grid: the data grid view.</li>
<li>Graph: a simple graphing view using <a
href="http://code.google.com/p/flot/">Flot</a>.</li>
<li>Map: a map view using <a href="http://leaflet.cloudmade.com/">Leaflet</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are additional views which do not display a whole dataset but which
are useful:</p>
<ul>
<li>QueryEditor: a query editor view</li>
<li>FacetViewer: display facets</li>
</ul>
</div>
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<h2 id="docs-source">Source Docs (via Docco)</h2>
</div>
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<h4>Models and Views (Widgets)</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="docs/model.html">Models</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/view.html">DataExplorer View (plus common view code)</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/view-grid.html">(Data) Grid View</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/view-graph.html">Graph View (based on Flot)</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/view-map.html">Map View (based on Leaflet)</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="span6">
<h4>Backends</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="docs/backend/base.html">Backend: Base (base class providing a template for backends)</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/backend/memory.html">Backend: Memory (local data)</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/backend/elasticsearch.html">Backend: ElasticSearch</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/backend/dataproxy.html">Backend: DataProxy (CSV and XLS on the Web)</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/backend/gdocs.html">Backend: Google Docs (Spreadsheet)</a></li>
<li><a href="docs/backend/localcsv.html">Backend: Local CSV file</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div> <!-- / container -->