Axes

Axes are an integral part of a chart. They are used to determine how data maps to a pixel value on the chart. In a cartesian chart, there is 1 or more X axis and 1 or more Y axis to map points onto the 2 dimensional canvas. These axes are know as 'cartesian axes'.

In a radial chart, such as a radar chart or a polar area chart, there is a single axis that maps points in the angular and radial directions. These are known as 'radial axes'.

Scales in Chart.js >V2.0 are significantly more powerful, but also different than those of v1.0.

  • Multiple X & Y axes are supported.
  • A built-in label auto-skip feature detects would-be overlapping ticks and labels and removes every nth label to keep things displaying normally.
  • Scale titles are supported
  • New scale types can be extended without writing an entirely new chart type

Common Configuration

The following properties are common to all axes provided by Chart.js

NameTypeDefaultDescription
displayBooleantrueIf set to false the axis is hidden from view. Overrides gridLines.display, scaleLabel.display, and ticks.display.
callbacksObjectCallback functions to hook into the axis lifecycle. more…
weightNumber0The weight used to sort the axis. Higher weights are further away from the chart area.

Callbacks

There are a number of config callbacks that can be used to change parameters in the scale at different points in the update process.

NameArgumentsDescription
beforeUpdateaxisCallback called before the update process starts.
beforeSetDimensionsaxisCallback that runs before dimensions are set.
afterSetDimensionsaxisCallback that runs after dimensions are set.
beforeDataLimitsaxisCallback that runs before data limits are determined.
afterDataLimitsaxisCallback that runs after data limits are determined.
beforeBuildTicksaxisCallback that runs before ticks are created.
afterBuildTicksaxisCallback that runs after ticks are created. Useful for filtering ticks.
beforeTickToLabelConversionaxisCallback that runs before ticks are converted into strings.
afterTickToLabelConversionaxisCallback that runs after ticks are converted into strings.
beforeCalculateTickRotationaxisCallback that runs before tick rotation is determined.
afterCalculateTickRotationaxisCallback that runs after tick rotation is determined.
beforeFitaxisCallback that runs before the scale fits to the canvas.
afterFitaxisCallback that runs after the scale fits to the canvas.
afterUpdateaxisCallback that runs at the end of the update process.

Updating Axis Defaults

The default configuration for a scale can be easily changed using the scale service. All you need to do is to pass in a partial configuration that will be merged with the current scale default configuration to form the new default.

For example, to set the minimum value of 0 for all linear scales, you would do the following. Any linear scales created after this time would now have a minimum of 0.

  1. Chart.scaleService.updateScaleDefaults('linear', {
  2. ticks: {
  3. min: 0
  4. }
  5. });

Creating New Axes

To create a new axis, see the developer docs.