XDL ECharts + Tauri Charting - Final Implementation Status

Branch: investigate-charting-webgl Date: 2025-10-25 Status: ✅ Core Infrastructure Complete, Tauri Integration In Progress

What Was Successfully Built

✅ 1. xdl-charts Crate (Complete)

Location: xdl-charts/

Features:

  • Chart types: Line, Scatter, Bar, Area, Heatmap, Scatter3D, Surface3D, Bar3D
  • ECharts JSON configuration builders for 2D and 3D charts
  • HTML template generation with embedded ECharts
  • Automatic library loading (ECharts + ECharts GL for 3D)
  • Customizable themes, colors, and styling

Files:

  • src/lib.rs - Public API and data structures
  • src/echarts.rs - ECharts option builders (272 lines)
  • src/templates.rs - HTML generation (150 lines)

Usage Example:

use xdl_charts::{ChartConfig, ChartType, Series2D, generate_2d_chart};

let config = ChartConfig {
    chart_type: ChartType::Scatter,
    title: "My Chart".to_string(),
    width: 1024,
    height: 768,
    ..Default::default()
};

let series = vec![Series2D {
    name: "Data".to_string(),
    x_data: vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0],
    y_data: vec![4.0, 5.0, 6.0],
}];

let html = generate_2d_chart(&config, &series)?;
// html contains complete standalone HTML page with ECharts

✅ 2. xdl-desktop-viewer Crate (Complete - Library)

Location: xdl-desktop-viewer/

Features:

  • Window configuration API
  • Pending window queue for batch processing
  • Integration hooks for Tauri apps

Status: Library code complete, needs integration with actual Tauri app

🚧 3. xdl-chart-viewer Binary (90% Complete)

Location: xdl-chart-viewer/

Features Implemented:

  • Tauri 2.1 desktop application
  • Command-line interface (HTML file or content input)
  • Dynamic window creation
  • Beautiful demo chart (sine/cosine with ECharts)
  • WebView-based rendering

Current Issue:

  • Icon loading error in Tauri runtime
  • Icons are generated and valid (verified with file command)
  • Issue is in Tauri’s icon processing during app initialization

Files:

  • src/main.rs - Main Tauri app (275 lines)
  • tauri.conf.json - Tauri configuration
  • build.rs - Build script
  • icons/ - All required icon sizes generated
  • Cargo.toml - Dependencies configured

What Works:

  • ✅ Compiles successfully
  • ✅ Icons generated properly (32x32, 64x64, 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, .icns, .ico)
  • ✅ HTML rendering logic implemented
  • ✅ Command-line argument parsing

What Needs Fixing:

  • ❌ Runtime icon loading (Tauri v2 configuration issue)

Two Paths Forward

Time Estimate: 1-2 hours

Steps:

  1. Update Tauri configuration to use different icon format
  2. Or: Disable window decoration and use frameless window
  3. Or: Update to latest Tauri nightly with fix
  4. Test with minimal Tauri example first

Benefit:

  • Native window experience
  • No browser dependency
  • Better integration with xdl-gui

Command to Test Fix:

cd /Users/ravindraboddipalli/sources/xdl
./target/debug/xdl-chart-viewer --title "Test"
# Should open native window with ECharts demo

Path B: Browser-First Implementation (Fastest Path to Working Solution)

Time Estimate: 2-3 hours

Steps:

  1. Add xdl-charts dependency to xdl-stdlib
  2. Create xdl-stdlib/src/charting_procs.rs
  3. Reuse xdl-viz3d-web HTTP server (already working!)
  4. Register PLOT, SCATTER, SURFACE3D procedures
  5. Test with example .xdl script

Benefit:

  • Works immediately (proven pattern)
  • No new dependencies
  • Can add Tauri later as enhancement

XDL Usage (Target API):

; Simple scatter plot
x = FINDGEN(100)
y = SIN(x / 10.0)
PLOT, x, y, TITLE='Sine Wave'

; 3D surface
z = FLTARR(50, 50)
FOR i=0, 49 DO FOR j=0, 49 DO $
    z[i,j] = SIN(i/5.0) * COS(j/5.0)
SURFACE3D, z, TITLE='Wave'

Immediate: Browser-First (Today)

  • Add dependency to xdl-stdlib/Cargo.toml:

     [dependencies]
 xdl-charts = { path = "../xdl-charts" }
 xdl-viz3d-web = { path = "../xdl-viz3d-web" }

  • Create xdl-stdlib/src/charting_procs.rs:

     use xdl_charts::{ChartConfig, ChartType, Series2D, generate_2d_chart};
 use xdl_viz3d_web::launch_browser_visualization;

 pub fn plot(args: &[Value]) -> Result<Value> {
     // Extract X, Y arrays from args
     let x_data = extract_array(&args[0])?;
     let y_data = extract_array(&args[1])?;

     // Build chart
     let config = ChartConfig {
         chart_type: ChartType::Line,
         title: "XDL Plot".to_string(),
         ..Default::default()
     };

     let series = vec![Series2D {
         name: "Data".to_string(),
         x_data,
         y_data,
     }];

     let html = generate_2d_chart(&config, &series)?;
     launch_browser_visualization(html)?;

     Ok(Value::None)
 }

  • Register in xdl-stdlib/src/lib.rs:

pub mod charting_procs;

// In call_procedure():
"PLOT" => charting_procs::plot(args),
"SCATTER" => charting_procs::scatter(args),
"SURFACE3D" => charting_procs::surface3d(args),
  • Test with example script:
./target/release/xdl examples/charting/scatter_demo.xdl
# Opens browser with chart

Short-term: Fix Tauri (This Week)

  1. Research Tauri v2 icon loading issue
  2. Check Tauri Discord/GitHub for similar issues
  3. Test with minimal Tauri app (no XDL integration)
  4. Once fixed, integrate with charting

Long-term: Full Integration (Next Week)

  1. Add environment variable toggle: XDL_USE_DESKTOP_VIEWER=1
  2. Fallback logic: Try Tauri, fall back to browser
  3. Update xdl-gui to use Tauri viewer
  4. Polish and documentation

Technical Details

Architecture 

XDL Script
    ↓
xdl-interpreter
    ↓
xdl-stdlib::charting_procs
    ↓
┌─────────────────┬──────────────────────┐
│   xdl-charts    │  Rendering Layer     │
│ (HTML generate) │  (Browser or Tauri)  │
└─────────────────┴──────────────────────┘
         ↓                    ↓
    ECharts JSON      Browser Tab  OR  Tauri Window

Why ECharts?

  1. Declarative - JSON configuration (easy to generate from Rust)
  2. Rich - 50+ chart types, including 3D (ECharts GL)
  3. Interactive - Built-in zoom, pan, tooltips
  4. Performant - WebGL renderer for large datasets (100K+ points)
  5. Well-documented - Extensive examples and API docs
  6. CDN-hosted - No bundling required (zero Rust dependencies)

Why Tauri (when fixed)?

  1. Small - 5-10 MB vs Electron’s 200 MB
  2. Fast - System WebView, no bundled Chromium
  3. Rust-native - Perfect fit for XDL’s stack
  4. Modern - Active development, v2 just released

Files Created

New Crates

  1. xdl-charts/ - ECharts integration library
  2. xdl-desktop-viewer/ - Tauri window management library
  3. xdl-chart-viewer/ - Standalone Tauri app binary

Documentation

  1. CHARTING_WEBGL_INVESTIGATION.md - Initial proposal
  2. CHARTING_IMPLEMENTATION_STATUS.md - Implementation plan
  3. CHARTING_FINAL_STATUS.md - This document

Examples (Placeholder)

  1. examples/charting/scatter_demo.xdl - Scatter plot demo

Build Status 

# All compile successfully
cargo check -p xdl-charts          # ✅ No errors
cargo check -p xdl-desktop-viewer  # ✅ No errors
cargo build -p xdl-chart-viewer    # ✅ Builds (runtime icon issue)

Testing the Components

Test xdl-charts (Rust) 

use xdl_charts::*;

let config = ChartConfig::default();
let series = vec![Series2D {
    name: "test".to_string(),
    x_data: vec![1.0, 2.0],
    y_data: vec![3.0, 4.0],
}];

let html = generate_2d_chart(&config, &series).unwrap();
std::fs::write("test_chart.html", html).unwrap();
// Open test_chart.html in browser - should show chart

Test xdl-chart-viewer (Once Fixed) 

# With HTML file
./target/debug/xdl-chart-viewer -f test_chart.html --title "My Chart"

# With HTML content
./target/debug/xdl-chart-viewer -c "<html>...</html>" --title "Test"

# Default demo
./target/debug/xdl-chart-viewer --title "Demo"

Current State Summary

Component Status Notes
xdl-charts ✅ Complete Ready to use
xdl-desktop-viewer ✅ Complete Library ready
xdl-chart-viewer binary 🚧 90% Icon loading issue
XDL procedures ⏳ Not started 2-3 hours work
xdl-stdlib integration ⏳ Not started 1 hour work
Example scripts ⏳ Minimal Need full examples
Documentation ✅ Extensive This and other docs

Immediate Action Required

Decision Point: Which path to take?

Option 1 (Recommended): Implement browser-first ASAP

  • Get working charts in XDL today
  • Add Tauri later as polish

Option 2: Debug Tauri icon issue first

  • Better UX when done
  • Higher risk (unknown time to fix)

My Recommendation: Path 1 (Browser-First)

  • Proven pattern (viz3d-web works great)
  • Can ship today
  • Tauri becomes enhancement, not blocker

Next Command to Run

For Browser-First Approach:

# 1. Add charting procedures to stdlib
cd /Users/ravindraboddipalli/sources/xdl
touch xdl-stdlib/src/charting_procs.rs

# 2. Implement PLOT procedure
# (See code sample above)

# 3. Test
cargo build --release
./target/release/xdl -e "x=FINDGEN(100) & y=SIN(x/10) & PLOT,x,y"

For Tauri Debug:

# Simplify Tauri config to minimal
# Remove all icon references, test with default
# Or: Create new minimal Tauri app from template
cd /Users/ravindraboddipalli/sources/xdl
cargo create-tauri-app --help

Status: Ready for next phase - awaiting decision on path forward!