This topic describes how to use DataV to develop widgets.
Before you begin
- Download and install NodeJS. We recommend that you install a version between 8.0.0 (included) and 10.12.0.
Note You can use Node Version Manager (NVM) to manage multiple NodeJS versions. With NVM, you can install another version of NodeJS without the need to uninstall the existing version. For information about how to install NVM, visit GitHub: Node Version Manager.
- After you install NVM, run the
node -v
andnpm -v
commands in the macOS terminal or Windows command prompt to view the NodeJS and npm versions.
Install the development tool
- Run the following command in the macOS terminal or Windows command prompt to install
the tool:
npm install --registry=https://registry.npm.taobao.org datav-cli -g
- After the installation is successful, run the
datav --version
command to view the version of the tool.
Set the language
The default language of the DataV development tool is English
. You can run the datav locale
command to change the default language.
The command returns the following message:
? What is your language? (Use arrow keys)
> English
Chinese
Japanese
Press the ↑ and ↓ arrow keys to select a language and press Enter.
If you want the language to change based on the region of your Alibaba Cloud account,
log on to the DataV developer console and run the datav locale-clear | datav lc
command to clear the language setting. You can use the datav locale
command to set a default language again.
Log on to the DataV developer console
datav login
command in the macOS terminal or Windows command prompt to log on to the DataV developer
console. During the command execution, enter the following information.
Item | Description |
---|---|
UID |
Enter your username that is displayed in the upper-right corner of the DataV console. If you are a RAM user, enter the username of your Alibaba Cloud account. |
Developer Token |
Enter the developer token that is obtained from the Widgets tab in the DataV console. |
Do you want to set an alias? |
Press Y or N. |
Alias |
Enter an alias. |
Generate a widget package
datav init
command in the macOS terminal or Windows command prompt to generate a widget package.
During the command execution, you need to enter the following information.
Item | Description |
---|---|
? Widget Name |
The name you want to use for the widget. It can only contain letters, digits, and hyphens (-). |
? Widget Display Name |
The name you want to display for the widget in the widget list of a project. |
? Widget Description |
Enter a description for the widget. |
? Select Template from Template List
|
The template you want to use for the widget. Valid values: Basic text | Basic text (international edition) .
Press the ↑ and ↓ arrow keys to select a template and press Enter. |

Preview a widget
cd <Widget name>
datav run

- If Google Chrome does not open automatically, you may not have installed it. You need to install Google Chrome and manually access localhost:1111/ to preview the widget.
- If a message is displayed, indicating that you have already activated a service on
this port, port 1111 is occupied by another application. You can run the
datav run -p 1112
command to change the preview service port to 1112. - If you access localhost:1111/ but the preview of the widget is not displayed, check whether you have mapped localhost to 127.0.0.1 in the hosts file.

- Canvas
- The canvas displays the widget and all changes to it in real time.
- Widget settings on the right-side panel are shown on the canvas.
- You can drag and drop the borders to resize the widget.
- Bottom toolbar
You can change the language of the widget.
- Right-side panel
The right-side panel includes four tabs: Settings, Data, Interaction, and Publish.
Tab Description Settings This tab contains the style settings of the widget. If you change the settings, the changes take effect immediately on the canvas. For example, if you adjust the font size slider, the font size of the text in the widget changes accordingly. Click Save to save the current settings as default for a widget. Data This tab provides the API data of the widget. The data changes take effect on the widget immediately. Click Save to save the current data as default for the widget. Interaction This tab provides interactions between the widget and other widgets. Publish This tab provides the type, icon, and publish version of the widget. Click Publish in the upper-right corner to publish the widget.
Publish a widget
- Method 1 (recommended)
Go to the directory of the widget and run the datav publish command. The widget is compressed and published to a server in the same region as your Alibaba Cloud account.
- Method 2
Go to the directory of the widget and run the datav package command. A tar.gz package named in the format of
Component-Version
is generated in the parent directory. Upload the package to datav.aliyun.com to publish the widget. - Method 3
On the widget preview page, click Publish.