Mouse events can be combined in order to create some  rather complex interactions using d3.js. Some examples of these complex actions includes dragging,  panning, and zooming. These events are handle with tools called behaviors. The behaviors deal with dragging, panning, and zooming.

In this post, we will look at these three behaviors in two examples.

• Dragging
• Panning and zooming

Dragging

Dragging allows the user to move an element around on the screen. What we are going to do is make three circles that are different colors that we can move around as we desire within the element. We start by setting the width, height of the svg element as well as the radius of the circles we will make (line 7). Next, we create our svg by appending it to the body element. We also set a black line around the element so that the user knows where the borders are (lines 8-14).

The next part involves setting the colors for the circles and then creating the circles and setting all of their attributes (lines 21 – 30). Setting the drag behavior comes later, and we use the .drag() and the .on() methods t create this behavior and the .call() method connects the information in this section to our circles variable.

The last part is the use of the onDrag function. This function retrieves the position of the moving element and transform the element within the svg element (lines 36-46). This involves using an if statement as well as setting attributes. If this sounds confusing, below is the code followed by a visual of what the code does.

If you look carefully you will notice I can never move the circles beyond the border. This is because the border represents the edge of the element. This is important because you can limit how far an element can travel by determining the size of the elements space.

Panning and Zooming

Panning allows you to move all visuals around at once inside an element. Zooming allows you to expand or contract what you see. Most of this code is a extension  of the what we did in the previous example. The new additions are explained below.

1. A variable called zoomAction sets the zoom behavior by determining the scale of the zoom and setting the .on() method (Lines 9-11)
2. We add the .call() method to the svg variable as well as the .append(‘g’) so that this behavior can be used (Lines 20-21).
3. The dragAction variable is created to allow us to pan or move the entire element around. This same variable is placed inside a .call() method for the circles variable that was created earlier (Lines 40-46).
4. Lines 48-60 update the position of the element by making two functions. The onDrag function deals with panning and the onZzoom function deal with zooming.

Below is the code and a visual of what it does.

You can clearly see that we can move the circles individually or as a group. In addition, you also were able to see how we could zoom in and out. Unlike the first example this example allows you to leave the border. This is probably due to the zoom capability.

Conclusion

The behaviors shared here provide additional tools that you can use as you design visuals using D3.js. There are other more practical ways to use these tools as we shall see.