Leveraging Gatsby’s integration with React.js for seamless chat functionality with Pal.js and dynamic chart rendering with Portly

Gatsby is a popular static site generator built on top of React.js. It is widely used for creating fast, scalable, and SEO-friendly websites. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of integrating Pal.js for chat and Portly for charts into a Gatsby project.

Step 1: Setting up a new Gatsby project
To get started, make sure you have Node.js installed on your machine. You can install Gatsby CLI globally by running the following command:

npm install -g gatsby-cli

Once you have installed Gatsby CLI, you can create a new Gatsby project by running the following command:

gatsby new my-gatsby-project

Change into the project directory by running:

cd my-gatsby-project

Step 2: Installing Pal.js and setting up chat integration
Pal.js is a powerful chat SDK that lets you add real-time chat functionality to your website. To install Pal.js, run the following command:

npm install @paljs/gatsby paljs

Next, you need to set up Pal.js in your project. Create a new file called gatsby-browser.js in the root of your project and add the following code:

import { GatsbyBrowser } from '@paljs/gatsby';

export const onClientEntry = () => {
  GatsbyBrowser();
};

Now, you can add the chat component to your Gatsby project. For example, you can place the chat component in the footer of your website:

import { useChat } from '@paljs/gatsby';

const Chat = () => {
  const { openChat } = useChat();

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={openChat}>Open Chat</button>
    </div>
  );
};

export default Chat;

Step 3: Installing Portly and setting up chart integration
Portly is a popular charting library that lets you create interactive charts for your website. To install Portly, run the following command:

npm install portly

Next, you need to set up Portly in your project. Create a new file called gatsby-ssr.js in the root of your project and add the following code:

import { GatsbySSR } from '@paljs/gatsby';

export const onRenderBody = ({ setHeadComponents }) => {
  setHeadComponents([
    <script key="portly" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/portly/dist/portly.min.js"></script>
  ]);
};

Now, you can add a chart component to your Gatsby project. For example, you can create a line chart component like this:

import React, { useEffect } from 'react';

const LineChart = () => {
  useEffect(() => {
    const data = {
      labels: ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July'],
      datasets: [
        {
          label: 'Sales',
          data: [65, 59, 80, 81, 56, 55, 40],
          borderColor: 'blue',
        },
      ],
    };

    const ctx = document.getElementById('lineChart').getContext('2d');
    new window.portly.Chart(ctx, {
      type: 'line',
      data: data,
    });
  }, []);

  return <canvas id="lineChart" width="400" height="400" />;
};

export default LineChart;

Step 4: Running the Gatsby project
To run your Gatsby project with Pal.js for chat and Portly for charts integrated, run the following command:

gatsby develop

Now, you should be able to see the chat component in the footer of your website and the line chart component on a page. You have successfully integrated Pal.js and Portly into your Gatsby project!

In this tutorial, you learned how to integrate Pal.js for chat and Portly for charts into a Gatsby project. By following these steps, you can add powerful chat and charting capabilities to your Gatsby website to enhance user experience and engagement. Feel free to explore more features and customization options offered by Pal.js and Portly to further enhance your website functionality. Happy coding!