Exporting Figures

Dashboard Lego supports exporting Plotly figures without running a Dash server, enabling static report generation, notebook integration, and programmatic figure creation.

Single Figure Export

Export individual chart blocks using the get_figure() method:

from dashboard_lego.blocks import TypedChartBlock
from dashboard_lego.core import DataSource, DataBuilder

# Create chart block
chart = TypedChartBlock(
    block_id="sales_chart",
    datasource=datasource,
    plot_type="bar",
    plot_params={"x": "Product", "y": "Sales"},
    title="Product Sales"
)

# Export figure
fig = chart.get_figure()

# Save as HTML
fig.write_html("sales_chart.html")

# Save as image (requires kaleido)
fig.write_image("sales_chart.png", width=800, height=600)

# Display in notebook
fig.show()

With Parameters

For blocks with controls, pass parameter values:

histogram = GroupedHistogramPreset(
    block_id="distribution",
    datasource=datasource,
    subscribes_to=[]
)

# Export with specific column selection
fig = histogram.get_figure(params={
    'x_col': 'Price',
    'group_by': 'Category'
})

Layout Export

Export entire dashboard layouts as single figure using subplots:

from dashboard_lego.core import DashboardPage
from dashboard_lego.utils.layout_export import export_layout_to_figure

# Define layout
layout = [
    [chart1, chart2],  # Row 1: 2 charts
    [chart3]           # Row 2: 1 chart full width
]

# Method 1: Via DashboardPage
page = DashboardPage(title="Dashboard", blocks=layout)
fig = page.export_to_figure(title="Monthly Report")
fig.write_html("dashboard.html")

# Method 2: Direct utility
fig = export_layout_to_figure(
    layout,
    title="Monthly Report",
    vertical_spacing=0.15,
    horizontal_spacing=0.1
)

Use Cases

Static Reports

Generate HTML reports for email distribution:

# Generate monthly report
fig = page.export_to_figure(
    params={'month': 'December'},
    title="December Sales Report"
)
fig.write_html("december_report.html")

Jupyter Notebooks

Display figures inline without Dash server:

# In notebook cell
chart = TypedChartBlock(...)
fig = chart.get_figure()
fig.show()  # Displays inline

Programmatic Generation

Batch generate figures for multiple scenarios:

for region in ['North', 'South', 'East', 'West']:
    fig = chart.get_figure(params={'region': region})
    fig.write_html(f"report_{region}.html")

Limitations

Only chart blocks are exported (metrics, text, controls skipped)
Navigation dashboards cannot be exported as single figure
Interactive Dash callbacks are not preserved in static exports
Subplot layout may differ from dashboard grid layout