--- title: Let Data Soar with AstroJS sidebar_label: AstroJS pagination_prev: demos/net/index pagination_next: demos/mobile/index --- import current from '/version.js'; import CodeBlock from '@theme/CodeBlock'; AstroJS[^1] is a site generator. AstroJS projects support ViteJS[^2] plugins for making custom data sources. [SheetJS](https://sheetjs.com) is a JavaScript library for reading and writing data from spreadsheets. This demo uses AstroJS and SheetJS to pull data from a spreadsheet and display the content in an HTML table. We'll explore how to load SheetJS libraries during the AstroJS build process and create static HTML pages. The ["Complete Example"](#complete-example) section includes a complete website powered by Apple Numbers spreadsheets. The following diagram depicts the workbook waltz: ```mermaid flowchart LR file[(workbook\nfile)] subgraph SheetJS operations base64(base64\nstring) aoo(array of\nobjects) end html{{HTML\nTABLE}} file --> |astro.config.mjs\nvite data loader| base64 base64 --> |index.astro\nfrontmatter| aoo aoo --> |index.astro\ntemplate body| html ``` :::danger Telemetry AstroJS enables telemetry by default. The tool has an option to disable telemetry: ```bash npx astro telemetry disable ``` ::: :::note Tested Deployments This demo was tested in the following environments: | AstroJS | Date | |:---------------|:-----------| | `3.6.4` | 2023-12-04 | | `4.0.0-beta.4` | 2023-12-04 | ::: :::caution pass AstroJS has introduced a number of breaking changes in minor releases. **The demos worked as expected with the listed versions on the listed dates.** ::: ## Integration :::info pass This demo uses ["Base64 Loader"](/docs/demos/static/vitejs#base64-plugin) from the ViteJS demo. The ViteJS demo used the query `?b64` to identify files. To play nice with AstroJS, this demo matches the file extensions directly. ::: Since AstroJS performs per-page processing at build time, it is recommended to use the Base64 string loader to get file data and parse with the SheetJS library in the relevant pages. If the SheetJS operations are performed in frontmatter, only the results will be added to the generated pages! ### Loader The loader should be added to `astro.config.mjs` under the `vite` key. ```js title="astro.config.mjs" import { readFileSync } from 'fs'; import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config'; export default defineConfig({ vite: { // this tells astro which extensions to handle assetsInclude: ['**/*.numbers', '**/*.xlsx', '**/*.xls', '**/*.xlsb'], plugins: [ { // this plugin presents the data as a Base64 string name: "sheet-base64", transform(code, id) { if(!id.match(/\.(numbers|xlsx)$/)) return; var data = readFileSync(id, "base64"); return `export default '${data}'`; } } ] } }); ``` #### Types For VSCode and VSCodium integration, types can be specified in `src/env.d.ts`. This data loader returns Base64 strings: ```ts title="src/env.d.ts" /// declare module '*.numbers' { const data: string; export default data; } declare module '*.xlsx' { const data: string; export default data; } declare module '*.xls' { const data: string; export default data; } declare module '*.xlsb' { const data: string; export default data; } // ... (more spreadsheet formats) ... ``` ### AstroJS Frontmatter Typically projects store files in `src/pages`. Assuming `pres.numbers` is stored in the `src/data` directory in the project, the relative import ```js import b64 from "../data/pres.numbers" ``` will return a Base64 string. The Base64 string can be parsed in the frontmatter using the SheetJS `read`[^3] method with the `base64` type. The method returns a SheetJS workbook object[^4]. ```js import { read } from "xlsx"; const wb = read(b64, { type: "base64" }); ``` The workbook object can be post-processed using utility functions. The following example uses the `sheet_to_json`[^5] method to generate row objects from the first worksheet in the workbook: ```jsx title="src/pages/index.astro" --- /* -- the code in the frontmatter is only run at build time -- */ import { read, utils } from "xlsx"; /* parse workbook */ import b64 from "../data/pres.numbers"; const wb = read(b64, { type: "base64" }); /* generate row objects */ interface IPresident { Name: string; Index: number; } const data = utils.sheet_to_json(wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]]); --- ``` ### Page Body The frontmatter used `sheet_to_json` to create an "array of objects"[^6]. Using standard JSX techniques, the data can be rendered as table rows: ```jsx title="src/pages/index.astro"

Presidents

{/* Display each row object as a TR within the TBODY element */} {data.map(row => ( ))}
NameIndex
{row.Name}{row.Index}
``` When built using `npx astro build`, AstroJS will perform the conversion and emit a simple HTML table without any reference to the existing spreadsheet file! ## Complete Example :::caution pass AstroJS has introduced a number of breaking changes. If the demo fails, please [leave a note](https://git.sheetjs.com/sheetjs/docs.sheetjs.com/issues) ::: 0) Disable AstroJS telemetry: ```bash npx astro telemetry disable ``` 1) Create a new site using the `starlight` template: ```bash npm create astro@latest -- --template starlight --yes ./sheetjs-astro cd sheetjs-astro ``` :::note pass To test the AstroJS 4 beta release, run the following command: ```bash npm install --force @astrojs/starlight@^0.14.0 astro@4.0.0-beta.4 ``` The version can be verified by running: ```bash npx astro --version ``` ::: 2) Fetch the example file [`pres.numbers`](https://sheetjs.com/pres.numbers): ```bash mkdir -p src/data curl -Lo src/data/pres.numbers https://sheetjs.com/pres.numbers ``` 3) Install the SheetJS library: {`\ npm i --save https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-${current}/xlsx-${current}.tgz`} 4) Append the following lines to `src/env.d.ts`: ```ts title="src/env.d.ts (add to end)" /* add to the end of the file */ declare module '*.numbers' { const data: string; export default data; } declare module '*.xlsx' { const data: string; export default data; } ``` 5) Add the highlighted lines to `astro.config.mjs`: - At the top of the script, import `readFileSync`: ```js title="astro.config.mjs" // highlight-start /* import `readFileSync` at the top of the script*/ import { readFileSync } from 'fs'; // highlight-end import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config'; ``` - In the object argument to `defineConfig`, add a `vite` section: ```js title="astro.config.mjs" export default defineConfig({ // highlight-start /* this vite section should be added as a property of the object */ vite: { // this tells astro which extensions to handle assetsInclude: ['**/*.numbers', '**/*.xlsx'], plugins: [ { // this plugin presents the data as a Base64 string name: "sheet-base64", transform(code, id) { if(!id.match(/\.(numbers|xlsx)$/)) return; var data = readFileSync(id, "base64"); return `export default '${data}'`; } } ] }, // highlight-end ``` 6) Download [`index.astro`](pathname:///astrojs/index.js) and save to `src/pages/index.astro` (creating a new folder if it does not exist): ```bash mkdir -p src/pages curl -o src/pages/index.astro https://docs.sheetjs.com/astrojs/index.astro ``` 7) Remove any `index` files in the `src/content` directory: ```bash rm src/content/index.* ``` :::note pass This command may show an error: ``` zsh: no matches found: src/content/index.* ``` This error can be ignored. ::: 8) Build the static site: ```bash npx astro build ``` AstroJS will place the generated site in the `dist` subfolder. 9) Start a web server to host the static site: ```bash npx http-server dist ``` Open a web browser and access the displayed URL ( `http://localhost:8080` ). View the page source and confirm that no JS was added to the page. It only contains the content from the file in an HTML table. :::caution pass **If the site shows a Welcome page, inspect the project!** When this demo was first written, the `docs` template used `src/pages/index.astro` In a later test, AstroJS removed the `docs` template and introduced the `starlight` template. This template included `src/content/index.mdx`, which takes priority over `src/pages/index.astro`. To resolve this issue, as noted in step 7, remove any `index.*` files in the `src/content` folder. ::: [^1]: The [official website](https://astro.build/) uses the name "Astro" but most of the tooling uses the name `@astrojs`. [^2]: See ["ViteJS" demo](/docs/demos/static/vitejs) for more details and advanced use cases. [^3]: See [`read` in "Reading Files"](/docs/api/parse-options) [^4]: See ["SheetJS Data Model"](/docs/csf) [^5]: See [`sheet_to_json` in "Utilities"](/docs/api/utilities/array#array-output) [^6]: See ["Arrays of Objects" in "Utilities"](/docs/api/utilities/array#arrays-of-objects)