Complex Example

In this more complex example we will be wrapping reactflow a library for building node based applications like flow charts, diagrams, graphs, etc.

Lets start by importing the library reactflow . Lets make a seperate file called reactflow.py and add the following code:

from reflex.components.component import Component
from typing import Any, Dict, List, Union
from reflex.vars import Var


class ReactFlowLib(Component):
    """A component that wraps a react flow lib."""

    library = "reactflow"

    def _get_custom_code(self) -> str:
        return """import 'reactflow/dist/style.css';
        """

Notice we also use the _get_custom_code method to import the css file that is needed for the styling of the library.

For this tutorial we will wrap three components from Reactflow: ReactFlow, Background, and Controls. Lets start with the ReactFlow component.

Here we will define the tag and the vars that we will need to use the component.

We will also define the get_event_triggers method to specify the events that the component will trigger. For this tutorial we will use on_edges_change and on_connect, but you can find all the events that the component triggers in the reactflow docs .

from reflex.components.component import Component
from typing import Any, Dict, List, Union
from reflex.vars import Var


class ReactFlowLib(Component):
    ...


class ReactFlow(ReactFlowLib):
    tag = "ReactFlow"

    nodes: Var[List[Dict[str, Any]]]

    edges: Var[List[Dict[str, Any]]]

    fit_view: Var[bool]

    nodes_draggable: Var[bool]

    nodes_connectable: Var[bool]

    nodes_focusable: Var[bool]

    def get_event_triggers(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
        return {
            **super().get_event_triggers(),
            "on_edges_change": lambda e0: [e0],
            "on_connect": lambda e0: [e0],
        }

Now lets add the Background and Controls components. We will also create the components using the create method so that we can use them in our app.

from reflex.components.component import Component
from typing import Any, Dict, List, Union
from reflex.vars import Var


class ReactFlowLib(Component):
    ...


class ReactFlow(ReactFlowLib):
    ...


class Background(ReactFlowLib):
    tag = "Background"

    color: Var[str]

    gap: Var[int]

    size: Var[int]

    variant: Var[str]


class Controls(ReactFlowLib):
    tag = "Controls"


react_flow = ReactFlow.create
background = Background.create
controls = Controls.create

Now that we have our components lets build the app.

Lets start by defining the initial nodes and edges that we will use in our app.

import reflex as rx
from .react_flow import react_flow, background, controls
import random
from typing import Any, Dict, List


initial_nodes = [
    {
        'id': '1',
        'type': 'input',
        'data': {'label': '150'},
        'position': {'x': 250, 'y': 25},
    },
    {
        'id': '2',
        'data': {'label': '25'},
        'position': {'x': 100, 'y': 125},
    },
    {
        'id': '3',
        'type': 'output',
        'data': {'label': '5'},
        'position': {'x': 250, 'y': 250},
    },
]

initial_edges = [
    {'id': 'e1-2', 'source': '1', 'target': '2', 'label': '*', 'animated': True},
    {'id': 'e2-3', 'source': '2', 'target': '3', 'label': '+', 'animated': True},
]

Next we will define the state of our app. We have three event handlers: add_random_node, clear_graph, and on_edges_change.

The on_edges_change event handler will be called when an edge is changed. In this case we will use it to delete an edge if it already exists, and add the new edge. It takes in a single argument new_edge which is a dictionary containing the source and target of the edge.

class State(rx.State):
    """The app state."""
    nodes: List[Dict[str, Any]] = initial_nodes
    edges: List[Dict[str, Any]] = initial_edges
    
    def add_random_node(self):
        new_node_id = f'{len(self.nodes) + 1}'
        node_type = random.choice(['default'])
        # Label is random number
        label = new_node_id
        x = random.randint(0, 500)
        y = random.randint(0, 500)

        new_node = {
            'id': new_node_id,
            'type': node_type,
            'data': {'label': label},
            'position': {'x': x, 'y': y},
            'draggable': True,
        }
        self.nodes.append(new_node)

    def clear_graph(self):
        self.nodes = []  # Clear the nodes list
        self.edges = []  # Clear the edges list

    def on_edges_change(self, new_edge):
        # Iterate over the existing edges
        for i, edge in enumerate(self.edges):
            # If we find an edge with the same ID as the new edge
            if edge["id"] == f"e{new_edge['source']}-{new_edge['target']}":
                # Delete the existing edge
                del self.edges[i]
                break

        # Add the new edge
        self.edges.append({
            "id": f"e{new_edge['source']}-{new_edge['target']}",
            "source": new_edge["source"],
            "target": new_edge["target"],
            "label": random.choice(["+", "-", "*", "/"]),
            "animated": True,
        })

Now lets define the UI of our app. We will use the react_flow component and pass in the nodes and edges from our state. We will also add the on_connect event handler to the react_flow component to handle when an edge is connected.

def index() -> rx.Component:
    return rx.vstack(
        react_flow(
            background(),
            controls(),
            nodes_draggable=True,
            nodes_connectable=True,
            on_connect=lambda e0: State.on_edges_change(e0),
            nodes=State.nodes,
            edges=State.edges,
            fit_view=True,
        ),
        rx.hstack(
            rx.button(
                "Clear graph",
                on_click=State.clear_graph,
                width="100%",
            ),
            rx.button(
                "Add node",
                on_click=State.add_random_node,
                width="100%",
            ),
            width="100%",
        ),
        height="30em",
        width="100%",
    )


# Add state and page to the app.
app = rx.App()
app.add_page(index)
app.compile()

Here is an example of the app running: