SVG to Canvas

Swapping SVG Calls for a Canvas 2D Context

d3-shape and d3-geo generators accept a context: d3.line().context(ctx) and d3.geoPath(projection, ctx) call moveTo, lineTo and arc on it instead of returning a string, so you add only beginPath() and stroke(). Scale the backing store by devicePixelRatio (devicePixelRatio) for sharp lines:

BookNest's monthly totals drawn on a canvas with d3.line().context() (sample data)HTML
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/d3@7.9.0/dist/d3.min.js"></script>
<script src="booknest-sales.js"></script><script src="booknest-prep.js"></script>
<canvas width="620" height="140"></canvas>
<script>
  const { months } = prepareSales(SALES), canvas = document.querySelector('canvas');
  const dpr = window.devicePixelRatio || 1, W = 620, H = 140, ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
  canvas.width = W * dpr; canvas.height = H * dpr; canvas.style.width = `${W}px`;
  ctx.scale(dpr, dpr);                                                   // draw in CSS pixels
  const x = d3.scaleUtc(d3.extent(months, d => d.date), [30, W - 10]);
  const y = d3.scaleLinear([0, 400], [H - 20, 10]);
  const line = d3.line(d => x(d.date), d => y(d.units)).curve(d3.curveMonotoneX).context(ctx);
  ctx.beginPath(); line(months); ctx.lineWidth = 2; ctx.strokeStyle = '#1f5f8b'; ctx.stroke();
  ctx.font = '11px Arial';                                               // a hand-made axis
  x.ticks(6).forEach(t => ctx.fillText(d3.utcFormat('%b %y')(t), x(t), H - 4));
  y.ticks(4).forEach(v => ctx.fillText(v, 2, y(v) + 4));
</script>
Browser output of Listing 6.48
Browser output of 48

Scales and generator are unchanged; only the output moved. You lose what the DOM gave for free: d3-axis cannot draw into a canvas, CSS cannot style marks, and hit-testing becomes your job (Hybrid Canvas-and-SVG Charts).

The same d3.line generator drawing into a Canvas 2D context instead of returning SVG path dataHTMLLive
<!doctype html>
<style>
  body { margin: 0; padding: 8px; background: #fafaf7; font: 12px system-ui, sans-serif; color: #263238; }
  canvas { display: block; max-width: 100%; background: #fff; }
</style>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/d3@7.9.0/dist/d3.min.js"></script>
<canvas></canvas>
<p id="out"></p>
<script>
  // BookNest sample data, invented for these examples (not real sales)
  const SALES = (() => {
    const books = [
      { id: 1, key: 'harbor', title: 'The Quiet Harbor', author: 'Elena Marsh', genre: 'Fiction', color: '#1f5f8b', price: 18.99, rating: 4.6 },
      { id: 2, key: 'deepweb', title: 'Patterns of the Deep Web', author: 'Ravi Menon', genre: 'Technology', color: '#5b3f99', price: 39.5, rating: 4.3 },
      { id: 3, key: 'saffron', title: 'Salt and Saffron', author: 'Leila Haddad', genre: 'Cooking', color: '#e09a10', price: 24, rating: 4.8 },
      { id: 4, key: 'summit', title: 'Small Steps to Big Summits', author: 'Tom Okafor', genre: 'Self-Help', color: '#3f7d3a', price: 14.99, rating: 4.1 },
      { id: 5, key: 'clock', title: "The Clockmaker's Paradox", author: 'Iris Vale', genre: 'Science Fiction', color: '#b5452f', price: 16.2, rating: 4.5 },
      { id: 6, key: 'glass', title: 'Gardens in Glass', author: 'June Park', genre: 'Gardening', color: '#2a9d8f', price: 22.5, rating: 4.4 },
    ];
    const units = {        // units sold per month, January 2025 to August 2026
      1: [40, 47, 46, 47, 57, 51, 46, 54, 60, 60, 71, 111, 52, 42, 49, 56, 59, 48, 53, 51],
      2: [40, 37, 35, 41, 48, 43, 40, 42, 50, 53, 53, 84, 42, 35, 38, 41, 45, 41, 46, 46],
      3: [46, 45, 41, 46, 53, 49, 46, 45, 60, 51, 63, 100, 48, 48, 49, 48, 53, 49, 48, 52],
      4: [100, 80, 72, 70, 66, 66],                    // released March 2026
      5: [48, 47, 54, 52, 65, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 75, 124, 58, 49, 59, 56, 63, 57, 54, 57],
      6: [31, 30, 28, 35, 31, 32, 29, 30, 41, 36, 45, 64, 31, 30, 30, 38, 40, 38, 36, 38],
    };
    const months = d3.utcMonths(new Date('2025-01-01'), new Date('2026-09-01')).map(d3.utcFormat('%Y-%m'));
    const sales = books.flatMap(b => units[b.id].map((n, i) =>
      ({ month: months[i + months.length - units[b.id].length], book: b.id, units: n })));
    const ratings = [[4, 8, 20, 87, 293], [6, 10, 22, 95, 147], [2, 3, 8, 45, 342], [2, 3, 8, 24, 28],
      [4, 8, 20, 90, 228], [4, 7, 20, 82, 147]].map((counts, i) => ({ book: i + 1, counts }));  // 1 to 5 stars
    const regions = [{ id: '826', name: 'United Kingdom', units: 1480 }, { id: '276', name: 'Germany', units: 1120 },
      { id: '250', name: 'France', units: 760 }, { id: '372', name: 'Ireland', units: 540 },
      { id: '528', name: 'Netherlands', units: 410 }, { id: '724', name: 'Spain', units: 320 }];
    const links = [[5, 1, 38], [1, 3, 24], [2, 5, 18], [3, 6, 21], [4, 1, 12], [2, 6, 9], [4, 3, 15], [5, 6, 14]]
      .map(([source, target, value]) => ({ source, target, value }));   // customers who bought both
    return { books, sales, ratings, regions, links };
  })();
  // prepareSales(raw): parsed dates, sales linked to book objects, revenue and totals
  function prepareSales(raw) {
    const parse = d3.utcParse('%Y-%m'), books = raw.books.map(b => ({ ...b }));
    const byId = d3.index(books, b => b.id);
    const sales = raw.sales.map(s => ({ date: parse(s.month), book: byId.get(s.book),
      units: s.units, revenue: s.units * byId.get(s.book).price }));
    for (const [book, rows] of d3.group(sales, s => s.book)) {
      book.units = d3.sum(rows, s => s.units);
      book.revenue = d3.sum(rows, s => s.revenue);
    }
    const months = d3.rollups(sales, v => ({ units: d3.sum(v, s => s.units),
      revenue: d3.sum(v, s => s.revenue) }), s => +s.date).map(([t, v]) => ({ date: new Date(t), ...v }))
      .sort((a, b) => a.date - b.date);
    const ratings = raw.ratings.map(r => ({ ...r, book: byId.get(r.book) }));
    return { ...raw, books, sales, months, ratings };
  }

  const { months, sales } = prepareSales(SALES), canvas = document.querySelector('canvas');
  const dpr = window.devicePixelRatio || 1, W = 600, H = 180, ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
  canvas.width = W * dpr;  canvas.height = H * dpr;  canvas.style.width = `${W}px`;
  ctx.scale(dpr, dpr);                                                  // draw in CSS pixels, sharply

  const x = d3.scaleUtc(d3.extent(months, d => d.date), [34, W - 10]);
  const y = d3.scaleLinear([0, 130], [H - 20, 10]);
  // Given a context, generators call moveTo/lineTo/bezierCurveTo on it instead of returning a string
  for (const [book, rows] of d3.groups(sales, d => d.book)) {           // one path per book
    const line = d3.line(d => x(d.date), d => y(d.units)).curve(d3.curveMonotoneX).context(ctx);
    ctx.beginPath();  line(rows);
    ctx.lineWidth = 2;  ctx.strokeStyle = book.color;  ctx.stroke();
  }
  // d3.arc works the same way: a small donut of revenue share
  const arc = d3.arc().innerRadius(14).outerRadius(26).context(ctx);
  ctx.save();  ctx.translate(W - 50, 40);
  for (const a of d3.pie().value(b => b.revenue)(d3.sort(new Set(sales.map(s => s.book)), b => b.id))) {
    ctx.beginPath();  arc(a);  ctx.fillStyle = a.data.color;  ctx.fill();
  }
  ctx.restore();
  // d3-axis cannot draw into a canvas: a hand-made axis from the scales' ticks
  ctx.font = '11px system-ui';  ctx.fillStyle = '#546e7a';
  x.ticks(6).forEach(t => ctx.fillText(d3.utcFormat('%b %y')(t), x(t) - 14, H - 4));
  y.ticks(4).forEach(v => { ctx.fillText(v, 2, y(v) + 4);  ctx.fillRect(30, y(v), W - 40, 0.5); });
  document.getElementById('out').textContent = 'Scales and generators are unchanged; only the output moved from SVG to canvas.';
</script>