Canvas to Code: Dashboard Layouts with KendoReact

This is a submission for the KendoReact Free Components Challenge.

I built a lightweight “Dashboard Studio” that helps you sketch analytics layouts fast. Drag components onto a snap‑to‑grid canvas, bind simple CSV data, and export a ready‑to‑use React file that renders Kendo Grid/Chart with your data.

What I Built

• A three‑pane studio for rapid dashboard prototyping:
• Palette: drag Chart, KPI, Card, Text, Image, Grid to the canvas.
• Canvas: snap‑to‑grid placement, selection, duplicate/delete, zoom, light/dark.
• Properties: General, Layout, Data, Accessibility tabs.
• Data import:
• Upload CSV/TSV/TXT and preview in a Kendo Grid.
• Bind columns/rows to Grid nodes; bind numeric series to Chart nodes.
• One‑click export:
• Generates a standalone Dashboard.tsx.
• Includes Kendo Grid/Chart with your bound data and absolute layout.
• Why it’s useful: It’s a fast way to mock up dashboards for reviews/clients and hand off a real React file to devs.

Demo

Live Demo: https://no-code-dashboard-builder.vercel.app/
Repo: https://github.com/Boweii22/No-Code-Dashboard-Builder

KendoReact Components Used

• Splitter — resizable 3‑pane workspace
• Buttons/Toolbar — top actions (Save, Load, Duplicate, Delete, Snap, Zoom, Theme)
• Menu — on‑canvas context actions
• TreeView — component palette
• Grid + GridColumn — data preview and exported dashboards
• Upload — CSV/TSV/TXT import
• Dialog — confirmations/templates
• Notification — toast feedback
• ProgressBar — export feedback
• TabStrip — properties tabs
• Inputs/Dropdowns/ColorPicker/MultiSelect — property editors
• Charts (in export) — exported Dashboard.tsx renders Kendo Charts with bound series

AI Coding Assistant Usage

• Hardened drag/drop (drop zones, propagation, native payloads).
• Implemented Snap On/Off + keyboard nudging for precise layout.
• Upgraded export to include Kendo Grid/Chart with node‑props data binding.
• Improved dark‑mode toolbar contrast and author labeling.
• Solved Vercel CI issues (permission 126, dependency alignment, licensing via env vars). Result: Iteration speed went way up, and exporting production‑ready code became frictionless.

Nuclia Integration

Not integrated yet. Planned: a “Help” panel powered by Nuclia RAG to answer “How do I bind data? How do I pick series/format cells?” using Kendo docs and app context.