Adding blocks to your app

In the previous section, we saw that apps are comprised of multiple Blocks, which wrap up Python objects, such as Pandas DataFrames, Visualizations, and Markdown. Datapane also includes layout blocks to add tabs, pages, and interactive selects to your apps.

Request

We are always adding new blocks, and if you have some ideas on what you would like to use in your apps, please suggest one on our Feedback Portal

Datapane supports the following Blocks. More in-depth documentation is provided in our blocks catalog.

Block types

• Tables and data

  • dp.BigNumber
  • dp.DataTable
  • dp.Table

• Plots and visualizations

  • dp.Plot

• Text and HTML

  • dp.Code
  • dp.Formula
  • dp.HTML
  • dp.Text

• Layout and pages

  • dp.Divider
  • dp.Group
  • dp.Page
  • dp.Select
  • dp.SelectType
  • dp.Toggle

• Media and embeds

  • dp.Media
  • dp.Attachment
  • dp.Embed

Nesting of Blocks

Except for Page blocks, every block can be nested inside a layout block, meaning you can build arbitrarily complex apps. In addition, most blocks take optional name and caption parameters and display those to your viewers.

Default Block Handling

As well as explicitly specifying your block type (for instance, by using dp.Plot), Datapane will try and choose the best block for your object if you pass it in directly, for instance as follows:

import datapane as dp
import pandas as pd

d = {'col1': [1, 2], 'col2': [3, 4]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data=d)

app = dp.App(
  df,
  "This is text"
)

app.save("default-block-handling.html")

The defaults are as follows:

Object Type	Datapane Block
pandas DataFrame	dp.Table (up to 100 cells), dp.DataTable (over 100 cells)
string	dp.Text
Altair	dp.Plot
Bokeh	dp.Plot
Folium	dp.Plot
Matplotlib / Seaborn	dp.Plot
Plotapi	dp.Plot
Plotly	dp.Plot