Building a Real-Time Analytics Dashboard with Next.js and MongoDB

Introduction to Real-Time Analytics

When I first started working on our company's analytics dashboard, I realized that most solutions were either too slow or too complicated. Our team needed a real-time analytics dashboard that could handle thousands of requests per minute. After months of research and experimentation, we decided to use Next.js and MongoDB. Here's what I learned when building our real-time analytics dashboard.

Why Next.js and MongoDB?

I chose Next.js for its server-side rendering capabilities and MongoDB for its ability to handle large amounts of data. According to the MongoDB documentation, their database can handle up to 100,000 requests per second. My colleague, Jake, suggested using Next.js for its ease of use and performance. We also considered using React, but Next.js provided more features out of the box.

Setting Up the Project

To start, I created a new Next.js project using the command npx create-next-app my-analytics-dashboard. Then, I installed the required dependencies, including mongodb and mongoose. I set up a MongoDB Atlas cluster and connected it to my Next.js application using the mongoose library.

// Import required libraries
import mongoose from 'mongoose';

// Connect to MongoDB Atlas cluster
mongoose.connect('mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster-name.mongodb.net/', {
  useNewUrlParser: true,
  useUnifiedTopology: true,
});

Creating the Analytics Dashboard

I created a new page for the analytics dashboard using Next.js's built-in routing system. I used the useEffect hook to fetch data from the MongoDB database and display it on the dashboard. I also used the useState hook to store the data in the component's state.

// Import required libraries
import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

// Create a new page for the analytics dashboard
function AnalyticsDashboard() {
  const [data, setData] = useState([]);

  // Fetch data from MongoDB database
  useEffect(() => {
    const fetchData = async () => {
      const response = await fetch('/api/data');
      const data = await response.json();
      setData(data);
    };
    fetchData();
  }, []);

  // Render the analytics dashboard
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Analytics Dashboard</h1>
      <ul>
        {data.map((item) => (
          <li key={item._id}>{item.name}</li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

Handling Real-Time Updates

To handle real-time updates, I used MongoDB's change streams feature. This allowed me to listen for changes to the data in the database and update the dashboard accordingly. I used the useEffect hook to set up the change stream and update the component's state when new data is available.

// Import required libraries
import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';

// Create a new page for the analytics dashboard
function AnalyticsDashboard() {
  const [data, setData] = useState([]);

  // Set up the change stream
  useEffect(() => {
    const changeStream = mongoose.connection.collection('data').watch();
    changeStream.on('change', (change) => {
      // Update the component's state when new data is available
      if (change.operationType === 'insert') {
        setData((prevData) => [...prevData, change.fullDocument]);
      } else if (change.operationType === 'update') {
        setData((prevData) => prevData.map((item) => (item._id === change.fullDocument._id ? change.fullDocument : item)));
      } else if (change.operationType === 'delete') {
        setData((prevData) => prevData.filter((item) => item._id !== change.fullDocument._id));
      }
    });
  }, []);

  // Render the analytics dashboard
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Analytics Dashboard</h1>
      <ul>
        {data.map((item) => (
          <li key={item._id}>{item.name}</li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

Conclusion

Building a real-time analytics dashboard with Next.js and MongoDB was a challenging but rewarding experience. I learned a lot about the capabilities of both technologies and how to use them together to build a high-performance application. If you're looking to build a real-time analytics dashboard, I highly recommend using Next.js and MongoDB. With the right tools and a little bit of know-how, you can create a powerful and scalable application that meets your needs.