• Fan chart
  • Installation
    • Manual installation
    • Using Composer
    • Using Git
  • Update
  • Configuration
  • Usage
  • Troubleshooting
  • Development

This module provides an interactive SVG ancestor fan chart for the webtrees genealogy application. Click on any ancestor to re-center the chart on that person. Right-click to open a tooltip with detailed dates, places, and images.

Requires webtrees 2.2 and PHP 8.3 or later.

1. Open the latest release page.
2. Under Assets, download webtrees-fan-chart.zip.
3. Upload the .zip file to your web server.
4. Unzip the package into your modules_v4 directory.
5. Rename the folder to webtrees-fan-chart.

You should now see a modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart directory containing the module files.

Run the following command from the root of your webtrees installation:

composer require magicsunday/webtrees-fan-chart --update-no-dev

The module will automatically install into the modules_v4 directory.

To remove the module:

composer remove magicsunday/webtrees-fan-chart --update-no-dev

If you are using the development version of webtrees (main branch):

composer require magicsunday/webtrees-fan-chart:dev-main --update-no-dev

Clone the repository into your modules_v4 directory (a Code → Download ZIP of the source works the same way):

git clone https://github.com/magicsunday/webtrees-fan-chart.git modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart

A source checkout contains the module code only — it does not include the shared webtrees-module-base library, so on its own it fails with Trait "MagicSunday\Webtrees\ModuleBase\…" not found. Supply that library in one of two ways:

Way A — drop-in (no code change). Download webtrees-module-base and copy its src/ to the location this module's module.php already expects:

modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart/vendor/magicsunday/webtrees-module-base/src/…

Way B — shared copy (one edit). Place webtrees-module-base next to this module in modules_v4/ (rename the extracted folder to webtrees-module-base), then point this module's module.php at it. A single shared copy then serves every magicsunday module installed this way:

// modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart/module.php
$loader->addPsr4(
    'MagicSunday\\Webtrees\\ModuleBase\\',
    __DIR__ . '/../webtrees-module-base/src'
);

To update to the latest version:

• Manual installation: From the latest release Assets section, download webtrees-fan-chart.zip (not "Source code (zip)"), delete the old modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart folder first, and extract the new one. Extracting on top of an existing folder leaves stale files behind that can clash with the new release (a common cause of Interface … not found errors after an update).
• Composer: Run composer update magicsunday/webtrees-fan-chart --update-no-dev.
• Git: Run git pull inside the modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart directory, then re-apply your source step (see Using Git).

1. Go to the Control Panel (admin section) of your webtrees installation.
2. Scroll down to the Modules section and click on Charts (under Genealogy).
3. Enable the Fan chart module. Optionally disable the built-in fan chart to avoid confusion.
4. Click Save.

Open the Charts menu on any individual page and select Fan chart.

The form at the top lets you choose the starting person, fan size (180-360 degrees), and number of generations (2-10).

Click Show more options to access additional settings:

With Show details panel switched on, a click on a person selects the person and a panel slides in over the chart from the right (from the left in right-to-left languages). It replaces the tooltip. It shows the birth and the death with their places and further facts such as the occupation, and it has buttons to open the individual page and to center the chart on the person. The chart stays usable while the panel is open. The panel closes with its close button, with Escape or with a click beside it, a click on another person selects that person. Places show with their full name, whatever level of detail the chart arcs use. The facts come from the tree setting Other facts to show in charts. The marriages and divorces of the person show as well without a tag in the setting, one entry per marriage with the name of the spouse. The birth stays first and the death last, the facts between them are ordered by time. Above the facts the panel shows the highlight image of the person, or the silhouette of its sex, and no image when the tree setting for highlight images is switched off.

Interacting with the chart:

Fatal error after a manual installation or update: Trait/Interface "MagicSunday\Webtrees\ModuleBase\…" not found (or ModuleAssetUrlInterface not found)

• You probably downloaded the GitHub-generated "Source code (zip)" (or used Code → Download ZIP) instead of the install-ready asset webtrees-fan-chart.zip. The asset bundles the required vendor/ dependencies; the source zip does not. Open the latest release, scroll to Assets, download webtrees-fan-chart.zip, and re-extract.
• If you used the asset zip, make sure you deleted the previous modules_v4/webtrees-fan-chart folder before extracting. Stale files from an older version can shadow the new bundled vendor code and produce the same error.

The chart does not appear / shows an error

• Make sure the module is enabled in the Control Panel under Modules > Charts.
• Check that your PHP version is 8.3 or later.
• Clear your browser cache and reload the page.

Images are not displayed

• Ensure "Show highlight images" is enabled in the tree preferences (Control Panel > Family trees > Preferences).
• Verify that media files are uploaded and linked to individuals.

Places are not shown

• Enable "Show places" in the chart options (under "Show more options").
• Make sure the individuals have PLAC fields in their GEDCOM records.

This section is for developers who want to contribute to the module.

Using Docker (no local Node.js required):

make install
make build

Using local Node.js:

npm install
npm run prepare

# JavaScript tests
npm test

# Full PHP + JS quality check
composer update
composer ci:test