Question

I want to convert this:

  var data = [['apples','red'], ["oranges", "orange"], ["bananas", "yellow"]];

Into:

 <div>
   <div>apples</div><div>red</div>
 </div>
 <div>
   <div>oranges</div><div>orange</div>
 </div>
 <div>
   <div>bananas</div><div>yellow</div>
 </div>

I know this must be easy, but every solution ends up being nested:

 <div>Apples<div>red</div></div>

I am familiar with the table or list drawing solution but in the real problem the first div has text and the second div contains a chart so that is not going to work.

This was my latest attempt to un-nest:

var div3 = anchor.selectAll("#mydiv")
        .data(data);

div3
        .enter().append("div")
        .attr("class","one")
        .text(function(d) { return d[0];})

div3.selectAll("#mydiv .one")
        .data(function(d) {
            return [d[1]]; })
        .enter().append("div")
        .attr("class","two")
        .text(function(d) {
            return d;})

What is the correct way to do this?

Answer 1

The standard way of doing it is the following:

var data = [['apples','red'], ["oranges", "orange"], ["bananas", "yellow"]];

d3.select("body").selectAll("div.outer")
    .data(data)          // data is array with length 3
  .enter().append("div") // will append 3 divs
    .attr("class", "outer")
  .selectAll("div.inner")
    .data(function(d) { return d; })
  .enter().append("div")
    .attr("class", "inner")
    .text(function(d) { return d; });​

See working fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/YaAkv/

There are quite a few problems with the code you tried. I would suggest to read:

Thinking with Joins

Nested Selections

and other tutorials:
https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Tutorials

---

EDIT

In case the different array items have different meaning, it is common to use an Object instead (http://fiddle.jshell.net/YaAkv/1/):

var data = [{ fruit: 'apples', color: 'red'}, 
            { fruit: "oranges", color: "orange"},
            { fruit: "bananas", color: "yellow"}
           ];

var diventer = d3.select("body").selectAll("div.item")
    .data(data)
  .enter().append("div")
    .attr("class", "item");

diventer.append("div")
    .attr("class", "fruit")
    .text(function(d) { return d.fruit; });

diventer.append("div")
    .attr("class", "color")
    .text(function(d) { return d.color; });

Then the output would be like:

<div class="item">
  <div class="fruit">apples</div>
  <div class="color">red</div>
</div>
<div class="item">
  <div class="fruit">oranges</div>
  <div class="color">orange</div>
</div>
<div class="item">
  <div class="fruit">bananas</div>
  <div class="color">yellow</div>
</div>

This could also be achieved with the original 2D array in the following way (http://fiddle.jshell.net/YaAkv/2/):

var data = [['apples','red'], ["oranges", "orange"], ["bananas", "yellow"]];

var diventer = d3.select("body").selectAll("div.item")
    .data(data)
  .enter().append("div")
    .attr("class", "item");

diventer.append("div")
    .attr("class", "fruit")
    .text(function(d) { return d[0]; });

diventer.append("div")
    .attr("class", "color")
    .text(function(d) { return d[1]; });

---

EDIT

Solution without storing selection in variable:

var data = [['apples','red'], ["oranges", "orange"], ["bananas", "yellow"]];

d3.select("body").selectAll("div.item")
    .data(data)
  .enter().append("div")
    .attr("class", "item")
    .each(function(d) {
      d3.select(this).append("div")
        .attr("class", "fruit")
        .text(d[0]);

      d3.select(this).append("div")
        .attr("class", "color")
        .text(d[1]);
    });

​