User Dashboards

In this article:

Overview - Basic overview of the User Dashboarding system

Creating a New User Dashboard - How to author a new user dashboard

- Adding a Widget - How to add a widget to the dashboard

- Widget Common Properties - Properties associated with all widgets

- Adding Parameters - How to add parameters to a widget

- Text Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with text widgets

- Label Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with label widgets

- Rank Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with rank widgets

- Chart Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with chart widgets

- Trends Chart Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with trends chart widgets

- Counter Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with counter widgets

- Table Widget Properties - Extra properties associated with table widgets

Saving and Previewing - How to save and preview a user dashboard

Further Information - Where to go for further information

 

Overview

The Adaptiva User Dashboard system can be used to author rich, powerful user dashboards to display any dataset-based data in the form of tables, charts and other widgets.

The user dashboard system is a platform level component and can found in the left-hand menu regardless of the currently selected product. Select Dashboards > Dashboards.

 

For this example, we will be authoring a new user dashboard to show the results of an Endpoint Inventory sensor that displays BIOS information.

 

Creating a New User Dashboard

 

To author a new User Dashboard from the User Dashboards browser, select +New in the top-right corner

This will open a dashboard layout browser window where you can select from one of three dashboard layouts:

• Default Dashboard: Basic single-view dashboard where all widgets are added to the same page.
• Drawer Dashboard: Dashboard split in two, where the main dashboard content is on the right-hand side of the screen and the left side is reserved for drawer content, such as a description of the dashboard, supporting information or other data.
• Reverse-drawer Dashboard: Similar to a Drawer dashboard, but with the difference that the main dashboard content is on the left-hand side and the right side is for the supporting information.

For this example we will be selecting a Default Dashboard.

 

Selecting the desired dashboard layout brings up an empty dashboard designer.

Start by clicking the pencil icon and giving the dashboard an appropriate Name.

 

Next, before starting to design the dashboard it helps to have an idea of what you would like to display and the overall layout of the dashboard (i.e. how many columns it should have and what elements should go where).

 

In the center of the dashboard designer there is a section with Add Widget shown. Hovering over this section will bring out an option menu that allows various operations.

One such operation is the ability to define how many columns this section should have. Clicking on the plus (+) and minus (-) buttons will increase and decrease the column count respectively.

For this example, we shall leave it as the default of just a single column.

 

In addition, within that same menu, clicking the ellipse (...) button, brings out an options menu with the following functions:

• Add Widget - adds a new widget (table, chart, etc.) to the selected row.
• Add Row - adds another row either before or after the selected row.
• Spacing - defines the spacing between elements in the selected row (one of: none, small, medium or large)
• Copy - copies the selected row.
• Paste - pastes a previously copied row.
• Remove Row - removes the selected row.

 

Adding a Widget

A widget can either be added through the above ellipse menu, or by clicking on the Add Widget text in the middle of the row.

The following widget types are available:

• Text - Provides a data-bound text control that can used like a label to show dynamic data
• List - Displays a list of data-bound values
• Rank - Provides a ranking of data-bound values and colors them appropriately
• Chart - Displays a chart for the specified dataset. Chart type is configurable
• Trends Chart - Displays a chart for showing data over time from the specified dataset
• Counter - Provides a data-bound statistic-style widget, generally used for showing counts
• Table - Displays a table of raw data from the specified dataset

Clicking any widget will bring out an editor for defining the properties of the respective widget.

 

Widget Common Properties

All widgets have the following common set of properties:

• Card Title - This will be the main title for this particular widget. It should be used to inform the viewer of the dashboard what data the widget shows.
• Info Text - (Optional) When specified, this will show an information icon next to the card title that when clicked, will pop up with helper text that gives more of a detailed explanation of the data.
• Create Default Data - When clicked, this button will bring out a default data configurator which will allow the input of dummy data. This is useful for testing the dashboard without having to create a data provider and dataset in advance.
• Exportable - When this is enable, the dashboard can be exported and imported into another environment.
• Data Provider - This section allows you to browse for a specific data provider that contains the dataset that you wish to bind the respective widget to.
• DataSet - Once a data provider has been specified, this will list all datasets for that data provider and allow the selection of the dataset that the respective widget should be bound to.
• Schema - This shows a read-only view of the schema for the selected dataset.
• Parameters - This section allows the creation of parameters that may be passed to the dataset. See the Adding Parameters section below.
• Custom Events - This is generally only used internally and allows interactive behavior based on certain events occurring within the dashboard.

In addition to the properties available in the widget editor, widgets also have a Width property that controls how many columns they span.

In a multi-column dashboard, this can be leveraged to place widgets next to each other, or have them occupy a certain proportion of the screen width (e.g. if a dashboard has 4 columns and you wanted to have a table occupy 75% of the screen and a pie chart occupy the remaining 25%, you would set the table widget to have a width of 3, and the chart widget to have a width of 1).

To set the width, hover over the widget in question until the border and configuration options appears, then click the plus (+) and minus (-) buttons to increase or decrease the width.

To add other widgets to the left and right of the current widget, use the plus (+) button on the respective side to add a new widget.

 

Adding Parameters

If the dataset SQL query required parameters to be passed in, parameters can be defined using the dashboard designer. In the widget editor, select the +Create New Parameter  button to add a new parameter.

 

After clicking the button, a parameter editor appears.

Start by specifying the Parameter Name and optionally, a Parameter Description.

Important: The parameter name must match exactly with the parameter name in the SQL query.

 

Choose the desired Parameter Type from one of the two options:

• Route - Route parameters navigate the user to a different path respective to the specified parameter. There can only be one route-type parameter per dashboard.
• Query - Query parameters append the parameter name and value to the URL and allow multiple parameters to be specified in a single dashboard. This is the recommended option.

Select the Value Type from the list. 

Important: The value type must match exactly with the data type of the parameter used in the SQL query.

 

Optionally, specify a Default Value for this parameter.

 

Choose whether this parameter should be Required (i.e. it must be specified and will not accept a NULL value), and whether it should be Read Only (i.e. it must have a default value and cannot be changed at runtime).

 

Choose the Input Type from one of the available options from the list:

• Server Object - If the parameter is to be a server object ID then the Server Object input type can be selected which will prompt for the class name of the object to select from. At runtime this will prompt with an object browser of the specified type. This option is generally for advanced users.
• String, Integer, Float, Date - These options provide a flat input box for the option to be entered
• String Combo, Integer Combo, Float Combo - These options provide a list of options to choose from in the respective data format.

 

For this example, no parameters are required.

 

Text Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Text Widgets have the following properties:

• Text Content - If the widget is not bound to a data provider, it will display this text.
• Text Content Column - If the widget is bound to a data provider, it will display the value of this field from the dataset.

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

List Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Text Widgets have the following properties:

• Displayed Properties - This provides a list of the available properties from the selected dataset

You can select a property from the Displayed Properties list and then click +Add Property to add it to the list of Current Properties.

• Current Properties - This will show the list of properties that have been added from the Displayed Properties.

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

Rank Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Rank Widgets have the following properties:

• Name Column - This should be the column from the dataset to use as the display name for this ranking on the dashboard. This will be what actually gets shown.
• Count Column - This should be the column that is used to evaluate. This will not be shown on the dashboard and will only be used to determine the ranking.

Different colors can be used for different rankings. The value of the column specified in the Name Column field will be evaluated against the Name Value to Match field, and if it matches, the dashboard will render that item in the selected color. Multiple criteria can be added for different colors.

For each color match you wish to add, enter a Name Value to Match, choose the appropriate Value Type, choose a Color (either a Theme Color, or a Custom) and then click +Add Color. The new item will get added to the Current Color Matches section. Repeat for any other colors.

 

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

Chart Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Chart Widgets have the following properties:

• Chart Type - Choose the desired chart type that best fits the data.
• Value Column - Choose the numeric field that represents the value to render.
• Single Series Ordering - Choose the style of ordering for a single series dataset.

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

Trends Chart Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Trends Chart Widgets have the following properties:

• Value Column - Select the column from the dataset that represents the value to be shown on the chart
• Series Column - Select the column from the dataset that represents the series data to be shown on the chart
• X Axis Column - Select the column from the dataset that represents the data to be shown on the X axis on the chart
• Interval Parameter - If the interval is being passed through as a parameter, select or add the parameter
• Date Parameter - If the data is being passed through as a parameter, select or add the parameter

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

Counter Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Counter Widgets have the following properties:

• Count Column - This should be the dataset column containing the data to display as the primary text data on the widget
• Top Label - This should be the text description for this counter
• Icon - This should be the name of the icon to display to the left of the counter text

After entering these details click +Add Counter Config to add it to the Counter Configs section. Multiple counter configs can be added to a single counter widget.

 

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

Table Widget Properties

In addition to the common properties, Table Widgets have the following properties:

• Rows Per Page - The default number of rows to show on each page of the table
• Row Menu Items - Provides the ability to add Action items on a per row basis
• Header Menu Items - Provides the ability to add Action items to the table header menu

 

When rendered, this widget would look similar to this:

 

 

Saving and Previewing

When the dashboard has been configured, you can Save the dashboard which makes it immediately available for viewing, or you can Preview the dashboard which shows what the dashboard would look like when a user navigates to it.

The save and preview buttons can be found at the top of the page.

Once saved, the dashboard can be found under the Dashboards > Dashboards section, and can be used in other areas of the product such as in User Dashboard Subscriptions and Alerts.

 

 

Further Information

For further information, please see the other resources in the Technical Reference Library or speak to a member of Adaptiva Support.

If you experience any issues or suspect there is a bug in any part of the user dashboarding system, please log a support ticket and a member of the Adaptiva support team will be touch as soon as possible.