Data Source to Dashboard

Now, with a ready data source, we can finally create a Dashboard. To create a Dashboard, navigate to Dashboards page, then click the blue plus prefab button. Under board types, we want to Create a regular board.

A form pops up, for the sake of this example, please fill up the information the same way (we will also explain what each field intends to do).

Creating a new regular board

Click Create new Board, then open the created resource. Congratulations, you have just created an empty Dashboard with a linked Data Source to Your_name_dashboard.

Please, note that a Dashboard can be linked to only one Data Source, while one Data Source can be used for multiple Dashboards. This relationship is a one-to-many between Data Sources and Dashboards. This means that we can create multiple Dashboards with Your_name_dashboards, but one Dashboard can not contain data from two data sources. To best explain a Dashboard view, we have to break down the components individually. Let us start with the top bar.

Top bar dashboard explanation

The three dots contain some options:

• Configure Data Source: allows resource configuration, meaning that you can change the Data Source that this Dashboard is linked with, read-write policies, the columns and types that we want to use, information, etc.

• Display Mode: allows display mode switch between Billboard Mode and Presenter Mode.

• Export as PDF: allows the current view to be exported as PDF.

• Import / Export / Append Content: allows the content manipulation. For example, you can append Widgets that you have exported from other Dashboards. Especially useful when doing Dashboard migrations.

This is it for the top bar, now let us continue to the most important feature of Dashboards, which is the right bar.

The right bar look as below:

Right bar dashboard explanation

A brief description of what every option does:

• Dashboard Filters: filters that apply to the whole Dashboard (at every Widget).

• Configuration Widget: contains options to add or edit Widgets of different types.

• Dashboard Appearance: contains options to edit colors and the appearance of the Widgets.

• Activities: a list of content about the users who have lastly done changes to the Dashboard.

Do not worry, everything will come together soon.

There is a lot to digest, but we encourage you to play around with as many things as you can. We will, however, create an example right now;

Our linked Data Source currently contains 4 columns: student_grade, student_name, student_surname and subject.

Let us say we want to count the number of subjects. For this, we first need to create a Widget. A Widget is an element of a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays information. Click the Configure Widget button on the right bar, then find Pie:

Configuring a dashboard

This fulfills our request. Having filled these details, the Pie chart is updated and you should see that we have 2 students participating in Maths subject.

Creating a first widget

Now, save the Dashboard (CTRL + S or click the Save button on the top bar). Even though the Dashboard is saved, anyone else who visits this exact same Dashboard sees nothing, and that is because you have made changes in your private version. In order to make it visible for everyone, click the Publish button on the top bar. Once you publish it, another button appears saying Switch to Personal. That is how you can experiment with a Dashboard until it is ready to be published. The dashboard is good for use now, we are done with it.