My Dashboards
Introduction¶
Before creating custom dashboards, be aware that in order to permanently save the dashboard, user web services must be enabled on your system and one must be currently logged in. Alternatively, TriLynx can create a custom dashboard that will be available system-wide.
Clicking My Dashboards displays the my dashboard interface, allowing individual users to create customized dashboard content, which is saved and available for future reference when that user logs in. Each part of this interface is described in detail below. In general, the left side is the work area, where the contents of the dashboard are defined. The right side displays a preview of what the dashboard will look like.
Editing an Existing Dashboard¶
Previously saved custom dashboards can be edited by selecting the dashboard in the Existing Dashboards pulldown. As the dashboard is being edited, the resulting dashboard is previewed on the right. After making appropriate edits to the dashboard, the changes are saved by clicking Save Dashboard Edits.
Create a New Dashboard¶
Several strategies are available in the Create a New Dashboard pulldown.
To build a new dashboard, select Create a new dashboard.
To create a new dashboard by modifying an existing dashboard, select Copy and modify an existing dashboard.
Either strategy requests a new Dashboard Title. The latter also prompts for the name of the existing template to copy.
Modifying Contents¶
After selecting whether to edit an existing dashboard or create a new one, the contents of the dashboard is modifying through the next section.
The section heading will indicate the current action. It will either indicate "Edit" and the dashboard name or "New Dashboard Elements." Immediately below the section heading are icons used to add elements to a dashboard.
While
The contents of each dashboard are listed. A map is indicated by "map." Currenly only 1 map is allowed. Charts are indicted using chart - <time series data type > - < station data type> . <statistic type> . <duration> of the first time series. To remove an element, click the red X associated with that element.
To define the chart, expand the chart's definition by clicking the small black triangle to the left of the chart's title. Clicking on this triangle also collapses the definition area.
Each time series must be defined. Pulldown selections are provided whenever possible. The first item is a station pulldown list. If this is left blank, the time series data dynamically changes as new stations are selected in the operating dashboard. If a station is selected here, the station will permanently be selected for this chart.
Data Properties relate to the data itself. As selections are made using the pulldowns, subsequent pulldown content changes as appropriate. Data Type is the type of the time series as referred to by data web services. This includes Precip, PrecipAccum-Raw, PrecipAccum-Season, PrecipAccum-Storm, Precip-Total, WaterLevelRiver, DischargeRiver. Statistic Type will change based on the station data type but may include Last, Max, or Min. And finally Duration may include 15 minute, 1 hour, 3 hour, etc.
The next section, Chart Properties, defines the type of chart, symbol, color, y-axis text and y-axis direction, just to name a few.
Basic Tab¶
| Property | Options | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Chart Type | column, line, scatter | line |
| Symbol | circle, diamond, square, triangle, triangle-down, url(graphic.png) (note: url allows for custom symbols) | triangle |
| Color | hex color code (i.e. '#000000' represents black) or a color name (i.e. 'darkcyan', 'purple', etc.). | #2f7ed8 |
Legends Tab¶
| Property | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Series Identifier | Variable that will be used in the chart legend to identify the time series. | locId |
Tooltip¶
| Property | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Tooltip Units Precision | Number of decimals to display data value. | Depends on the precision set for the data type in NovaStar Administrator |
YAxis¶
| Property | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | Enable or disable YAxis (perhaps disabling when multiple time series of the same data type are simultaneously displayed on the same chart) | Enabled |
| YAxis Direction | The direction of the y-axis (precip may start at the top of the chart) | Standard for most data types, Reversed for precipitation. |
| YAxis Label | The y-axis label if an alternative to the data type is preferred. The variable units may be specified, such as 'Temperature (${units})' | Data Type |
| YAxis Label Units Precision | units precision | Depends on the precision set for the data type in NovaStar Administrator |
After many of the fields, the undo symbol allows the default behavior to be reactivated.
Multiple data sets can be defined on each chart. At the top of each chart definition is a label, "TS1" in this case, a green "+" symbol to add an addition time series, and a red "X" to remove the time series. The following depicts a single chart, displaying two time series. Note the top time series has no station selected, whereas the second does. This results in a chart where the purple precip bars always display the same station, 110 Ralston Reservoir. The cyan precip bars will react to station selections made in the dashboard.
This results in two time series displayed together.
Redraw preview updates the preview. The +/- button on the top-right bar of each time series expands/collapses the definition for that time series.
Save Dashboard Edits saves the dashboard definition to the user web services, assuming the user is currently logged in. Otherwise, the changes are saved but only for the current browser session.
Viewing Dashboards¶
Once custom dashboards have been created, they can be accessed from the main menu. Each custom dashboard is listed below the My Dashboards menu heading on the left. In the following example, Precip Comparison and Water Level Max are two existing custom dashboards.
