Advanced Dashboard Panel Configuration
- Karl Henselin
- Joel Wenzel
A guide for those looking to get the most out of the Dashboard Panels
The majority of Dashboard Panels have fairly straightforward inputs, however there are a select few with fairly detailed and intricate configuration. The below sections provide more details, notes and examples on the more complicated Dashboard Panels.
Value Stream Panels
Value Stream Panels, for the most part, share the same set of inputs. The default configuration is often enough to display some data but for more advanced use cases the inputs will typically need to be modified.
Range Start and Interval
Value Stream Panels display data in a date range. The upper bound on this range is always fixed as the current date and the lower bound is specified in the Range Start input. The Range Start is always relative to the current date time.
In the above example we have identified our measured range as 60 days in the past until right now.
The Interval input is equal to the gap between each plot point X Axis. Continuing with the above example, we are measuring 60 days in the past until right now and over 7 day intervals.
A few caveats about the Interval input:
The Interval input does not necessarily correlate to the labels on the x-axis, the labels are interpolated based on the number of data points and the start/end range.
Intervals are totaled and displayed at the end of the interval. Sticking with the 60 days/7 day interval example these would roughly be our data points:
53 days ago (totaled from 60 days ago until 53 days ago)
46 days ago (totaled from 53 days ago until 46 days ago)
and so on
Chart Type
Most charts can be displayed in one of three variants: Line, Area, or Bar. The data remains the same so this input is all about how you enjoy viewing the data.
Area Chart Layering
If an Area chart is used with multiple series, the last series will be rendered on top, and the first series will be rendered on the bottom. If you find it hard to view certain series due to overlap try re-ordering your series or switching to a Line chart.
Show Grid
Another cosmetic input. When true horizontal grid lines will be rendered along the chart.
Series Input
In generic terms, a chart series is a group of data points. These data points can represent a set of bars, a line, or an area curve depending upon the Chart Type input.
Default Series
By default a chart will render a single series with no configuration needed. This is how you see data even when no series are added. This default series will have 0 filters applied to it. In the case of Deployment Frequency this means the default series shows all deployments to all environments, target groups, releases etc. If you require filtering for the default series or want to add multiple series, this can be done here.
To add a chart series hit the + Icon which will present options for the new series.
Input | Description |
|---|---|
Name | The name of the series, this will show along the bottom of the x-axis and in tooltips. |
Color | This will be the color of the series in the chart |
Filters (environments, releases, etc) | The remaining fields are all filters that apply to the series. If no filters are specified then it is the equivalent of the “Default” series mentioned above. Multiple filters can be specified on a single series. |
Annotations Input
@since 6.0.0.1
Static Annotations can also be added to charts. Annotations represent a fixed point on the x or y axis.
Once added annotations can help track milestone dates or compare against target values.
Annotations consist of 3 main properties:
Input | Description |
|---|---|
Label | The name/label of the annotation. This is how you will identify it in the chart. |
Value | The value can be placed on the X or Y axis. When placed on the Y axis it represents a simple number. When placed on the X axis it represents a date. |
Color | The color of the annotation label and line in the chart. |
X Axis Annotations
Since X Axis annotations represent a static date and charts time ranges are relative, it is inevitable that a date annotation will eventually shift off of the chart. This is normal and expected.
Recent Activity
Recent Activity is an extremely powerful Dashboard Panel that shows all current and recent workflow executions in your FlexDeploy environment.
Display Data
Depending upon the space you available you may want to show or hide specific pieces of data. This input does just that.
Status, Project Name, Environment and Requested By/On info is always shown regardless of this input.
Data Filters
Data Filters allow you to limit the items displayed based on the criteria provided. The inputs follow the same scheme as our GraphQL API for maximum flexibility.
Zero or more filters can be specified, if multiple are specified they are joined with AND. In the above example the Panel would only show Packages including DEMO- for Project with ID 45889.
Multiple Filter Values
An individual filter value can have multiple values as well, separated by comma. For example if we wanted to show all results for only two projects we can accomplish that with the following:
Change History
@since 8.0.0.2
The Change History panel is a fantastic way to help visualize configuration changes within FlexDeploy over a period of time.
Most of the patterns and inputs used align with other Dashboard Panels but full details of the more complicated inputs, and scenarios when they might be used, are outlined below.
Measured Range
The measured range determines the “bucket” size along the x-axis of the chart. In each case, FlexDeploy will generate 30 buckets starting from the current date and working backward in time. There are 3 options at the time of this writing:
Hourly - Generates 30 buckets, 1 hour apart. Measures 30 hours of changes in total.
Daily - Generates 30 buckets, 1 day apart. Measures 30 days of changes in total.
Weekly - Generates 30 buckets, 1 week apart. Measures 30 weeks (roughly 7-8 months) of changes in total.
Object Type
The Object Type input is required and filters the chart by that specific Object Type, Releases or Projects for example.
Object Ids, Change Types and the X-Axis
Object Ids is optional and can further filter the results by the provided objects. Should no Object Ids be specified then all objects matching the Object Type will be considered.
Change Types provide an additional filter for which types of changes should be measured. For example if you wanted to track changes to Release Content, you can filter by only ADDED and REMOVED types. Finally, the X-Axis input determines the series (data points) that should be displayed. There are two options: Change Types and Objects.
The following example highlights an area chart with the following inputs:
Object Type = RELEASE
Object Ids = (empty)
Change Types = ADDED, REMOVED
X-Axis = Objects
The end result is a chart that shows added and removed content (Projects and Work Items) over time for each Release in FlexDeploy.
Attribute Filters
Finally, you can specify zero or more Attribute Filters to even further refine the visualized data. The available attributes varies from Object Type to Object Type.
To continue our Release example, lets say we wanted to show only Work Items that were added or removed instead of both Projects and Work Items, we can accomplish this by adding an Attribute Filter.
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