Dashboard Charts and Widgets

Overview

This section walks you through on how to create, modify, and use different charts from the Widget group in the Active Dashboard Palette.

Active Chart

How interpolation works

If the number of data points you are asking the chart to plot exceeds a given value (which defaults to 500 per dataset), it interpolates the dataset.

It is reducing the number to its target number for display (which defaults to 250 per dataset), choosing to plot the most significant points from those available. It does this by hiding (not removing) data points that have a similar (or the same) value to the previous point.

Note: You can turn interpolation off any time. In this case, expect the charting routines to become more expensive from a CPU standpoint. If your dataset has over 10,000 data points and you ask it to plot them all, then this could lock the Active Console.

Create history charts

You can create charts of data that you have previously logged to a data source. To log a data item property, such as the value of a managed variable to the data source, you must have configured the relevant Gateway to connect to a data source, when the selected property changes. For more information, see Import historical events from database in Event Tickers Dockable.

There are a several ways you can create charts from historical data, similar to creating a chart. The only difference is that you select History Chart or the values on the Historical menu from the Tools & Modifiers dialog. See Create an Active Chart.

The dataset displays the Log to database indicator to show that a data source query is running to populate it with data:

The Active Console dispatches the query to the data source to recover the data. The actual query works asynchronously, meaning the Active Console does not wait for a response and you can carry on working. The query is a command that also appears in the Commands dockable:

When you request data for a predefined time period (hour, day, week, or month), the Active Console connects to the same data source of the Gateway where the data item is configured to use. If the data source query is successful, the database legend annotation is removed.

Note: The option to use the historical chart and historical chart dataset tool is available even the data item is currently being logged to the database. This is because the item may previously have been logged to the database, but is no longer being logged.

Configure Time Definitions

Creating or updating a history chart allows you to populate data based on the available time range defined in the Active Console.

Time Definitions contain default values which you can modify:

To configure Time Definitions:

1. In Active Console, go to Tools > Time Definitions.
2. Double-click the row you want to modify to open the time details.

In this example, double-click Past Working Day (6am to 6pm).

3. Click Start or End to configure the Time Definition Editor.
4. Click OK to apply the changes.

When history chart is not working

These are common reasons why the history chart might not work properly or cannot populate data correctly:

• Active Console is not connected to the database
• Duplicate cells where the history chart is executed
• Incorrect data type for the database logging item value
• Missing database drivers or client libraries
• The language of the database server and the JVM are different

Active Console is not connected to the database

The Active Console connects directly to the database. Check if the database settings are set up correctly and if the Active Console machine (desktop or laptop) has sufficient network access to the database and database server.

Ensure that the settings where the Active Console gets its database connection details are correctly configured:

• In Gateway Setup Editor, go to Database logging > Database > Client connection. Specific to Oracle database, the Sid, Server name, and Port settings are mandatory.
• In Active Console, go to Workspace settings > Database.

Duplicate cells where the history chart is executed

To resolve the duplicate cells where the history chart is executed:

1. Open Active Console > Metrics.
2. Right-click the cell where the history chart is executed.
3. Hover Copy from <cell name>, and click Legacy Name.
4. Paste the Legacy Name on a text file to see the actual variable name. For example, %update100rowcol.row_0.Column_3.
5. Run a query in the Geneos database to find any possible duplicate varname value.
   1. Use SELECT * FROM var_ref_table to output all the varname value. Check if the variable name has a duplicate from the list.
   2. Use select * from var_ref_table where varname like %update100rowcol.row_0.Column_3 to exactly find a match from the Geneos database.
6. Delete the duplicate variable names. For more information, see Fix variable name duplicates in Gateway Database Logging.

Incorrect data type for the database logging item value

The cell's value column data type must be set either to REAL or FLOAT.

If the cell's value column data type is correct, but the history chart still does not work, check the Tables setting:

1. In Gateway Setup Editor, go to the Database logging > Tables.
2. Check if the Type is set to Double.
3. Rerun the history chart.

Missing database drivers or client libraries

For Active Console version 4.11 and below, the Active Console connects to all supported databases using JDBC, with the exception of MySQL which means the Active Console does not need any additional libraries or drivers other than those shipped with the Active Console packaged by default. In the case of MySQL, you need to download the MySQL from their website.

For Active Console version 4.12 and above, the Active Console is now packaged with the MariaDB database connector.

The language of the database server and the JVM are different

The Active Console assumes that the decimal delimiter returns the numbers, where these are comma-separated values. Therefore, the conversion of the returned rows might fail. Check the exception log:

Exception no.6
Fri Apr 12 11:56:55 CEST 2013 java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "26,4E0"
sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.readJavaFormatString(Unknown Source)

To resolve this:

1. Open the Active Console installation directory.
2. Open the ActiveConsole.gci file.
3. Add -jvmargs in the file. For example:

-jvmargs
[....]
Duser.language=en

4. Save the file.
5. Restart the Active Console.

The query from the database should now return a decimal value separated by a dot or decimal point.

Recover data for a disconnected data item

You may want to plot historical data for a data item that is either no longer configured in a Gateway, or a Gateway you are no longer connected to You can do this by following these steps:

1. Configure the data source connection. If the Gateway is not connected and none of the existing Gateways use the same data source connection, you need to manually define the database settings in the Workspace Settings . You can skip this step if the required data source connection is already known to Active Console. The data source value can be either set to Database Logging or Gateway Hub.
2. Create a new dataset. If required, you can use the chart tool in the dashboard tools to create a new one.
3. Setup the path in the dataset. Right-click the chart and select Properties to modify the path. See Geneos URL editor in Path Editor. You need to define the path of the item you want the data for.
4. Recover the data. Right-click the new dataset in the legend of the chart and select the Supplement with Historical data > User defined. In the resultant dialog, select the relevant database connection, and the time period that you want the data for. If you have correctly defined all the parameters, such as the path, database, time from and to, then the chart retrieves the data.

Note: If no data is available for the selected data item in the database, then this prompts the ActiveChart Error message.

Spark Chart

The Spark chart is a small and minimalist chart that is available in the Active Dashboard Palette. Creating a spark chart is the same as creating a an Active Chart. See Create an Active Chart

The properties for a Spark chart are the same as those for a standard Active chart. You can also add datasets to a Spark chart by using the Spark Chart Dataset and Historical Chart Dataset tools.

By default, the Spark Chart does not display the legend, heading, and other labels. To modify the chart's properties, see Dashboard Charts and Widgets:

Active Gauge

A dashboard is capable of displaying multiple Active Gauges that can display multiple datasets from different data items.

The value of a dataset is displayed through a pointer. The pointer is constrained by a minimum and a maximum boundary which must be either manually assigned or left to be automatically determined over time by the Active Gauge itself. The number of pointers depend on the number of datasets:

Active Gauges update automatically over time as the attributes of the data items are changing. An update occurs each time the value changes.

Create an active gauge

To create a new Active Gauge:

1. Select the data item from the Metrics dataview.
2. Drag and drop the selected data item into the Active Dashboard. This opens the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
3. Select Active Gauge in the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
4. Click OK.

If you want to create a new Active Gauge with multiple data items:

1. Press CTRL while selecting multiple data items from the Metrics dataview.
2. While pressing the CTRL and the selected data items, drag and drop these data items into the Active Dashboard canvas. This opens the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
3. Select Active Gauge in the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
4. Click OK.

Active Pie Charts

Active Pie Charts are available in the Active Dashboard Palette. A dashboard is capable of displaying multiple Active Pie Charts that can display multiple datasets from different data items. The value of a dataset is represented by a slice in the Active Pie Chart:

Active Pie Charts update automatically over time as the attributes of the data items are changing. An update occurs each time the value changes.

Configure active pie charts

To configure the properties of an Active Pie Chart, you can:

• Right-click the selected chart and click Properties.
• Click the shape and press CTRL + Enter.
• Modify the properties using the Object Inspector

The table below shows the properties of an Active Pie Chart

Bar chart

A dashboard is capable of creating a bar chart that can display a data set using the selected data item.

To create an Bar Chart:

1. Select the data item from the Metrics dataview.
2. Drag and drop the selected data item into the Active Dashboard. This opens the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
3. Select Bar Chart in the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
4. Click OK.

To create a Bar Chart with multiple data items:

1. Press CTRL while selecting multiple data items from the Metrics dataview.
2. While pressing the CTRL and the selected data items, drag and drop these data items into the existing bar chart. This opens the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
3. Select Bar Chart in the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
4. Click OK.

Add data to existing bar chart

To add datasets into an existing Bar Chart:

1. Press CTRL while selecting one or multiple data items from the Metrics dataview.
2. While pressing the CTRL and the selected data items, drag and drop these data items into the existing bar chart. This opens the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
3. Select Bar Chart Dataset in the Tools & Modifiers dialog.
4. Click OK.

Note: When you drag and drop data items into the Active Dashboard for the first time, the Bar Chart and Bar Chart Dataset are located on the All Tools tab in the Widget section. In an existing workspace where bar charts are used, these options are accessible on the Recently Used tab.

In this bar chart, multiple datasets are used from the plug-in's metrics dataview:

Each dataset has its own colour legend that you can also modify in the Chart Properties.