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2.6. Dashboard Builder

2.6.1. Data Sources

Red Hat JBoss Dashboard Builder can be connected to an external database, be it using JNDI of the container or connecting directly only using the JDBC driver to access the database. Connections to databases can be configured in workspace Showcase on page External Connections. After you have established the connection to the database, you need to create a data provider that will collect the data from the database and allow you to visualize it as an indicator in the dashboard area of a page.
When connecting to CSV files to acquire data, the connection is estabished directly through the data provider.
Note that Red Hat JBoss Dashboard Builder makes use of its own local internal database to store its local data. This database is read-only for Dashboard Builder, but is accessible from outside.

2.6.2. Connecting to data sources

You can connect either to a JNDI data source, that is, a data source set up and accessible from the application container, or directly to the data source as a custom data source, if the application container has the correct JDBC driver deployed.
To connect to an external data source, do the following:
  1. Make sure the data source is up and running and that the application server has access to the data source. (Check the driver, the login credentials, etc. In Red Hat JBoss EAP 6, you can do so in the Management Console under Subsystems → Connector → Datasources)
  2. In Dashboard Builder, on the Tree Menu (by default located on the of the Showcase perspective), go to Administration → External connections.
  3. On the displayed External Connection panel, click the New DataSource button.
  4. Select the data source type (JNDI or Custom DataSource) and provide the respective data source parameters below.

2.6.3. Creating data providers

To create a new data provider, do the following:
  1. In the Tree Menu (the panel in the lateral menu of the Showcase workspace), click Administration → Data providers.
  2. In the Data Providers panel, click the Create new data provider button.
  3. In the updated Data Providers panel, select in the Type dropdown menu the type of the data provider depending on the source you want the data provider to operate on.
  4. Define the data provider parameters:
    Data provider over a CSV file
    • Name: user-friendly name and its locale
    • CSV file URL: the url of the file (for example, file:///home/me/example.csv)
    • Data separator: the symbol used as separator in the CSV file (the default value is semicolon; if using comma as the separator sign, make sure to adapt the number format if applicable)
    • Quoting symbol: the symbol used for quotes (the default value is the double-quotes symbol; note that the symbol may vary depending on the locale)
    • Escaping symbol: the symbol used for escaping the following symbol in order to keep its literal value
    • Date format: date and time format
    • Number format: the format of numbers as resolved to thousands and decimals
    Data provider over a database (SQL query)
    • Name: user-friendly name and its locale
    • Data source: the data source to query (the default value is local, which allows you to query the Dashboard Builder database)
    • Query: query that returns the required data
  5. Click Attempt data load to verify the parameters are correct.
  6. Click Save.
  7. In the table with the detected data, define the data type and if necessary provide a user-friendly name for the data. Click Save.
The data provider can now be visualized in an indicator on a page of your choice.

2.6.4. Dashboard Builder Workspace

2.6.4.1. Creating a workspace

To create a new workspace, do the following:
  1. Click the Create workspace button on the top menu.
    The management console with the Workspace node expanded and workspace management area with workspace details on the right is displayed.
  2. In the Create workspace table on the right, set the workspace parameters:
    • Name: workspace name and its locale
    • Title: workspace title and its locale
    • Skin: skin to be applied on the workspace resources
    • Envelope: envelope to be applied on the workspace resources
  3. Click Create workspace.
  4. Optionally, click the workspace name in the tree menu on the left and in the area with workspace properties on the right define additional workspace parameters:
    • URL: the workspace URL
    • User home search: the home page setting
      If set to Role assigned page, the home page configured in the page permissions is applied. Hence, you can set different home page for every role. (If you set it to Current page, all users will use the current home page as their home page.)

2.6.4.2. Creating Pages

To create a new page, do the following:
  1. Make sure you are in the correct workspace.
  2. Next to the Page dropdown box in the top menu, click the Create new page button .
  3. The management console with the Pages node expanded and page management area with page details on the right is displayed.
  4. In the Create new page table on the right, set the page parameters:
    • Name: page name and its locale
    • Parent page: parent page of the new page
    • Skin: skin to be applied on the page
    • Envelope: envelope to be applied on the page
    • Page layout: layout of the page
  5. Click Create new page.
  6. Optionally, click the page name in the tree menu on the left and in the area with workspace properties on the right define additional page parameters:
    • URL: the page URL
    • Visible page: visibility of the page
    • Spacing between regions and panels

2.6.4.3. Defining Page permissions

Although users are usually authorized using the authorization method setup for the underlying application container (on Red Hat JBoss EAP, the other security domain by default), the Red Hat JBoss Dashboard Builder has its own role-based access control (RBAC) management tool to facilitate permission management on an individual page or multiple pages.
To define permissions on a page or all workspace pages for a role, do the following:
  1. On the top menu, click the General configuration button : the management console is displayed.
  2. Under the Workspace node on the left, locate the page or the Pages node.
  3. Under the page/pages node, click the Page permissions node.
  4. In the Page permissions area on the right, delete previously defined permission definition if applicable and define the rights for the required role:
    1. In the Permission assignation table, locate the Select role dropdown menu and pick the respective role.
    2. In the Actions column of the table, enable or disable individual permissions.
  5. Click Save.

2.6.4.4. Panels

A panel is a GUI widget, which can be placed on a page. There are three main types of panels:
Dashboard panels
are the primary BAM panels and include the following:
  • Data provider manager: a panel with a list of available data providers and data provider management options
  • Filter and Drill-down: a panel that displays all KPIs and their values to facilitate filtering in indicators on the given page defined over a data provider
  • HTML Editor panel: a panel with static content
  • Key Performance Indicator (indicator): a panel that visualizes the data of a data provider
Navigation panels
are panels that provide navigation functions and include the following:
  • Breadcrumb: a panel with the full page hierarchy pointing to the current page
  • Language menu: a panel with available locales (by default in the top center)
  • Logout panel: a panel with the name of the currently logged-in user and the logout button
  • Page menu custom: a panel with vertically arranged links to all pages in the workspace (the list of pages can be adjusted) and general controls for the HTML source of the page
  • Page menu vertical: a panel with vertically arranged links to all pages in the workspace (the list of pages can be adjusted)
  • Page menu horizontal: a panel with horizontally arranged links to all pages in the workspace (the list of pages can be adjusted)
  • Tree menu: a panel with the links to essential features such as Administration, Home (on the Home page of the Showcase workspace displayed on the left, in the lateral menu)
  • Workspace menu custom: a panel with links to available workspaces (the list of workspaces can be adjusted) and general controls for the HTML source of the workspace
  • Workspace menu horizontal: a horizontal panel with links to available workspaces (the list of workspaces can be adjusted)
  • Workspace menu vertical: a vertical panel with links to available workspaces (the list of workspaces can be adjusted)
System panels
are panels that provide access to system setting and administration facilities and include the following:
  • Data source manager: a panel for management of external data sources
  • Export dashboards: a panel export of dashboards
  • Export/Import workspaces: a panel for exporting and importing of workspaces

2.6.4.5. Adding panels

To add an existing panel to a page or to create a new panel, do the following:
  1. Make sure the respective page is open (in the Page dropdown menu of the top menu select the page).
  2. In the top menu, click the Create a new panel in current page button.
  3. In the displayed dialog box, expand the panel type you want to add (Dashboard, Navigation, or System) and click the panel you wish to add.
  4. From the Components menu on the left, drag and drop the name of an existing panel instance or the Create panel item into the required location on the page.
    If inserting a new indicator, the Panel view with the graph settings will appear. Define the graph details and close the dialog.
    If adding an instance of an already existing indicator, you might not be able to use it, if it is linked to the KPIs on the particular original page. In such a case, create a new panel.
  5. If applicable, edit the content of the newly added panel.

2.6.5. Dashboard Builder Filters

Filters work in the following way:
  • You can define "shared" properties across several data set providers. A shared property is a property with the same id number in at least two different data providers.
  • If you build a dashboard which refers to two or more data providers containing shared properties and try to filter by a shared property, then any of the KPIs containing this property will be filtered.
  • Shared properties can be useful for implementing "join"-like filter behaviour. This allows you to filter several KPIs belonging to different data providers simultaneously.
  • To disable the join-like behaviour, adjust the property ids on the Data Provider Column Definition screen. (Ensure the property ids are unique and do not clash between data provider definitions)