3. Widgets¶

To place widgets in your dashboard you need create a javascript file, where you call each widget that you need to place with the correct options, each widget provide an events that you can call in any javascript file to update the data.

For example if you create a number widget

var dashboard = new Dashboard();

...

dashboard.addWidget('current_valuation_widget', 'Number', {
    getData: function () {
        $.extend(this.data, {
            title: 'Current Valuation',
            moreInfo: 'In billions',
            updatedAt: 'Last updated at 14:10',
            value: '$35',
            detail: '64%'
        });
    }
});

Then you can publish in any moment the event dashboard.publish('example_widget/getData') to get new data and update the widget.

Note that in this example the getData method will be executed each 1000 milliseconds because is the default value of interval option in a Number widget.

3.1. Clock Widget¶

This widget can display an specific day an hour.

3.1.1. Options¶

row

Number of rows occupied by the widget. (default: 1)

col

Number of columns occupied by the widget. (default: 1)

data

JSON object that represent the date and time in format

{
    time: 'hh:mm:ss',
    date: 'Month Day DD sYYYY'
}

getData

Function responsible to update data value, this function is executed each time interval specified in interval variable. You can rewrite this function to get data from an external source. (default: return the browser time in a valid JSON format)

getWidget

Return the DOM element that represent the widget.

interval

Actualization interval of widget data on milliseconds. (default: 500)

3.2. Graph Widget¶

This widget can display a value with an associate graph as background.

3.2.1. Options¶

row

Number of rows occupied by the widget. (default: 1)

col

Number of columns occupied by the widget. (default: 2)

scope

JSON object in this format

{
    data: [
            {x: /x0/, y: /y0/},
            {x: /x1/, y: /y1/}
            ...
          ],
    value: /string/,
    title: /string/,
    moreInfo: /string/,
    beforeRender: /function/,
    afterRender: /function/,
    xFormat: /function/,
    yFormat: /function/,
    properties: /object/,
}

getData

Function responsible to update the widget scope, this function is executed each time interval specified in interval variable. You can rewrite this function to get data from an external source. (default: empty function)

getWidget

Return the DOM element that represent the widget.

interval

Actualization interval of widget scope on milliseconds. (default: 1000)

3.2.2. Graph options¶

To render the graph this widget use Rickshaw library, for now the config options are quite limited, if you need be more specific you can overwrite the rivetsjs binder (rv-dashing-graph) or write a custom widget use this as guide.

To configure the X and Y axis you must define custom methods xFormat and yFormat in the scope, also you can use the methods beforeRender and afterRender to execute arbitrary javascript before or after of render, for example:

function xFormat(n) {
    return '(' + n + ')';
};
$.get('/my/api/url/', function(scope) {
    scope.xFormat = xFormat;
    scope.afterRender = function() {
        alert('graph shown');
    };
    $.extend(self.scope, scope);
});

Also you can specify any properties that the graph constructor accepts in the scope object, for example a valid scope may be:

{
    data: [
        { x: 0, y: 29 },
        { x: 1, y: 42 },
        { x: 2, y: 12 }
    ],
    value: 12,
    title: 'Yeah!',
    moreInfo: 'Django Rocks',
    properties: {
        renderer: 'line',
        padding: {
            top: 0.1,
            right: 0.1
        }
    },
}

3.2.3. Python Class¶

This class helps to return valid data to be use by the widget, you can see the definition in GitHub

Here’s an example of a graph widget where in value is displayed the total of Errands and in data is returned an array with the last two hour of activity

from dashing.widgets import GraphWidget

class HourlyErrandsWidget(GraphWidget):
    title = 'Hourly Errands'
    moreInfo = ''

    def get_value(self):
        return SearchQuerySet().filter(django_ct='errands.errand').count()

    def get_data(self):
        latest_hours = datetime.now() - timedelta(hours=2)
        latest_errands = SearchQuerySet().filter(
                            django_ct='errands.errand',
                            created__gt=latest_hours).values('created')
        intervals = []
        for errand in latest_errands:
            delta = datetime.now() - errand['created']

            for m in range(10, 120, 10):
                if delta < timedelta(minutes=m):
                    intervals.append(13 - m/10)
                    break

        rlist = Counter([x for x in intervals])
        return [{'x': x, 'y': y} for x, y in rlist.most_common()]

3.3. List Widget¶

This widget can display a list of elements with an associate value.

3.3.1. Options¶

row

Number of rows occupied by the widget. (default: 2)

col

Number of columns occupied by the widget. (default: 1)

render

Function responsible of modify the DOM elements of the widget.

data

JSON object in this format

{
    data: [
            {
                label: /string/,
                name: /string/
            },
            {
                label: /string/,
                name: /string/
            },
            ...
          ],
    title: /string/,
    moreInfo: /string/,
    updatedAt: /string/
}

getData

Function responsible to update data value, this function is executed each time interval specified in interval variable. You can rewrite this function to get data from an external source. (default: empty function)

getWidget

Return the DOM element that represent the widget.

interval

Actualization interval of widget data on milliseconds. (default: 10000)

3.3.2. Python Class¶

This class helps to return valid data to be use by the widget, you can see the definition in GitHub

Here’s an example of a graph widget where in data returns an array with the messengers who have more requests

from dashing.widgets import ListWidget

class ActiveMessengersWidget(ListWidget):
    title = 'Active Messengers'
    moreInfo = 'Those who have more requests'

    def get_updated_at(self):
        modified = SearchQuerySet().filter(
            django_ct='errand').order_by('-modified')[0].modified
        return u'Last updated {}'.format(modified)

    def get_data(self):
        messengers = SearchQuerySet().filter(
                                django_ct='messengers', active=True)
        rlist = Counter([x for x in messengers])
        return [{'label':x, 'value':y} for x, y in rlist.most_common(20)]

3.4. Number Widget¶

This widget can display a value with another interesting information.

3.4.1. Options¶

row

Number of rows occupied by the widget. (default: 1)

col

Number of columns occupied by the widget. (default: 1)

data

JSON object in this format

{
    value: /string/,
    title: /string/,
    detail: /string/,
    moreInfo: /string/,
    updatedAt: /string/
}

getData

Function responsible to update data value, this function is executed each time interval specified in interval variable. You can rewrite this function to get data from an external source. (default: empty function)

getWidget

Return the DOM element that represent the widget.

interval

Actualization interval of widget data on milliseconds. (default: 1000)

3.4.2. Python Class¶

This class helps to return valid data to be use by the widget, you can see the definition in GitHub

Here’s an example of a graph widget where in value is displayed the total of payments and in the detail and moreInfo shows other information of interest

from dashing.widgets import NumberWidget

class PaymentsWidget(NumberWidget):
    title = 'Payments Customers'

    def get_value(self):
        return Payment.objects.all().count()

    def get_detail(self):
        payments = Payment.objects.all()
        total = len([x for x in payments if x.status == Payment.STATUS.waiting])
        return '{} to approve'.format(total)

    def get_more_info(self):
        payments = Payment.objects.all()
        total = len([x for x in payments if x.status == Payment.STATUS.rejected])
        return '{} rejected'.format(total)

4. Custom Widgets¶

To make a custom widget you must create three static files to define configuration parameters and appearance, in addition, you can create a python class to communicate with the Django project.

To name your widgets should follow a naming convention, where the name must by unique for findable through the settings.

4.1. Static Files¶

4.1.1. Template File¶

Its location should be <static_directory>/widgets/<widget_name>/<widget_name>.html this file describes its UI in plain HTML using the Rivets.js conventions to bind data to the script file.

For example {% static %}widgets/list/list.html looks like this:

<div>
    <h1>{ data.title }</h1>
    <ul>
      <li rv-each-el="data.data">
        <span class="label">{ el.label }</span>
        <span class="value">{ el.value }</span>
      </li>
    </ul>
    <p class="more-info">{ data.moreInfo }</p>
    <p class="updated-at">{ data.updatedAt }</p>
</div>

The classes are only for the stylesheet.

4.1.2. Style File¶

Your location should be <static_directory>/widgets/<widget_name>.css in this file defines the styles of widget.

4.1.3. Script File¶

Your location should be <static_directory>/widgets/<widget_name>.js in this file will be defined the configuration options and default values for the new widget, the idea is to create an object using the new keyword, then we define properties and methods using this keyword.

We must provide an __init__ method where binding the data with the template and add to the dashboard, this function is quite similar in all widgets, then it is provided by Dashing.utils.widgetInit to facilitate implementation and improve reading of widgets, also must provide a data element which will be binded to the template, and a getData function will surely be the to be overwritten to obtain relevant data as required,

For example {% static %}widgets/list/list.js looks like this:

/* global Dashboard */

Dashing.widgets.List = function (dashboard) {
    var self = this,
        widget;
    this.__init__ = Dashing.utils.widgetInit(dashboard, 'list');
    this.row = 2;
    this.col = 1;
    this.data = {};
    this.getWidget = function () {
        return widget;
    };
    this.getData = function () {};
    this.interval = 10000;
};

if we want to initialize widget with data we can write:

...
    this.col = 1;
    this.data = {
        title: 'Default Title',
        moreInfo: 'No data to display'
    };
    this.getWidget = function () {
...

4.2. Python Class¶

Surely in many cases may be necessary give the option to get some Dajngo project data into the widget, for this dashing has a Widget class that can be inherited to deliver properly serialized data, also subsequently can be serve the data using the dashing router.

For example ListWidget in dashing/widgets.py looks like this:

class ListWidget(Widget):
    title = ''
    more_info = ''
    updated_at = ''
    data = []

    def get_title(self):
        return self.title

    def get_more_info(self):
        return self.more_info

    def get_updated_at(self):
        return self.updated_at

    def get_data(self):
        return self.data

    def get_context(self):
        return {
            'title': self.get_title(),
            'moreInfo': self.get_more_info(),
            'updatedAt': self.get_updated_at(),
            'data': self.get_data(),
        }

If you develop your widget with python classes necessarily going to have to distribute it via PyPI

4.3. Distribution¶

To distribute a widget you have two options, the fastest way is throught Django Dashing Channel but is a bit limited, and through PyPI a bit trickier to pack but you have more options when developing the widget.

4.3.1. Via Django Dashing Channel¶

Using this distribution method the users will only have to add the widget name on INSTALLED_WIDGETS then to loading the dashboard, this locates the static files from a remote location (specified in the preconfigured repository), if the user creates a copy of the files on your local static directory then these will open locally.

You will have to host your files into a CDN, I recommend creating a github project and use RawGit to serve through MaxCDN, you can take dj-dashing-weather-widget project as a guide.

Finally to publish your widget in Django Dashing Channel you need to make a fork of django-dashing-channel, add your repository to repositories.json and send a pull request. In the repository root will be sought the widget static files (.js .css and .html)

You should create a README file for installations instructions.

4.3.2. PyPI Package¶

If your widget requires python code or just want to provide an easy way to get the widget locally then a PyPI package is the way to go.

As a requirement is necessary follow the widgets naming convention (see static files). To create a PyPI package see the documentation, and should create a README file for installations instructions.

This not excluding the previous way, you could create a minimalist version of your widget and upload to django-dashing-channel and in the project instructions leave on how to install the PyPI version