Charts and Graphs

You can use GoToAssist to display your data in formats that are easy to comprehend, such as charts, tables, and graphs. You can add tables and charts to dashboards or include them in reports and presentations to provide information at a glance.

Topics in this article:

Creating Charts and Graphs

Chart Types

Time Settings

Axis Titles

Colors

Log vs. Linear Graphs

Creating Tables

Combining Related Data

Creating Charts and Graphs

After running a search that you want to save, you can convert the results into a chart or graph. This makes it easy to monitor over time, pop the data into a report, or add it to your Dashboard so you can check status at a glance.

To display search results as graphs or charts:

1. Run the search.

2. From the format options, click the Chart icon.

3. Set the following controls:

• Chart types
• Time settings
• Axis titles
• Colors

4. To save your changes, choose one of the following options:

• If you are editing an existing chart, click Update Saved Search.
• If you are creating a new chart, click the Show/Hide icon and select one of the following options:
  • Save Search — Save in the current format.
  • Add to Dashboard — Save to a Dashboard.
  • Make Web Link — Save as a Web link.

Note: If you want to add related data to your chart, or combine two charts into one, see Displaying related data.

Chart Types

Choose the type of chart that best represents the data in your saved search results: bar, pie, line, or area.

To choose the chart type:

Bar

Use to illustrate how values of items compare across categories.

• Vertical — Use to display bars vertically from the bottom edge of the Y axis.

• Horizontal — Use to display bars horizontally from the right edge of the X axis.

• Linear — Use to represent an absolute change. See log versus linear.

• Log — Use to represent a percentage change. See log versus linear.

Pie

Use to illustrate how the percentage of each item contributes to the total.

• 3-d — Use to display a three-dimensional pie chart.

• Flat — Use to display a two-dimensional pie chart.

Line

Use to compare trends over time or in certain categories.

• Simple — Use to display a series of data points connected by a line that angles directly from one point to the next.

• Step — Use to illustrate increments that shift vertically and horizontally forming a series of steps up or down over time.

• Spline — Use to compare trends over time, or in categories, like a simple line graph, but the connecting line curves through each data point.

• Linear — Use to represent an absolute change. See log versus linear.

• Log — Use to represent a percentage change. See log versus linear.

Area

Use to illustrate how multiple trends compare side-by-side over time or in specific categories.

• Simple — Use to compare trends over time or in different categories.

• Stacked — Use to compares two or more data series stacked against each other, or to illustrate how each value contributes to the total.

• Percentage — Use to illustrate how each value contributes to the total.

• Linear — Use to represent an absolute change. See log versus linear.

• Log — Use to represent a percentage change. See log versus linear.

Time Settings

Use to set starting and ending dates and times.

To set the chart times and dates:

• Time — Click a radio button to indicate the time by hour, day, week, month, or year.
• Custom — Sets a time range by start and end dates.
• Start date, Start time — Sets the starting date and time.
• End date, End time — Sets the ending date and time.
• Reset — Returns to the last custom time set.
• Set — Saves custom time changes.

Axis Titles

Use to label X and Y axes of charts and graphs.

To choose the chart color palette:

• X axis — Labels the horizontal axis, usually "time passed" if time is an element.
• Y axis — Labels the vertical axis, usually the amount of change over the given time period.
• Set — Saves axis changes.

Colors

Use to set color palette of elements in graphs and charts.

To choose the chart color palette:

• Default — Returns to original color set.
• Reset — Returns to the last color set.
• Set — Saves color changes.

Log vs. Linear Graphs

The difference between linear and log is that linear graphs display absolute data points and log graphs display data percentages.

Use linear charts and graphs to display an equal distance along the Y axis that represents an equal, absolute change. A linear graph displays each absolute change, such as a three-dollar move with three data points, one point per dollar.

Use log charts and graphs to display an equal distance along the Y axis that represents an equal, percentage change. For example, a logarithmic graph illustrates that a one-dollar move in a two-dollar share is more profitable than a one-dollar move in a ten-dollar share.

Creating Tables

After you run a search, you can convert the results into a table for easier viewing. That way you can easily monitor it over time, pop the data into a report, or even add it to your Dashboard so you can check status at a glance.

To display your search results as a table like the above example:

1. Run the search.

2. Choose one of the following options:

• To include all results in your table, click the Table icon in the upper corner of the results screen.
• To select some results for your table, click the leaf nodes with the type of data you want, and then click Add Column to Table:

• In this example, drivername will be included in the table, but not name or portname.

3. In the Table Builder, click Create Table:

4. When you are finished building the table, click the show-hide icon and click Add to Dashboard:

Note: If you want to combine the data from two tables into one, see Displaying related data.

Combining Related Data

You can generate complex charts that track multiple sets of related data on a single chart by simply listing multiple series data in the SELECT clause of a PQL query.

For example, if you have a couple of queries that find related information — such as the temperature at your desk, in the server room, and outdoors — you can combine them into a single query by listing all three series data, separated by commas, in the SELECT clause of the PQL query.

You might start by writing a simple query to track the temperature fluctuations outdoors:

SELECT history(/, from_time => '1 day ago')
FROM /sample/temperatures/outside

To add another line for the history of temperature fluctuations in other locations, such as your server room, you must move outside from the FROM clause to the SELECT clause:

SELECT history(outside,
from_time => '1 day ago')
FROM /sample/temperatures

This produces the same set of data as the first query, but it enables you to add columns of data sets to the SELECT clause, like this:

SELECT history(outside, desk, rack,
from_time => '1 day ago')
FROM /sample/temperatures

Putting all three in the SELECT clause results in multiple columns of data if displayed as a table, or multiple lines if displayed as a line graph. This enables you to display multiple columns of data sets in a single table or chart, where you can view the temperatures indoors and those outdoors side-by-side.

| Views: 4301 | Last Updated: Thu, May 09 2013 2:28 PM

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