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Widgets

In TIEMS it is possible to create widgets from the layers added to the map. Widgets are components such as charts, texts, tables and counters, useful to describe and visualize qualitatively and quantitatively layers data and provide the user the opportunity to analyze information more effectively.

Note

Some widgets (in maps or in dashboards) need some WPS back-end support to work:

  • The map widgets (dashboards) needs the WPS process gs:Bounds to zoom to filtered data, if connected to a table.

  • For aggregate operations, chart and counter widgets need the WPS process gs:Aggregate available in GeoServer to work.

Add a Widget

Once at least one layer is present in the map (see Catalog section for more information about adding layers), it is possible to create a widget by selecting that layer in the TOC and by clicking on the button from the Layer Toolbar or from the Attribute Table. Performing these operations the Widget panel appears:

From here the user can choose between four different types of widget:

  • Chart

  • Text

  • Table

  • Counter

Chart

Selecting Chart option the following window opens:

From here it is possible to choose between Bar Chart, Pie Chart or Line Chart, or simply go back to widget type selection through the button.
If a chart type is selected, it can display similar the following (in this case a Bar Chart):

From the toolbar of this panel the user is allowed to:

  • Go back to the chart type selection with the button

  • Connect or disconnect the widget to the map. When a widget is connected to the map, the information displayed in the widget are automatically filtered with the map viewport. When a widget is not linked, it otherwise shows all the elements of that level regardless of the map viewport

  • Configure a filter for the widget data (more information on how to configure a filter can be found in Filtering Layers section)

  • Move forward to the next step when the settings are completed

Just below the chart's preview, the following configurations are available:

  • Define the X Attribute of the chart (or Group by for Pie Charts) choosing between layer fields

  • Define the Y Attribute of the chart (or Use for Pie Charts) choosing between layer fields

  • Define the aggregate Operation to perform for the selected attribute choosing between No Operation, COUNT, SUM, AVG, STDDEV, MIN and MAX

Note

The No operation option is used when the aggregation method is not needed for the chart. If No Operation is selected, no aggregation will be carried out for the chart and the WFS service will be used to generate the chart without using the WPS process gs:Aggregate in GeoServer.

  • Choose the Color (Blue, Red, Green, Brown or Purple) of the chart (or the Color Ramp for Pie Charts)

  • Enable the chart's legend by activating Display Legend

In addition, only for Bar Charts and Line Charts, TIEMS provides advanced setting capabilities through the Advanced Options section.

Through this section, the user is allowed to:

  • Show/Hide the chart's grid in backgroung with the Hide Grid control

  • Customize Y axis tick values by choosing the Type (between Auto, Linear, Category, Log or Date): the axis type is auto-detected by looking at data (Auto option is automatically managed and selected by the tool and it is usually good as default setting). The user can also choose to completely hide labels through the Hide labels control or customize them by adding a Prefix (e.g. ~), a custom Format (e.g. 0%: rounded percentage, '12%' or more) or a Suffix (e.g. Km). It is also possible to configure a Formula to transform tick values as needed (e.g. value + 2 or value / 100 or more)

Note

More information about the syntax options allowed for Format are available here and the allowed expression to be used as Formula are available here in the online documentation.

  • Customize X axis tick values by choosing the Type (between Auto, Linear, Category, Log or Date): the axis type is auto-detected by looking at data (Auto option is automatically managed and selected by the tool and it is usually good as default setting). As per Y axis, the user can completely hide labels through the Hide labels control or tune the rendering of tick labels with options like Never skip labels (it forces all ticks available in the chart to be rendered instead of simplifying the provided set based on chart size) and Label rotation to better adapt X axis tick labels on the charts depending on the needs.

Warning

The tick labels available for the X axis by enabling the option Never skip label cannot be more than 200 in order to provide a clear chart and for performance reasons.

  • Set the Legend Label name

Note

The tooltips of the X and Y axis labels are available by hovering the mouse over the charts. This way the labels are available even if the Hide labels option for the X and Y axis is enabled.

Warning

In order to move forward to the next step, only X Attribute, Y Attribute and Operation are considered as mandatory fields.

Once the settings are done, the next step of the chart widget creation/configuration is displayed as follows:

The user can:

  • Go back to the chart option with the button

  • Configure a filter for the widget data (more information on how to configure a filter can be found in Filtering Layers section)

  • Add the widget to the map with the button

Just below the chart's preview, the user is allowed to set:

  • The widget Title

  • The widget Description

Note

None of these fields are mandatory, it is possible to save/add the widget to the map without filling them.

An example of chart widget could be:

The Chart toolbar, displayed in the right corner of the chart allows the user to:

  • Download the chart as a png through the button.

  • Zoom the chart through the button.

  • Pan the chart through the button.

  • Zoom in the chart through the button.

  • Zoom out the chart through the button.

  • Autoscale to autoscale the axes to fit the plotted data automatically through the button.

  • Reset axes to return the chart to its initial state through the button.

  • Toggle Spike Lines to show dashed lines for X and Y values by hovering the mouse over the chart. This is useful to better see domain values on both axis in case of complex charts. It is possible to activate that option through the button.

Text

Creating a new text widget the following window opens:

Through the toolbar it is possible to:

  • Go back to the widget type selection with the button

  • Add the widget to the map with the button

Here the user can:

  • Write the title of the widget

  • Write the text of the widget

  • Format the text through the Text Editor Toolbar

Note

None of these options are mandatory, you can add the widget to the map without filling in these fields.

An example of text widget could be:

Table

Adding a table widget to the map, a panel like the following opens:

The toolbar on the top of this panel is similar to the one present in Chart section. Here the user is allowed to select the layer fields that will be displayed in the widget.

Warning

At least one field must be selected in order to move to the next configuration step.

Once the desired fields are selected, a click on the button opens the following panel:

In this last step of the widget creation, the toolbar and the information to be inserted are similar to the ones in Chart section.
An example of table widget could be:

Counter

Selecting the counter option, the following window opens:

Also in this case the toolbar is similar to the one present in Chart section. The user is allowed to:

  • Select the attribute to Use

  • Select the Operation to perform

  • Set the Unit of measure that will be displayed

Warning

In order to move forward to the next step, only the Use and the Count are considered as mandatory fields.

Once the button is clicked, the panel of the last step appears:

Also in this case the toolbar and the information to be inserted are similar to the ones in Chart section, with the only exception that the Filtering button is missing.
An example of counter widget could be:

Manage existing widgets

Once widgets have been created, they will be placed on the bottom right of the map viewer and the Widgets Tray appears:

Through the buttons available on each widget the user can  perform the following operations:

  • Drag and drop the widget to move it within the map area of the viewer and resize it through the button (also available for widgets present in a dashboard)

  • Pin the position and the dimension of the widget through the button

  • Collapse the widget through the button and expand it again by clicking the related button in the Widgets Tray

Note

The Widgets Tray allows the user to expand/collapse each single widget individually or all of them at once by using the button.

Warning

When both Timeline and widgets are present in a map, the Timeline button appears in the Widgets Tray allowing the user to expand and collapse it (widgets and Timeline can't anyhow be expanded at the same time).

  • Make the widget Full screen through the button (also available for widgets present in a dashboard)

  • Access to the Title and Description info through the button, if this information has been provided during the widget configuration/creation

Access widgets menu

Once a widget is added to the map, it is possible to access its Menu through the button. For Text, Table and Counter widgets, the following menu appears:

From here the user can:

  • Edit the widget

  • Delete the widget

Only for Charts, the menu is like the following:

In particular, the user can also:

  • Show chart data in tabular representation

  • Download data in .csv format

  • Export Image in .jpg format