Custom Chart

The Custom Chart Block is an advanced Block that allows you to create custom data visualization by utilizing your choice of Vega or Vega-Lite.

If you would like a specific visualization that’s not already a Losant Dashboard Block, the Custom Chart Block supports a wide array of visualization types like Scatterplots, Bubble Plots, or even layer visualizations together.

Configuring the Custom Chart Block is broken up into two sections:

Queries

All query types include a Query Name property which is how each individual query’s data is referenced in the Vega/Vega-Lite configuration.

A Query Result section will appear at the bottom of each segment allowing you to see the data returned by the query.

Time Series Queries

Time series queries provide a dataset that includes the value of a single attribute from a selected device over a duration of time at a selected resolution. The values returned from the query will be returned as an array of objects in the form of:

[
  { "time": <time>, "value": <value> },
  { "time": <time>, "value": <value> },
  { "time": <time>, "value": <value> }
]

The values returned will reflect the selected attribute’s value specified at the reported time. This is the same data that is used in the Time Series Block.

The parameters of the Time Series Query include:

• Query Name is what will be referenced in the Vega/Vega-Lite configuration in order to access the returned dataset.
• Device is a device query for selecting device(s) for which to return aggregated data.
• Duration is how far into the past you want to look at the data. This defaults to the global dashboard duration.
• Resolution is how your data will be grouped. These options will change based on what you specify for the duration. This defaults to the global dashboard resolution.
• Attribute is the device attribute whose value will be returned in the query. Note that if data from more than one device is being displayed, each of those devices must supply the same attribute name.
• Aggregation determines how all the available data returned should be aggregated before being returned. This defaults to “Last”.

Gauge Queries

Gauge Queries allow you to query a single attribute from a selected device. You can choose to return either the last reported value of the attribute or the value from a selected aggregation over a selected duration of time.

This query returns an array with a single item - an object in the form of { "time": <time>, "value": <value> }. The value of time in the returned data is the time that the query was made and the value of value is the data of the attribute after the selected aggregation has been performed.

The parameters of the Gauge Query include:

• Query Name is what will be referenced in the Vega/Vega-Lite configuration in order to access the returned dataset.
• Device is a device query for choosing which device(s) to return aggregated data for.
• Duration is how far into the past you want to query for data. This defaults to the last received data point (relative to the dashboard end time).
• Attribute is the device attribute whose value will be returned in the query. Note that if data from more than one device is being displayed, each of those devices must supply the same attribute name.
• Aggregation determines how all the available data returned should be aggregated before being returned. This defaults to “Last”.

Data Table Queries

Data table queries allow you to query any data that is stored on a data table. The data table query will return an array of your data table rows where the column names will be the keys you will reference. We will automatically generate a list of columns that are available to query as well as all default row data.

The parameters of the Data Table Query include:

• Query Name is what will be referenced in your block’s JavaScript code.
• Data Table is the table that you’re querying.
• Query is a query built the same way as in the Table: Get Rows Node, where an array of individual queries can be joined with an “OR” or “AND” operator.
• Sort Column Template is the column on the data table to sort by. By default, this field is id. The following are the valid sort fields: id, createdAt, updatedAt, as well as any custom columns on the table. This field is templatable.
• Sort Direction Template is the direction the sort column sorts in. By default, this field is asc. The valid sort directions are asc and desc. This field is templatable.
• Offset Template is the number of results to skip, allowing you to paginate through large numbers of rows. This number must be positive, and the default is 0. This field is templatable.
• Limit Template is the maximum number of rows to return with one query. The max number of rows that can be returned at once is 10000. The default is 1000. This field is templatable.

Device Info Queries

Device info queries allow you to query device metadata including device names, descriptions, attributes, tags, and optionally connection info and attribute composite states. The device info query returns an object in the form of:

{
  "device-info-0": { // Name given in the Query Name field
    "count": 10, // The number of devices returned
    "items": [...], // The resulting devices from the query
    "applicationId": "5a67b4d91d5531000772e755",
    "perPage": 10,
    "page": 0,
    "sortField": "name",
    "sortDirection": "asc",
    "totalCount": 15, // The total number of devices matched by the query
    "_type": "devices"
  }
}

Each device object inside the items array will be in the form of:

{
  "deviceClass": "floating",
  "name": "Test Device",
  "tags": [
    {
      "key": "foo",
      "value": "bar"
    }
  ],
  "applicationId": "5a67b4d91d5531000772e755",
  "creationDate": "2021-02-10T23:37:41.385Z",
  "lastUpdated": "2022-06-07T02:37:30.071Z",
  "attributes": [
    {
      "name": "num",
      "dataType": "number",
      "attributeTags": {
        "s": "d"
      }
    }
  ],
  "_etag": "\"1ac-Ig5eB2pZ/XWMNKaFEvhNzHmTP14\"",
  "deviceId": "60246e459d64660006025152",
  "id": "60246e459d64660006025152",
  "connectionInfo": {
    "connected": null
  },
  "attributeValues": {
    "num": 42
  },
  "_type": "device"
}

The parameters of the Device Info Query include:

• Query Name is what will be referenced in the Vega/Vega-Lite configuration in order to access the returned dataset.
• Device Query is an advanced query for choosing which devices’ metadata you want to access.
• Sort Field Template is the property on the devices to sort by. By default, this field is name. The following are the valid sort fields: name, id, creationDate or lastUpdated. This field is templatable.
• Sort Direction Template is the direction the sort field sorts in. By default, this field is asc. The valid sort directions are asc and desc. This field is templatable.
• Page Template is the number of results to skip by multiplying this number by the Per Page Template field, allowing you to paginate through large numbers of devices. This number must be greater than 0, and the default is 0. This field is templatable.
• Per Page Template is the maximum number of devices to return with one query. The max number of devices that can be returned at once is 1000. The default is 25. This field is templatable.
• Include Connection Status allows you to enable or disable device connection info being returned in the query.

• Composite State To Include determines if the last known state attribute values will be included for each device. These will be added to the device object under the attributeValues key. The valid options for this are:

  • Include no attributes: This is the default, and means no composite state will be returned.
  • Include all attributes: This will return composite state for every attribute on the device.
  • Include the following attributes: This will return composite state for the specifically selected attributes set in the Select Attributes field.
• Select Attributes determines which attributes to return composite states for when the Composite State To Include field is set to Include the following attributes

Vega/Vega-Lite Configuration

Once you have a query, you will have to choose what version of Vega or Vega-Lite you want to use for your chart and write a custom configuration for your chart.

The $schema field will be added automatically based on the Vega/Vega-Lite version. The default block configuration will be sized to the Dashboard Block size and is not valid as you will have to provide the data.

When referencing a query, it is a Vega Named Data Source based on the what is entered in the “Query Name” field. All queries will be formatted as JSON data; no need to set a data format in your configuration.

Keep in mind that you can use any valid Vega/Vega-Lite Data Source to populate your chart, not just any of your previously created queries.

For more information on configuring Vega/Vega-Lite, please reference the documentation for the Vega/Vega-Lite version you choose to use. Losant provides support for the following versions:

• Vega-Lite v2
• Vega-Lite v3
• Vega-Lite v4
• Vega-Lite v5 (default)
• Vega v4
• Vega v5

Examples

The examples provided below are written using Vega/Vega-Lite v2.

Time Series Bar Chart

{
  "width": {{block.width}},
  "height": {{block.height}},
  "autosize": {
    "type": "fit",
    "contains": "padding"
  },
  "description": "A simple time series bar chart.",
  "data": {
    "name": "time-series-0"
  },
  "mark": "bar",
  "encoding": {
    "x": {
      "field": "time",
      "type": "temporal",
      "timeUnit": "minutes"
    },
    "y": {
      "field": "value",
      "type": "quantitative",
      "axis": {"title": "Cents"}
    }
  }
}

Layered Time Series Line Chart with Gauge as Average Line

{
  "width": {{block.width}},
  "height": {{block.height}},
  "autosize": {
    "type": "fit",
    "contains": "padding"
  },
  "layer": [
    {
      "data": {
        "name": "time-series-0"
      },
      "mark": "line",
      "encoding": {
        "x": {
          "field": "time",
          "type": "temporal"
        },
        "y": {
          "field": "value",
          "type": "quantitative",
          "axis": {
            "title": "Cents"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "data": {
        "name": "gauge-0"
      },
      "mark": "rule",
      "encoding": {
        "y": {
          "field": "value",
          "type": "quantitative"
        },
        "size": {"value": 2}
      }
    }
  ]
}

Data Table Scatter Plot

{
  "width": {{block.width}},
  "height": {{block.height}},
  "autosize": {
    "type": "fit",
    "contains": "padding"
  },
    "description": "A simple time series bar chart.",
  "data": {
      "name": "data-table-0"
  },
  "mark": "point",
  "encoding": {
    "x": {
      "field": "PlaceholderNumber",
      "type": "quantitative"
    },
    "y": {
      "field": "PlaceholderNumber2",
      "type": "quantitative"
    }
  }
}