Live Charts
- Josh Daugherty (Deactivated)
Live Settings are important when considering adding charts to a dashboard.
Some chart types can make use of either live type—Stream or Snapshot—while a few types are limited to Snapshot only.
Snapshot
A Live Snapshot chart looks virtually identical to a non-live version of the chart. A pie chart is an example of a chart type that can only be a Snapshot. The distribution of data portrayed by a pie chart cannot be anything other than a snapshot in time.
The difference, then, between a conventional pie chart and a live snapshot version is that the live version can be configured to automatically refresh itself on a specified interval; the non-live version would need to be manually refreshed.
Snapshot configuration [example]
A live snapshot has two customizable components: the refresh rate and the time frame. Either or both can be adjusted as needed. The pie chart below is configured to always display the past 2 hours' worth of data (TIME FRAME), and will be updated every 5 minutes (REFRESH).
While the pie chart above looks like an ordinary pie chart, it is configured as a live snapshot chart.
What's being displayed is live data—in this case, a breakdown of the past 15 minutes' worth of inbound queue interactions, being refreshed every minute (to show the updated past-15-minutes-average each time it refreshes).
Stream
The Live Stream option is essentially a type that will chart a timeline of snapshots. Depending on the data type or chart type, seeing how the data trends over time can be invaluable.
A live stream has three customizable components: the interval, refresh rate, and scope.
Especially if charts are going on a dashboard, configuring live functionality is highly recommended.
Stream configuration [example]
Configuring a chart to be a Live Stream results in a more dynamic chart that shows not just current ("live") data, but can also help illuminate trends in the data as it's plotted over time.
The Stream configuration pictured above is set up to show us a 2-hour window of data (SCOPE), while generating (and plotting) new data points every 15 minutes (INTERVAL, REFRESH). Now that this chart is live, note the vertical line in the image below—it indicates when the Stream began.
As new data is plotted (every 15 minutes), the line will shift further to the left (until it is ultimately off-screen).