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Configuration Guide > Configuring Dashboards > Artefact Type Dashboards

Artefact Type Dashboards

Dashboards for artefacts consist of two areas: the scorecard area and the charts area. When clicking the name of an analysis model instead of an artefact, then a special dashboard is used: the Analysis Model Dashboard.

The Squore Artefact Dashboard Areas

The type of the artefact targeted is specified in the definition of the dashboard. The number of columns used in the graphics area and the default width and height of graphics can optionally be set. 

<dashboard type="APPLICATION" nbColumns="3" 
  defaultWidthValue="500" defaultHeightValue="500" >
  <scorecard> ... </scorecard>
  <charts> ... </charts>
</dashboard>

The dashboard element supports the following sub-elements:

  1. scorecard specifies the scorecard part to be displayed to the left part of the dashboard.

  2. charts defines the charts to be displayed on the right of the dashboard.

The dashboard element supports the following attributes:

The Scorecard Area

The scorecard shows a picture representing a chart (usually the artefact KPI) and a set of tables with further information. Each table has its own set of lines with various information. The structure used to define the scorecard is shown below: 

<scorecard>
  <chart ... />
  <tables>
  <table id="DECISION_MAKING" opened="true">
  <line indicatorId="BUSINESS_VALUE"
  displayType="NAME"
  decimals="0"
  suffix="FP" />
  ...
  </table>
  ...
  </tables>
</scorecard>

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Key Performance Indicator

For more information about how to insert a KPI into the scorecard, refer to Key Performance Indicator.

Scorecard Tables

There may be any number of tables below the KPI chart, and there may be any number of lines in each table.

A scorecard information table using 3 tables with respectively 10, 7, and 4 lines.

A scorecard table is defined using the following syntax: 

<tables displayContext="false" hideLinks="ALL">
  <table name="My Table Name" id="TABLE_ID" opened="true">
  <line indicatorId="BUSINESS_VALUE" displayType="NAME" 
  decimals="0" suffix="FP" 
  emptyValue="-" exclude="TESTER" />
  <line indicatorId="QUALITY" displayType="NAME" 
  decimals="1" suffix="%" />
  <line indicatorId="SI" displayType="NAME" 
  decimals="1" suffix="%" />
  </table>
  <table id="TABLE_ID">
  ...
  </table>
  ...
</tables>

The tables element accepts the following attributes:

  • displayContext (optional, default: false) allows to automatically insert an Artefact context table containing the current artefact's project, version and name, as shown below:

    The artefact context table

    Note

    The table name is not configurable.

  • hideLinks allows managing the display of the links tables in the scorecard. All links tables are shown by default. You can hide a table by setting the value of the attribute to <LinkType>#<direction>, where LinkType is the type of link between artefacts, and direction is a choice of OUT or IN, for example:

    hideLinks="TEST_SPEC#OUT;TASK#IN"
    .

    Tip

    If you want to hide all links tables in the scorecard, use hideLinks="ALL".

    The name of the table can be configured using properties files, as explained in the section called “Descriptions”. If you need more control over where links tables are displayed in the scorecard, you can manually insert a links table using the linksTable element, described later in this section.

The table element accepts the following attributes:

  • id (mandatory) is used to find the localised version of the table name in a .properties file.

  • name (optional, default: empty) allows bypassing the search for a localised string

  • backgroundColor (optional, default: WHITE for charts, GREY for tables) allows specifying a background colour for a chart or a table. [colour syntax]

  • opened (optional, default: false) defines whether a table is opened or collapsed by default

  • displayType (optional, default: no default) defines the displayType to be used by all lines in this table. It can be overridden for each line if necessary. For full details, consult the displayType reference for the line element.

  • displayOnlyIf (optional) allows specifying a computation to evaluate whether or not to show the chart in the dashboard. If the result of the computation is more than 0, then the chart is displayed. Consult Chapter 5, Computation Syntax for more information about the supported computation syntax. Note that computations used in displayOnlyIf have a limited scope: they only apply to the current node in its current version. This means that the functions like PREVIOUS_VALUE(), PREVIOUS_INFO(), DELTA_VALUE(), APP(), ANCESTOR(), PARENT() or IS_DP_OK() cannot be used with displayOnlyIf .

    Tip

    The deprecated onlyFor can be replaced by displayOnlyIf .

The line element accepts the following attributes:

  • indicatorId is the unique identifier of the measure, indicator or textual information to be displayed.

    Tip

    In order to display textual information, set the displayType attribute to TEXT, as explained below.

  • headerDisplayType (at model-level) or displayType (at artefact-level) (optional, default: MNEMONIC) defines how the indicator is shown in the interface. The supported values are:

    • NAME

    • MNEMONIC

    • DESCRIPTION

  • displayOnlyIf (optional) allows specifying a computation to evaluate whether or not to show the chart in the dashboard. If the result of the computation is more than 0, then the chart is displayed. Consult Chapter 5, Computation Syntax for more information about the supported computation syntax. Note that computations used in displayOnlyIf have a limited scope: they only apply to the current node in its current version. This means that the functions like PREVIOUS_VALUE(), PREVIOUS_INFO(), DELTA_VALUE(), APP(), ANCESTOR(), PARENT() or IS_DP_OK() cannot be used with displayOnlyIf .

    Tip

    The deprecated onlyFor can be replaced by displayOnlyIf .

  • displayedValue (optional) allows overriding the indicator to display another measure instead. The attribute takes a measure Id (displayedValue="SLOC").

  • displayType (at model-level) or displayValueType (at artefact-level) (optional, default: VALUE) defines how the indicator's value is shown in the interface. It may be one of:

    • NAME the level's name

    • MNEMONIC the level's mnemonic

    • RANK the level's rank

    • VALUE the measure's value

    • ICON the level's icon

    • DATE the measure value converted to date format

    • DATETIME the measure value converted to datetime format

    • TIME the measure value converted to time format

    • TEXT when the metric you are trying to display is textual information, as described in the section called “Using Textual Information From Artefacts”

    • PERCENT to automatically convert a value between 0 and 1 into a percentage (also appending '%' as a suffix)

    For DATE,DATETIME and TIME, you can specify the required format using the dateStyle, timeStyle and datePattern attributes described below.

  • unknownValue (optional, default: "?") defines what text to display if the level of the indicator is UNKNOWN or outside the specified dataBounds . Set this to OFF to use the old behaviour (which display the rank -1).

  • emptyValue (optional, default: "-") defines what text to display if there is no value in the database for the specified metric, or if a date is not specified. This is usually useful if a date has not been set yet manually in a form (and is therefore equal to 0), or if you have just added a new metric to your model you want to display specific text for the versions of your project where this metric did not exist yet.

  • dataBounds (optional, default:[;[) allows overriding the normal range of values that would trigger the display of the unknownValue text. This allows you to display the unknown value if the metric associated with the indicator is not within the defined bounds.

  • dateStyle (optional, default: DEFAULT): the date formatting style, used when the displayType is one of DATE or DATETIME.

    • SHORT is completely numeric, such as 12.13.52 or 3:30pm.
    • MEDIUM is longer, such as Jan 12, 1952.
    • DEFAULT is MEDIUM.
    • LONG is longer, such as January 12, 1952 or 3:30:32pm.
    • FULL is pretty completely specified, such as Tuesday, April 12, 1952 AD or 3:30:42pm PST.

  • timeStyle (optional, default: DEFAULT): the time formatting style, used when the displayType is one of DATETIME or TIME. See above for available styles.

  • datePattern (formerly dateFormat) (optional, default: empty): the date pattern, used when the displayType is one of DATE, DATETIME or TIME.

    • "yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z" is "2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT".
    • "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z" is "Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:08:56 -0700".

    If this attribute is set, both dateStyle and timeStyle attributes are ignored. The date is formatted using the supplied pattern. Any format compatible with the Java Simple Date Format can be used. Refer to http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html for more information.

  • decimals (optional, default: 0) is the number of decimals places to be used for displaying values

  • decimals (optional, default: 0) is the number of decimals places to be used for displaying values

  • roundingMode (optional, default: HALF_EVEN) defines the behaviour used for rounding the numerical values displayed. The supported values are:

    • CEILING to round towards positive infinity.

    • DOWN to round towards zero.

    • FLOOR to round towards negative infinity.

    • HALF_DOWN to round towards "nearest neighbour" unless both neighbours are equidistant, in which case round down.

    • HALF_EVEN to round towards the "nearest neighbour" unless both neighbours are equidistant, in which case, round towards the even neighbour.

    • HALF_UP to round towards "nearest neighbour" unless both neighbours are equidistant, in which case round up.

    • UP to round away from zero.

    For more examples of rounding mode, consult http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/math/RoundingMode.html.

Tip

The external links in the lines of the score card tables are generated automatically according to the metric that the line displays. They will generally link to the list of findings that are used to compute the metric. You can however override the URL and set your own external URL. In order to do this, ensure that the metric MY_METRIC displayed in a table line has a MY_METRIC.URL property defined in a properties file in your model. For more information about properties files, consult the section called “Descriptions”.

The linksTable element is used instead of table to insert a links table, and accepts the following attributes:

  • id (mandatory) is used to find the localised version of the table name in a .properties file.

  • type (mandatory) is the id of the type of links the table displays.

  • direction (optional, default: OUT) defines the direction of the links to display. Set it to OUT to show outbound links or IN to display inbound links.

Tip

For more information about artefact links, consult the section called “Artefact Links”.

Dashboard Templates

You can use dashboard templates to highlight some of the charts on your dashboard by changing their size in terms of grid slots they occupy. The following is an example template that uses 4 columns of charts with custom aspect ratios applied to the first three charts:

A Custom Dashboard Template
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<roles xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
  <role name="DEFAULT">
    <dashboard nbColumns="4" type="APPLICATION" template="1:4x2;2:2x2;3:2x2">
       (...)
      <charts>
        <xi:include href="chart1.xml" />
        <xi:include href="chart2.xml" />
        <xi:include href="chart3.xml" />
        <xi:include href="chart4.xml" />
        <xi:include href="chart5.xml" />
        <xi:include href="chart6.xml" />
        <xi:include href="chart7.xml" />
      </charts>
    </dashboard>
  </role>
</roles>

Note that you only need to specify custom dimensions for non-standard charts sizes using the syntax "position:width x height;", other charts will use a 1x1 grid slot by default.

The Charts Area

Charts are displayed on the right hand side of the dashboard. They are defined through chart elements as follows: 

<charts>
  <chart id="CHART_ID" type="CHART_TYPE">
  <indicator>INDICATOR_1</indicator>
  <indicator>INDICATOR_2</indicator>
  <indicator>INDICATOR_3</indicator>
  </chart>
  <chart id="CHART_ID">
  ...
  </chart>
  ...
</charts>

There are many types of charts, all referenced in this section. The best approach to finding the chart you want to use on your dashboard can be found by answering the following questions:

  • Should my chart display a trend or reflect the data for a single version of my project?

  • Is the information I want to display abut the current artefact or about its descendants?

  • Will my chart display one bit of information or combine several?

  • Is the information displayed by my chart quantitative or qualitative?

Answering these questions will lead you toward the type of chart you want to use. The table below shows the type of answer offered by each of the charts available in Squore:

Table 6.1. Charts for Single-Version Data Visualisation

Current Artefact Data Descendants of the Current Artefact
Quantitative Information Qualitative Information Quantitative Information Qualitative Information

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets
N/A

Optimised Pie

Optimised Bar

Key Performance Indicator

Dial

Meter

Kiviat

SQALE Pyramid

Histogram

Y-Cloud

Treemap

Artefact Pie

Artefact Series

X/Y-Cloud

Quadrant

Artefact Series

Simple Pie

Simple Bar

Stacked Bar Chart


Table 6.2. Charts for Trend-Based Visualisation

Current Artefact Data Descendants of the Current Artefact
Quantitative Information Qualitative Information Quantitative Information Qualitative Information

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Single Dataset

Multiple Datasets

Temporal Evolution Chart

Temporal Evolution Chart

Temporal Optimised Stacked Bar Chart

Temporal Evolution Line Chart Including Goal

Temporal Evolution Bar Chart Including Goal

N/A N/A N/A N/A

Simple Temporal Evolution Stacked Bar Chart

N/A

Table 6.3. Table Charts

Artefact Table

Distribution Table


Table 6.4. Special Charts

Control Flow Chart

Source Code Viewer

Scrum Board


More information about charts and their configuration options can be found in Chapter 7, Charts Reference

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