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Advanced Dashboards

Overview

DBWillow's dashboard feature lets you create beautiful, interactive dashboards to visualize your database data. Perfect for monitoring metrics, KPIs, and business intelligence.

Dashboard Basics

Creating a Dashboard

  1. Connect to a database
  2. Click the "Dashboards" tab
  3. Click "New Dashboard"
  4. Give it a name and start adding widgets

Widget Types

DBWillow supports 5 widget types:

  1. Count Widget: Display a single number (e.g., total users)
  2. Line Chart: Show trends over time
  3. Bar Chart: Compare categories
  4. Pie Chart: Show proportions
  5. Table Widget: Display detailed data

Creating Widgets

Manual Widget Creation

  1. Click "Add Widget"
  2. Select widget type
  3. Configure the SQL query
  4. Set display options
  5. Click "Save"

AI-Powered Widget Generation (Premium)

Describe what you want in plain English:

  • "Show me total users as a big number"
  • "Display monthly sales as a line chart"
  • "Show revenue by category as a bar chart"

The AI generates the widget automatically!

Widget Configuration

SQL Query

Each widget requires a SQL query:

SELECT COUNT(*) as total_users
FROM users
WHERE created_at >= DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 DAY);

Display Settings

  • Title: Widget name
  • Refresh Interval: Auto-refresh time (1 min, 5 min, 1 hour, etc.)
  • Colors: Customize chart colors
  • Axes: Configure chart axes (for charts)

Dashboard Layout

Organizing Widgets

  • Drag and drop widgets to rearrange
  • Resize widgets by dragging corners
  • Create multiple rows and columns
  • Save layout automatically

Per-Connection Dashboards

  • Each database connection has its own dashboards
  • Switch between connections to see different dashboards
  • Create multiple dashboards per connection

Widget Types in Detail

Count Widget

Perfect for key metrics:

SELECT COUNT(*) as total
FROM orders
WHERE status = 'completed';

Use cases:

  • Total users
  • Active orders
  • Revenue totals
  • Any single metric

Line Chart

Show trends over time:

SELECT 
  DATE(order_date) as date,
  SUM(total) as revenue
FROM orders
WHERE order_date >= DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 DAY)
GROUP BY DATE(order_date)
ORDER BY date;

Use cases:

  • Sales over time
  • User growth
  • Daily metrics
  • Time-series data

Bar Chart

Compare categories:

SELECT 
  category,
  COUNT(*) as product_count
FROM products
GROUP BY category
ORDER BY product_count DESC;

Use cases:

  • Revenue by category
  • Orders by status
  • Users by country
  • Any categorical comparison

Pie Chart

Show proportions:

SELECT 
  status,
  COUNT(*) as count
FROM orders
GROUP BY status;

Use cases:

  • Order status breakdown
  • User distribution
  • Product category shares
  • Any proportional data

Table Widget

Display detailed data:

SELECT 
  product_name,
  category,
  price,
  stock_quantity
FROM products
ORDER BY price DESC
LIMIT 10;

Use cases:

  • Top products
  • Recent orders
  • User lists
  • Any tabular data

Auto-Refresh

Setting Refresh Intervals

Configure widgets to auto-refresh:

  • Real-time: Every 1 minute
  • Frequent: Every 5 minutes
  • Regular: Every 15 minutes
  • Hourly: Every hour
  • Manual: Refresh on demand

Use Cases

  • Monitoring: Real-time dashboards for operations
  • Reporting: Hourly updates for business metrics
  • Analysis: Manual refresh for ad-hoc analysis

Exporting Data

Export Options

From any widget:

  1. Click the export button
  2. Choose format:
    • CSV
    • JSON
    • Excel
    • SQL
  3. Download the data

Best Practices

Dashboard Organization

  • Group related widgets together
  • Use clear, descriptive titles
  • Keep dashboards focused on specific goals
  • Create separate dashboards for different purposes

Performance

  • Use efficient SQL queries
  • Limit result sets appropriately
  • Consider refresh intervals
  • Optimize for large datasets

Design

  • Use consistent colors
  • Keep layouts clean
  • Focus on key metrics
  • Make it easy to scan

Advanced Features

Custom SQL Queries

Write complex queries for widgets:

  • JOINs across multiple tables
  • Aggregations and calculations
  • Filters and conditions
  • Subqueries and CTEs

Widget Templates

Save widget configurations:

  1. Create a widget
  2. Configure it perfectly
  3. Save as template
  4. Reuse in other dashboards

Troubleshooting

Widget Not Loading

  • Check SQL query syntax
  • Verify database connection
  • Check query execution time
  • Review error messages

Slow Refresh

  • Optimize SQL queries
  • Reduce refresh frequency
  • Limit result set size
  • Check database performance

Incorrect Data

  • Verify SQL query logic
  • Check date ranges
  • Confirm filters
  • Test query in SQL editor first

Next Steps