Quick Start: Create Your First Dashboard with ActiveChartActiveChart is a modern, flexible charting and dashboarding tool designed to help teams visualize data quickly and interactively. This quick-start guide walks you through creating your first dashboard with ActiveChart, from preparing data to publishing and sharing insights. Practical tips, common pitfalls, and example configurations are included so you can go from zero to a working dashboard in under an hour.
What you’ll build
By the end of this tutorial you’ll have a simple, interactive dashboard that displays:
- A time-series line chart of key metric(s)
- A bar chart comparing categories
- A KPI card showing current value and percent change
- A filter panel (date range + category selector) that updates all visualizations
1. Prepare your data
ActiveChart works best with tidy, tabular data. For this tutorial, use a CSV with these columns:
- date (ISO format, e.g., 2024-07-01)
- category (string)
- metric (numeric)
Example CSV snippet:
date,category,metric 2024-07-01,A,120 2024-07-01,B,95 2024-07-02,A,130 2024-07-02,B,100 Data tips:
- Ensure dates are in a consistent format (ISO recommended).
- Remove or flag outliers if they distort visualizations.
- Pre-aggregate if your dataset is very large (e.g., daily instead of minute-level).
2. Create a new dashboard
- Log in to ActiveChart and click “New Dashboard.”
- Choose a blank layout or a starter template (blank recommended for learning).
- Name your dashboard (e.g., “Sales Overview — Quick Start”).
Layout tips:
- Use a top row for KPIs, middle for charts, and a right/left column for filters.
- Keep the layout responsive; avoid too many small panels.
3. Connect your data
- Click “Data Sources” → “Upload CSV” (or connect to a database).
- Upload the CSV from step 1.
- Configure column types: date → Date, category → Dimension, metric → Measure.
If connecting to a database:
- Provide credentials, select schema/table, and preview rows.
- For large tables, define a query to limit rows for initial development.
4. Build the visualizations
KPI card
- Add a KPI widget to the top-left.
- Set measure = metric, aggregation = Sum (or Last depending on metric).
- Add a comparison period (previous period) to show percent change.
Example settings:
- Value: SUM(metric)
- Comparison: Percent change vs previous period
Time-series line chart
- Add a Line Chart widget.
- X-axis = date (time granularity: day/week/month).
- Y-axis = metric (SUM).
- Split by = none or category (to show multiple lines).
- Enable tooltips and smoothing as needed.
Tips:
- Use weekly aggregation for noisy daily data.
- Toggle legend if multiple categories are shown.
Category bar chart
- Add a Bar Chart.
- Dimension = category.
- Metric = SUM(metric).
- Sort = Descending by metric.
- Enable value labels for clarity.
Filter panel
- Add a Date Range Filter bound to the date column.
- Add a Category Dropdown bound to the category column (multi-select).
- Place filters in a side panel or top strip.
Bind filters so they affect all widgets on the dashboard.
5. Interactivity and drilldowns
- Enable click-to-filter on charts so selecting a bar filters other widgets.
- Configure a drilldown on the line chart: clicking a data point opens a modal with raw rows or a detail chart filtered to that date and category.
- Add hover tooltips showing metric, date, and category.
6. Styling and accessibility
- Choose a clear color palette (one color per category + neutral for totals).
- Use accessible contrast for text and chart elements.
- Add descriptive titles and short captions for each widget.
- For users with color vision deficiency, use patterns or distinct shapes in addition to color.
7. Performance and scalability
- For large datasets, use server-side aggregation or materialized views.
- Cache frequent queries and set reasonable refresh intervals.
- Limit the number of series shown by default; provide a “Show more” option.
8. Test and iterate
- Test filters and interactions with different date ranges and category selections.
- Validate numbers against source data (sample row counts, sums).
- Gather feedback from teammates and iterate on layout, labels, and metrics.
9. Publish and share
- Save the dashboard and set sharing permissions (private/team/public).
- Use scheduled snapshots or PDF export for recurring reports.
- Embed the dashboard in internal docs or portals using ActiveChart’s embed code.
Security note:
- Restrict access to sensitive data by using row-level security or parameterized views.
Example quick checklist
- Upload data and set correct types
- Create KPI, line chart, bar chart, and filters
- Bind filters to all widgets
- Enable click-to-filter and drilldowns
- Style for clarity and accessibility
- Validate numbers and publish with correct permissions
This guide gives a practical rapid path to a working ActiveChart dashboard. If you want, I can generate example SQL for pre-aggregating your data, a JSON dashboard layout to import directly into ActiveChart (if supported), or a short checklist for productionizing dashboards. Which would you like?
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