Dashboards

Build custom data visualizations with AI-powered insights

Overview

Dashboards is the business intelligence and data visualization app in General Bots Suite. Create custom dashboards with drag-and-drop widgets, connect to multiple data sources, and use natural language queries to explore your data. Dashboards helps you monitor KPIs, track metrics, and make data-driven decisions.

Key Capabilities:

• Visual Dashboard Builder - Drag-and-drop widgets and layouts
• Multiple Data Sources - Connect databases, APIs, files, and cloud warehouses
• Conversational Analytics - Ask questions in natural language
• Real-time Updates - Auto-refresh with configurable intervals
• Templates - Pre-built dashboards for common use cases
• Sharing & Export - Share dashboards or export as PDF/PNG

Features

Dashboard Builder

Create dashboards visually with a flexible grid system:

Layout Options:

Widget Types:

Widget Configuration

Each widget can be configured with:

Chart Widgets:

• X-axis and Y-axis field mapping
• Multiple data series
• Colors and legend position
• Animation settings
• Stacked or grouped display

KPI Widgets:

• Value field
• Comparison (previous period, target, YoY)
• Thresholds for color coding
• Prefix/suffix formatting

Table Widgets:

• Column selection and ordering
• Sorting and filtering
• Pagination settings
• Export options

Data Sources

Connect to various data sources:

Connection Setup:

1. Click Add Data Source in sidebar
2. Select source type
3. Enter connection details:
   • Host, port, database name
   • Username and password (stored in vault)
   • SSL configuration
4. Click Test Connection
5. Click Add Source

Conversational Analytics

Ask questions about your data in natural language:

Example Queries:

How It Works:

1. Type your question in the query box
2. Select target data source (or “All”)
3. AI translates to SQL/query
4. Results displayed as visualization
5. Save as widget to dashboard

Templates

Pre-built dashboard templates for common use cases:

Sharing & Permissions

Visibility Options:

Sharing Actions:

• Copy link to clipboard
• Embed in other applications
• Schedule email reports
• Export as PDF or PNG

Keyboard Shortcuts

Tips & Tricks

Building Effective Dashboards

💡 Start with KPIs - Place most important metrics at the top

💡 Use consistent colors - Same color = same meaning across widgets

💡 Group related widgets - Organize by topic or data source

💡 Add context - Include text widgets to explain metrics

Performance Tips

💡 Limit widgets - 10-15 widgets per dashboard for best performance

💡 Use date filters - Narrow data range to speed up queries

💡 Cache queries - Enable caching for slow data sources

💡 Aggregate data - Pre-aggregate when possible

Data Source Best Practices

💡 Use read replicas - Don’t query production databases

💡 Create views - Pre-join tables for simpler queries

💡 Index properly - Ensure indexes on filtered columns

💡 Limit permissions - Grant minimum necessary access

Troubleshooting

Dashboard not loading

Possible causes:

1. Data source connection failed
2. Query timeout
3. Authentication expired

Solution:

1. Check data source status in sidebar
2. Increase timeout in settings
3. Re-authenticate with data source
4. Check query performance

Widget shows no data

Possible causes:

1. Query returns empty result
2. Date filter excludes all data
3. Field mapping incorrect

Solution:

1. Test query directly in data source
2. Adjust date range filter
3. Verify field names match schema
4. Check data type compatibility

Slow dashboard performance

Possible causes:

1. Too many widgets
2. Complex queries
3. Large data volumes
4. No caching enabled

Solution:

1. Split into multiple dashboards
2. Simplify queries, add aggregations
3. Narrow date ranges
4. Enable query caching in settings

BASIC Integration

Use Dashboards features in your dialogs:

Query Dashboard Data

' Get data from a dashboard widget
data = QUERY DASHBOARD "sales-dashboard" WIDGET "revenue-kpi"
TALK "Current revenue: $" + data.value
TALK "Change from last period: " + data.change + "%"

Embed Dashboard in Bot

' Show a dashboard in the conversation
SHOW DASHBOARD "sales-overview" TO user
TALK "Here's your sales dashboard. What would you like to know more about?"

Create Dashboard Programmatically

' Create a new dashboard from bot
dashboard = CREATE DASHBOARD
    NAME "Weekly Report"
    TEMPLATE "sales"
    DATE_RANGE "last_7_days"

SHARE DASHBOARD dashboard.id WITH user.email
TALK "Your dashboard is ready: " + dashboard.url

Natural Language Query

' Let user ask questions about data
TALK "What would you like to know about your data?"
HEAR question AS TEXT

result = QUERY DATA question FROM "sales-db"

IF result.type = "chart" THEN
    SHOW CHART result.data
ELSE
    TALK result.answer
END IF

API Reference

Endpoints Summary

Example: Create Dashboard

POST /api/dashboards

{
  "name": "Sales Overview",
  "description": "Weekly sales metrics and trends",
  "layout": {
    "columns": 12,
    "row_height": 80,
    "gap": 16
  },
  "is_public": false,
  "tags": ["sales", "weekly"]
}

Response:
{
  "id": "dash_abc123",
  "name": "Sales Overview",
  "created_at": "2025-01-27T10:00:00Z",
  "widgets": [],
  "url": "/dashboards/dash_abc123"
}

Example: Add Widget

POST /api/dashboards/dash_abc123/widgets

{
  "widget_type": "line_chart",
  "title": "Revenue Trend",
  "position": {
    "x": 0,
    "y": 0,
    "width": 6,
    "height": 4
  },
  "data_query": {
    "source_id": "src_sales_db",
    "sql": "SELECT date, SUM(amount) as revenue FROM orders GROUP BY date ORDER BY date",
    "fields": ["date", "revenue"]
  },
  "config": {
    "chart_config": {
      "x_axis": "date",
      "y_axis": "revenue",
      "colors": ["#10b981"]
    }
  }
}

Example: Natural Language Query

POST /api/dashboards/query

{
  "query": "Show me top 5 customers by revenue last month",
  "data_source_id": "src_sales_db"
}

Response:
{
  "query": "SELECT customer_name, SUM(amount) as revenue FROM orders WHERE date >= '2025-01-01' GROUP BY customer_name ORDER BY revenue DESC LIMIT 5",
  "data": [
    {"customer_name": "Acme Corp", "revenue": 150000},
    {"customer_name": "TechStart", "revenue": 120000},
    ...
  ],
  "suggested_visualization": "bar_chart",
  "explanation": "Top 5 customers ranked by total revenue for January 2025"
}

See Also

• Analytics App - Built-in analytics and metrics
• Compliance App - Compliance dashboards
• Research App - Data research tools
• Sheet App - Spreadsheet data source