Overview

This guide covers how a widget looks: its chart type, which fields sit on its axes, its colours, and the extra display options some chart types have.

There are two places to change appearance, and they behave differently.

For building the query behind a widget, see How to Build Custom Widgets and Dashboards.

Prerequisites

• defence:widget:create to open the Query Builder and save a widget
• defence:dashboard:view to open a dashboard and use Change Preview
• A widget whose query returns at least one row. The appearance controls are shown only once there is data to draw

Option 1: A Temporary Change on a Dashboard

Use this to look at a widget's data another way without altering the saved widget.

Navigation: Sidebar → Dashboard → open the dashboard

1. Find the chart widget. Its toolbar sits at the top right of the chart.
2. Click the Change Preview icon.
3. In the panel, choose the x-Axis, the y-Axis (one or more fields) and the Chart Type.
4. Click Apply Changes. The button stays greyed out until you change something, and while no y-axis field is selected.

The chart redraws straight away. The change is not saved: reload the page or reopen the dashboard and the widget is back to its saved appearance.

Things to know:

• The toolbar is shown in view mode only, not while the dashboard is in edit mode.
• Table widgets and card widgets have no Change Preview.
• The Chart Type list here leaves out table and card.
• Colours cannot be changed from here. Use the Query Builder.

The same toolbar has three more controls.

Option 2: A Saved Change in the Query Builder

Step 1: Open the widget in the Query Builder

Navigation: Sidebar → Assets → Query Library → Widget tab → row menu → Edit → Confirm Edit

You can also click the edit icon on a widget card while a dashboard is in edit mode. For a new widget, use Sidebar → Dashboard → Create → Widget, build the query and click Preview.

The Visualization panel on the right shows the result with the controls above it.

Step 2: Choose the chart type

1. Open the Chart Type: selector (its placeholder reads Select chart type).
2. Choose a type. The preview redraws immediately.

Interno has 22 types. The table shows what each needs from your query.

Rules that change what the selector offers:

• If the result has more than 100 rows, pie, doughnut, semi-doughnut, nightingale and funnel are removed from the list.
• If you have selected more than one y-axis field, those same five types are greyed out.
• If you have selected one y-axis field or none, parallel is greyed out.
• When you build an evidence query, an alert or a drilldown, the Chart Type: selector is locked on table.

If the type you chose does not fit the fields selected, the preview shows the reason in place of the chart, for example Pie chart requires exactly 1 Y-axis metric. or Parallel coordinates require at least 2 Y-axis metrics.

Step 3: Set the axes

1. In x-Axis:, choose the field that supplies the categories.
2. In y-Axis:, tick the field or fields to plot.

For a new widget Interno starts with the first column of the result as the x-axis and the second as the y-axis. The axis selectors are hidden for the table and card types.

For the pie-style types (pie, doughnut, semi-doughnut, nightingale, funnel), only one y-axis field is kept. Ticking a second replaces the first, and switching to one of these types from a chart with several y-axis fields keeps the first field only.

Step 4: Set the extra options

Some chart types have extra settings behind the three-dot More Options icon next to the chart type. The icon is shown only when the current chart has something to set.

Step 5: Change the colours

The colour control is the round rainbow icon next to the chart type, with the tooltip Color Palette. It is hidden for the table and card types.

1. Click the Color Palette icon.
2. Open the palette selector (Select Palette). It shows your current palette as Selected Palette at the top, then All Palettes, each with a strip of its colours.
3. Click a palette.
4. Click Apply. The chart redraws in the new colours.

To go back to Interno's standard colours, click Reset.

Step 6: Build your own palette (optional)

1. In the colour panel, click Add New Palette. The Create New Palette panel opens under the heading Add Colors (minimum 8 required).
2. Choose a colour with the colour swatch, or type a six-digit hex code such as #2563EB in the box.
3. Click Add Color to Palette, or press Enter. The colour appears in the Palette Preview row.
4. Repeat until you have at least eight colours. The preview counts them, for example 3/8 selected, and a red badge shows how many are still needed, for example 5 more required.
5. To take a colour out, click it in the Palette Preview row.
6. Click Create Palette. The button is greyed out until you have eight colours. Click Cancel to discard the palette.

The new palette is applied to the chart straight away and listed as Custom Palette for as long as you stay in the builder.

Rules for custom colours:

• A code must be # followed by exactly six hex digits. Anything else shows Please enter a valid hex color (e.g., #2563eb) and cannot be added.
• The same colour cannot be added twice.
• A custom palette is saved with the widget you apply it to, so that widget keeps its colours. It is not stored as a reusable palette: it will not be in the list the next time you open the builder, and you rebuild it to use it on another widget.

Step 7: Save

1. Click Create Widget (new widget) or Update Widget (existing widget) above the preview.
2. Complete or confirm the Title and Description.
3. Click Create or Update.

The chart type, axes, extra options and colours are saved with the widget and show on every dashboard that uses it.

Choosing a Type for Your Data

These are starting points only. Any type can be used as long as the y-axis rule in the chart type table is met.

Troubleshooting

I cannot see the Color Palette icon → It is hidden for the table and card types. Choose a chart type such as bar.

The appearance controls are not there at all → They are shown only once the query returns rows. If the preview reads No data found! or No visualization available!, fix the query and click Preview again.

Pie, doughnut, semi-doughnut, nightingale or funnel is missing from the list → The result has more than 100 rows. Reduce it with a filter, a grouping or a lower limit.

Pie, doughnut, semi-doughnut, nightingale or funnel is greyed out → More than one y-axis field is selected. Leave a single field ticked in y-Axis:.

Parallel is greyed out → It needs at least two y-axis fields. Tick a second field in y-Axis:.

The chart is replaced by a message such as "Bar chart requires at least 1 Y-axis metric." → The fields on the y-axis do not fit the chart type. Select the fields the message asks for.

The Chart Type selector is greyed out → You are building an evidence query, an alert or a drilldown. These are always shown as a table.

The More Options icon is missing → The current chart type has no extra settings, or only one y-axis field is selected.

"Create Palette" will not click → A palette needs at least eight colours. The red badge shows how many more are required.

My hex code will not add → It must be # followed by six hex digits, and it must not already be in the palette.

My custom palette is not in the list any more → Custom palettes are listed only while you stay in the builder. The widget you saved keeps its colours; rebuild the palette to use it elsewhere.

The colours went back to how they were → Click Apply in the colour panel, then Create Widget or Update Widget and save. Leaving the builder without saving discards the change.

My change on the dashboard did not stick → Change Preview is temporary. Edit the widget in the Query Builder to change it permanently.

Apply Changes is greyed out → Nothing has been changed yet, or no y-axis field is selected.

There is no toolbar on my widget → The toolbar is shown on chart widgets in view mode. It is hidden while the dashboard is in edit mode, and table and card widgets do not have it.

I cannot open the builder → Building and editing widgets needs defence:widget:create. Ask your administrator.

Need more help? Contact support@zeron.one