Gauge Plugin
This plugin can be used to build dashboards that contain graphical images of gauges like

(target measure gauge) and

(trend icons).
Two types of gauges are currently available, a target measure bar and a trend icon.
Type of Gauge | Name | What it Does | Example |
Target Measure Bar | tambar | Shows the actual state of a measure in a bar. The bar has two parts, the upper thick bar shows the actual value, the lower thin bar shows the scale of the gauge. For example regions with a relative distribution of bad (red), acceptable (yellow) and good (green) values | |
Trend Icon | trend | Shows the up trend, no change and down trend of a measure | , , |
The Target Measure Bar has scale regions (the lower thin bar) like red, yellow and green. Each region has a start and end boundary, the end boundary of one region is the start of the next. The scale determines the boundaries, e.g. a scale of
0, 10, 20, 40
has a red region with range
0...10
, a yellow one with range
10...20
and a green one with range
20...40
.
The upper value region (the thick bar) has two colors, a dark color used for actual value and a light color for filling out the rest of the gauge with a lighter color.
The
%GAUGE{...}%
variable gets expanded to an image representing the gauge. Parameters and global settings determine the type of gauge, dimensions, scale and values.
GaugePlugin Global Settings
Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference
a plugin setting write
%<plugin>_<setting>%
, for example,
%INTERWIKIPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%
- One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
- Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Build dashboards that contain graphical images of gauges defined with
%GAUGE{}%
variables.
- Set DEBUG to 1 to get debug messages in
data/debug.txt
. Default: 0
- Default gauge used:
tambar
, trend
. Default: tambar
- Default dimensions, scale and colors for Target Measure Bar. See details in the syntax rules.
- Set TAMBAR_WIDTH = 60
- Set TAMBAR_HEIGHT = 16
- Set TAMBAR_SCALE = 0, 33, 67, 100
- Set TAMBAR_COLORS = #FF0000, #FFCCCC, #FFFF00, #FFFFCC, #00FF00, #CCFFCC
- Default dimensions for Trend Icon
- Set TREND_WIDTH = 16
- Set TREND_HEIGHT = 16
Syntax Rules
The
%GAUGE{...}%
variable gets expanded to an image representing the gauge.
%GAUGE% Parameter | Comment | Default |
type | The type of gauge to be used, tambar or trend | Global TYPE setting |
name | Name to uniquely identify the gauge file that is auto-created. | None; is required for tambar (not required for trend ) |
value | For tambar : The actual value of the gauge For trend : Positive = arrow up, 0 = arrow right, negative = arrow down | None. Show "no data" if missing |
alt | Alternate text for image | Value is value parameter |
width | Defines the width of the gauge in pixels. | Global <type>_WIDTH setting |
height | Defines the height of the gauge in pixels. | Global <type>_HEIGHT setting |
scale | For tambar : Defines the number and position of the scales. For example a value of "5, 12, 35, 57" denotes that there are three regions on the bar gauge, "5...12" , "12...35" and "35...57" . For trend : N/A | Global <type>_SCALE setting |
colors | For tambar : List of colors, each region has two colors. For trend : N/A | Global <type>_COLORS setting |
Examples
Type of gauge | You type | You should get... | ...if installed |
Target Measure Bar | %GAUGE{ type="tambar" name="t1" scale="0, 10, 20, 40" value="27" }% | | GaugePlugin error: Required Perl module 'GD' not found |
Trend Icon | %GAUGE{ type="trend" name="t2" value="-3" }% | | GaugePlugin error: Required Perl module 'GD' not found |
The "if installed" column shows images instead of variables in case the plugin is installed correctly.
Output
- A PNG graphics file is created containing the gauge results. The file is placed in
%PUBURLPATH%/%WEB%/%TOPIC%/_GaugePlugin_<type>_<name>.png
-
%GAUGE{...}%
gets expanded to an <img ... />
image tag.
Error Handling
If the required parameters are not defined, then an error message is returned or an <img ... /> image tag is returned pointing to a graphic containing the error message.
Plugin Installation Instructions
Note: You do not need to install anything on your browser to use this plugin. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the plugin on the server where TWiki is running.
- Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
- Unzip
GaugePlugin.zip
in your twiki installation directory. Content:
File: | Description: |
lib/TWiki/Plugins/GaugePlugin.pm | Plugin Perl module |
data/TWiki/GaugePlugin.txt | Plugin topic |
data/TWiki/GaugePlugin.txt,v | Plugin topic repository |
data/TWiki/GaugePluginTests.txt | Test page containing many examples of the GaugePlugin in action. Also shows various error conditions |
data/TWiki/GaugePluginTests.txt,v | RCS file for above |
pub/TWiki/GaugePlugin/tambar1.gif | Sample tambar image |
pub/TWiki/GaugePlugin/trenddn.gif | trend down arrow |
pub/TWiki/GaugePlugin/trendeq.gif | trend no change arrow |
pub/TWiki/GaugePlugin/trendup.gif | trend up arrow |
pub/TWiki/GaugePlugin/trendnd.gif | trend error message if value is not specified |
- Test if the plugin is correctly installed:
- Check above examples if the "if installed" column shows images instead of variables.
- Check GaugePluginTests for some more test
Plugin Info
Related Topics: TWikiPreferences,
TWikiPlugins
--
TWiki:Main/TaitCyrus - 23 May 2002
--
TWiki:Main/PeterThoeny - 16 Nov 2004
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