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Bar gauge

Bar gauges simplify your data by reducing every field to a single value. You choose how Grafana calculates the reduction. This visualization can show one or more bar gauges depending on how many series, rows, or columns your query returns.

The bar gauge visualization displays values as bars with various lengths or fills proportional to the values they represent. They differ from traditional bar charts in that they act as gauges displaying metrics between ranges. One example is a thermometer displaying body temperature in a bar filling up.

You can use a bar gauge visualization when you need to show:

• Key performance indicators (KPIs)
• System health
• Savings goals
• Attendance
• Process completion rates

Configure a bar gauge visualization

The following video shows you how to create and configure a bar gauge visualization:

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Supported data formats

To create a bar gauge visualization, you need a dataset querying at least one numeric field. Every numeric field in the dataset is displayed as a bar gauge. Text or time fields aren’t required but if they’re present, they’re used for labeling.

Example 1

The minimum and maximum range for the bar gauges is automatically pulled from the largest and smallest numeric values in the dataset. You can also manually define the minimum and maximum values as indicated in the Standard options section.

You can also define the minimum and maximum from the dataset provided.

Example 2

If you don’t want to show gauges for the min and max values, you can configure only one field to be displayed as described in the Value options section.

Even if the min and max aren’t displayed, the visualization still pulls the range from the data set.

Example 3

The bar gauge visualization also supports multiple records (rows) in the dataset.

By default, the visualization is configured to calculate a single value per column or series and to display only the last set of data. However, it derives the minimum and maximum from the full dataset even if those values aren’t visible. In this example, that means only the last row of data is displayed in the gauges and the minimum and maximum values are defined as 2 and 20, pulled from the whole dataset.

If you want to show one gauge per cell you can change the Show setting from Calculate to All values and each bar is labeled by concatenating the text column with each value’s column name.

Panel options

In the Panel options section of the panel editor pane, set basic options like panel title and description, as well as panel links. To learn more, refer to Configure panel options.

Value options

Use the following options to refine how your visualization displays the value:

Show

Choose how Grafana displays your data.

Calculate

Show a calculated value based on all rows.

• Calculation - Select a reducer function that Grafana will use to reduce many fields to a single value. For a list of available calculations, refer to Calculation types.
• Fields - Select the fields display in the panel.

All values

Show a separate stat for every row. If you select this option, then you can also limit the number of rows to display.

• Limit - The maximum number of rows to display. Default is 5,000.
• Fields - Select the fields display in the panel.

Bar gauge options

Adjust how the bar gauge is displayed.

Orientation

Choose a stacking direction.

• Auto - Grafana determines the best orientation.
• Horizontal - Bars stretch horizontally, left to right.
• Vertical - Bars stretch vertically, bottom to top.

Display mode

Choose a display mode.

• Gradient - Threshold levels define a gradient.
• Retro LCD - The gauge is split into small cells that are lit or unlit.
• Basic - Single color based on the matching threshold.

Value display

Choose a value display mode.

• Value color - Value color is determined by value.
• Text color - Value color is default text color.
• Hidden - Values are hidden.

Name placement

Choose a name placement mode.

• Auto - Grafana determines the best placement.
• Top - Names are placed on top of each bar gauge.
• Left - Names are placed to the left of each bar gauge.
• Hidden - Names are hidden on each bar gauge.

Show unfilled area

Select this if you want to render the unfilled region of the bars as dark gray. Not applicable to Retro LCD display mode.

Bar size

Choose a bar size mode.

• Auto - Grafana determines the best bar gauge size.
• Manual - Manually configure the bar gauge size.

Min width

Limit the minimum width of the bar column when the gauge is oriented vertically.

Automatically show x-axis scrollbar when there’s a large amount of data.

Min height

Limit the minimum height of the bar row when the gauge is oriented horizontally.

Automatically show y-axis scrollbar when there’s a large amount of data.

Max height

Limit the maximum height of the bar row when the gauge is oriented horizontally.

Automatically show y-axis scrollbar when there’s a large amount of data.

Legend options

Legend options control the series names and statistics that appear under or to the right of the graph. For more information about the legend, refer to Configure a legend.

Standard options

Standard options in the panel editor pane let you change how field data is displayed in your visualizations. When you set a standard option, the change is applied to all fields or series. For more granular control over the display of fields, refer to Configure overrides.

To learn more, refer to Configure standard options.

Data links

Data links allow you to link to other panels, dashboards, and external resources while maintaining the context of the source panel. You can create links that include the series name or even the value under the cursor.

For each data link, set the following options:

• Title
• URL
• Open in new tab

To learn more, refer to Configure data links.

Value mappings

Value mapping is a technique you can use to change how data appears in a visualization.

For each value mapping, set the following options:

• Condition - Choose what’s mapped to the display text and (optionally) color:
  • Value - Specific values
  • Range - Numerical ranges
  • Regex - Regular expressions
  • Special - Special values like Null, NaN (not a number), or boolean values like true and false
• Display text
• Color (Optional)
• Icon (Canvas only)

To learn more, refer to Configure value mappings.

Thresholds

A threshold is a value or limit you set for a metric that’s reflected visually when it’s met or exceeded. Thresholds are one way you can conditionally style and color your visualizations based on query results.

For each threshold, set the following options:

To learn more, refer to Configure thresholds.

Last, colors of the bar gauge thresholds can be configured as described above.

Field overrides

Overrides allow you to customize visualization settings for specific fields or series. When you add an override rule, it targets a particular set of fields and lets you define multiple options for how that field is displayed.

Choose from the following override options:

To learn more, refer to Configure field overrides.