Visualize data with Azure Data Explorer dashboards

Azure Data Explorer is a fast and highly scalable data exploration service for log and telemetry data. Explore your data from end-to-end in the Azure Data Explorer web application, starting with data ingestion, running queries, and ultimately building dashboards.

A dashboard is a collection of tiles, optionally organized in pages, where each tile has an underlying query and a visual representation. Using the web UI, you can natively export Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries to a dashboard as visuals and later modify their underlying queries and visual formatting as needed. In addition to ease of data exploration, this fully integrated Azure Data Explorer dashboard experience provides improved query and visualization performance.

The following image shows a sample Azure Data Explorer dashboard:

To interactively explore sample dashboards, see Quickstart: Visualize sample data dashboards.

Prerequisites

• A Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra user identity. An Azure subscription isn't required.
• Create an Azure Data Explorer cluster and database.
• Sign in to the Azure Data Explorer web UI and add a connection to your cluster.

Create a new dashboard

1. In the navigation bar, select Dashboards > New dashboard.

   

2. Enter a dashboard name and select Create.

   

Add data source

A single dashboard can show visuals from one or more clusters.

1. In the upper toolbar, select Data sources.

   

2. In the Data sources pane, select + Add.

3. In the Create new data source pane:

   1. Enter a Data source name.
   2. Enter the Cluster URI region and then select Connect.
   3. Select the Database from the dropdown list.
   4. Enter a value for Query results cache max age to enable query results cache on all queries of this data source. The max age can be in units of seconds, hours, or days.
   5. Select Create.

   

Add tile

Dashboard tiles use Kusto Query Language snippets to retrieve data and render visuals. Each tile/query can support a single visual.

1. Select Add tile from the dashboard canvas or the upper toolbar.

   

2. In the Query pane,

   1. Select the data source from the dropdown menu.

   2. Type the query, and the select Run. For more information about generating queries that use parameters, see Use parameters in your query.

      

   3. Select Visual.

   4. In the visual pane, select Visual type to choose the type of visual.

   5. Select Apply changes to pin the visual to the dashboard.

   

3. You can resize the visual and then select the Save icon.

   

Pin tile from query

You can also pin a query from the query tab of the web UI.

To pin a query:

1. Create and run the query whose output you want to visualize in the dashboard.

2. Select Share > Pin to dashboard.

3. In the Pin to dashboard pane:

   1. Provide a Tile name.
   2. The Data source name is auto populated from the query data source.
   3. Select Use existing data source if possible.
   4. Select Create new.
   5. Enter Dashboard name.
   6. Select the View dashboard after creation checkbox (if it's a new dashboard).
   7. Select Pin

   

Use parameters

Parameters significantly improve dashboard rendering performance, and enable you to use filter values as early as possible in the query. Filtering is enabled when the parameter is included in the query associated with a tile. For more information about how to set up and use different kinds of parameters, see Use parameters in Azure Data Explorer dashboards.

Tile legend

You can change the position of the legend in your tiles and use the legend to interact with the data.

Change the legend location

If you have edit rights on a dashboard, you can change the location of the legend in your tile. Toggle to Edit mode and select the Edit tile pencil icon. In the Visual formatting pane, under Legend, you can select your location preference.

Interact with your data

You can use the legend to interact with the data in your tile. You can change what data you view by selecting the specific item in the legend. Use Ctrl to add or remove items from the selection, hold shift to select a range. Items not selected are greyed out.

The Search button allows you to search and filter items.

Use the Invert button to invert your selection.

The Up and Down arrows navigate through the list in the following ways:

• When one item is selected, the up and down arrows select the previous or next item.
• When more than one item is selected, the up and down arrows change which item is highlighted on the tile.

View query

You can view the query in either editing or viewing mode. Editing the underlying query of a tile is only possible in editing mode. In viewing mode, you can modify the query in a new query tab, without changing the underlying query of the dashboard tile.

1. Browse to your dashboard.
2. On the tile you want to explore, select the More menu [...] > View query.

1. In the View Area pane, select New query tab to edit the query in the Azure Data Explorer web UI query pane. To edit the query within the tile, select the Edit tile button.

Export dashboards

Use the file menu to export a dashboard to a JSON file. Exporting dashboard can be useful in the following scenarios:

• Version control: You can use the file to restore the dashboard to a previous version.
• Dashboard template: You can use the file as template for creating new dashboards.
• Manual editing: You can edit the file to modify the dashboard. The file can be imported back to the dashboard.

To export a dashboard, in the upper toolbar, select File > Download dashboard to file.

The file contains the dashboard data in JSON format, an outline of which is shown in the following snippet.

{
  "id": "{GUID}",
  "eTag": "{TAG}",
  "title": "Dashboard title",
  "tiles": [
    {
      "id": "{GUID}",
      "title": "Tile title",
      "query": "{QUERY}",
      "layout": { "x": 0, "y": 7, "width": 6, "height": 5 },
      "pageId": "{GUID}",
      "visualType": "line",
      "dataSourceId": "{GUID}",
      "visualOptions": {
        "xColumn": { "type": "infer" },
        "yColumns": { "type": "infer" },
        "yAxisMinimumValue": { "type": "infer" },
        "yAxisMaximumValue": { "type": "infer" },
        "seriesColumns": { "type": "infer" },
        "hideLegend": false,
        "xColumnTitle": "",
        "yColumnTitle": "",
        "horizontalLine": "",
        "verticalLine": "",
        "xAxisScale": "linear",
        "yAxisScale": "linear",
        "crossFilterDisabled": false,
        "crossFilter": { "dimensionId": "dragX-timeRange", "parameterId": "{GUID}" },
        "multipleYAxes": {
          "base": { "id": "-1", "columns": [], "label": "", "yAxisMinimumValue": null, "yAxisMaximumValue": null, "yAxisScale": "linear", "horizontalLines": [] },
          "additional": []
        },
        "hideTileTitle": false
      },
      "usedParamVariables": [ "{PARAM}" ]
    }
  ],
  "dataSources": [ {} ],
  "$schema": "https://dataexplorer.azure.com/static/d/schema/20/dashboard.json",
  "autoRefresh": { "enabled": true, "defaultInterval": "15m", "minInterval": "5m" },
  "parameters": [ {} ],
  "pages": [ { "name": "Primary", "id": "{GUID}" } ],
  "schema_version": "20"
}

To create new dashboard from a file

You can use a dashboard file to create a new dashboard, as follows:

1. In the main Dashboards page, select New dashboard > Import dashboard from file.

   

2. Select the file to import.

3. Enter a dashboard name, and then select Create.

To update or restore an existing dashboard from a file

You can update an existing dashboard, or restore a previous version, as follows:

1. In the upper toolbar, select File > Replace dashboard with file.

   

2. Select the file to update the dashboard.

3. Select Save changes.

Add page

Pages are optional containers for tiles. You can use pages to organize tiles into logical groups, such as by data source or by subject area. You can also use pages to create a dashboard with multiple views, such as a dashboard with a drillthrough from a summary page to a details page.

1. On the left Pages pane, select + Add page.

1. To name the page, select the vertical More menu [...] > Rename page.

2. Add tiles to the page.

Enable Auto Refresh

Auto refresh keeps your dashboard data up-to-date without requiring manual updates. Database editors can configure a default refresh rate and set a minimum refresh interval to manage cluster load. Dashboard viewers can adjust the refresh rate within the allowed range to suit their needs.

1. In the upper toolbar, select Settings > Auto refresh.

   

2. Toggle the option so auto refresh is Enabled.

3. Select values for Minimum time interval and Default refresh rate.

4. Select Apply and then Save the dashboard.

   

Related content

• Use parameters in Azure Data Explorer dashboards
• Customize Azure Data Explorer dashboard visuals
• Explore data in dashboard tiles (preview)
• Share dashboards