A trellis is when a widget is split into multiple versions of itself based on a field within an event form. Each of these multiples are displayed alongside each other, making it easy to identify similarities or differences between the different data subsets. For example, trellising a timeseries chart widget based on the About field from an event form will create a chart for every unique About field result (as shown in the example below).
Trellising is also referred to as "small multiples", and can be applied to aggregation tables, categorical charts, matrices, pie/donut charts, radar charts, tables, tiles, timeseries charts and XY scatter charts.
Applying trellising to a widget
You can apply trellising to a widget using the Trellis section in the sidebar. Here, you can determine which Data source and Field you want to multiply the widget by, and set Filters for the trellis. You can limit the number of multiples displayed within the trellis using the Limit field, and determine whether Titles should be displayed for each multiple. The title is based on the category field selected.
Selecting a category field for your widget trellis
The trellised widget is multiplied based on the number of results for your chosen categorical field, unless a limit is set. Using the same example as above, if you have 10 athletes in your group who all have an availability record entered against them, there will be 10 About field results from the event form data. This means that the widget will have 10 multiples, one for each athlete. The category field result (in this case, the athletes' names) will be displayed as titles above each multiple of the widget, and the data in each multiple will be specific to these values.
Filtering trellised widgets
When you filter the trellis as a whole (using the Filters button under the Trellis properties), multiples will only display if they meet the filtering conditions. Alternatively, if you only filter the widget, a multiple will display for all category fields, but no data will be shown if their values do not meet the widget’s filtering criteria.
Consistency toggles
When trellising a categorical chart widget or pie/donut chart widget, you can choose to keep the category order consistent for all multiples. Similarly, you can choose to keep category colors consistent for XY scatter widgets and pie/donut chart widgets, and keep time ranges consistent for timeseries chart widgets. This makes it easy for people viewing the dashboard to analyze the data being displayed.
Ordering your trellis
You can customize the order that multiples are displayed within a trellised widget. Trellised widgets can be ordered by:
- Values: where the order is based on the alphanumeric value of the trellis field.
- Date of first occurrence: where the multiples will be sorted in order of their occurrence in the data source. This will identify the date of the oldest record where each option occurred, and assign the order based on these dates.
- Date of last occurrence: where the multiples will be sorted in order of their occurrence in the data source. This will identify the date of the newest record where each option occurred, and assign the order based on these dates.
- Custom order: if you know what all of the available trellis field results are, you can add them in any order you like. If you’re using this method, make sure you add the options in the exact right format. Any spelling discrepancies or case inconsistencies will result in the widget not recognizing that field.
Steps to create a trellis widget
To trellis a widget, follow the steps below:
- Create the widget that you wish to use as the trellis and customize the widget as usual.
- Scroll to the bottom of the sidebar where you will find the Trellis property. Open this property and click Create trellis.
- Choose the Field that will be used to partition/split your data. By default, the About field will be selected, but you can change this to any field within your event form.
- A multiple will be created for each unique value in the field.
- This value is displayed above each multiple as a title if Show titles is enabled.
Create a tile trellis to display the availability of all athletes in a group
In this example, we have used the trellis feature to display the most recent availability status of all athletes in a group. We have made use of filters to choose whether we want to display all athletes' availabilities, or only show athletes who match a specific availability status, such as unavailable.
Here’s a quick look at the outcome of the example:
- Add the event form used to collect athlete availability to your dashboard as a data source.
- Add a tile from the widget library.
- Disable the widget title and subtitle in the general properties of the sidebar, and customize the widget’s style to match your dashboard.
- In the Data properties section of the sidebar, select the event form from step 1 as the Data source.
- Select Availability as the Field in the Value properties. The Data type will be a String and the Aggregation will be Get from most recent record.
- Enable avatars under the Avatar properties.
- Set up a ruleset for the Availability field, and apply it to the tile in the Conditional formatting properties.
- Click on the Create trellis button in the Trellis properties.
- Select the form used to collect athlete availability as the Data source in the Trellis properties.
- Set the Field to About, so that the widget is multiplied for each athlete.
- Set up the required Data filters. In our example, we’ve added a Status select box widget to filter the trellis based on status.
- Select how you want your trellis to be ordered. In our example, we've Ordered the trellis by Values and set the Direction to Ascending.
- Enable show titles, so that the name of each athlete appears above their multiple of the tile.