The Grid designer allows you to easily add, hide, order, and customize columns of data that may come from any internal or external source.
In order to configure the grid, expand the grid columns panel on any supported tile.
Supported tiles
Column selection and ordering
Hide a column
By default when you configure a supported tile (see above) all columns will be displayed. To hide a column, simply click hide for each column you wish hidden.
If you have previously hidden some columns that you now want restored, you can click show all columns to toggle the display of not only visible columns but hidden ones (the toggle will now read show visible columns only). Columns that are currently hidden will be greyed out and have the show option instead of hide.
The column modifications are performed client-side, so it's still most efficient to filter the columns using your Log Analytics or App Insights query, but if you're using an API that doesn't allow you to filter columns then this feature gets you the results you need.
Ordering columns
Changing the column order couldn't be easier, simply click and drag the grey ☰ icon to the left of the column name.
Customise column display
The grid designer allows you to not only rename columns, but also change how the data in each column is formatted and displayed. This uses the standard SquaredUp 'mustache' syntax, and is great for converting numbers, adding units, highlighting key values or performing any other customisations you may need.
Renaming a column
If you want to change a column name, simply click on the existing column name in the grid options panel and enter the new name. To restore the original name, simply delete your updated name and the column will revert to its original name.
Change the way a column is displayed
To format a column, click edit to the right of a column to display the custom template box. You can then type your mustache (if you want to preview the results, click anywhere outside the text box) and click on done when you have the column looking exactly how you want it.
A { } icon will appear next to the column edit option to indicate that a custom template has been applied.
For more information on mustaches see How to use custom labelling.
Custom columns
You can dynamically construct new columns based on the data returned by your tile, which is invaluable when dealing with data sources that only support simple data retrieval, or where the API does not return data in a simple tabular form (such as many JSON based Web APIs).
To add a custom column:
- Click the add button near the bottom of the grid columns panel.
- Click the column name and change the name from customcolumn1 to whatever name you want to give the column.
- In the data key path box, enter the (original) name of the column or path to the desired property in the returned data (this will depend on the API you are returning data from). If you need to access the values of multiple columns (i.e. concatenating two columns together) simply leave the box empty.
- Optionally, if you want to customize the display of the column, you can enter a mustache in the custom template box (see Change the way a column is displayed above).
- Click done when you have finished.
Custom columns have a pencil icon in the grid options panel to indicate they have been added by a dashboard author.