Intro to Properties
MyStacks uses ‘properties’ (specially-defined labels) to define attributes of dashboards, widgets, and tags. For example, renaming a dashboard updates its ‘name’ property with a new value.
Using properties with tags
MyStacks allows you to configure properties about how incoming data is handled for individual tags and applies those settings anywhere the tag is used, across all dashboards and widgets. This keeps data handling consistent throughout your organization, regardless of whether you have two dashboards or two hundred.
It also minimizes the time spent on configuration, which is why ‘Use Tag Properties’ is selected by default throughout MyStacks. If a sensor sends data in Celsius and you want to show it in Fahrenheit, you can either:
- Do the conversion once at the tag level for all widgets and dashboards, or
- Enter the conversion as a custom setting for every new widget you create that uses that tag
The following article will look at two ways to access and configure tag properties: Centrally from the Stack Management Widget, and using shortcuts from the Configure Widget panel.
The Stack Management Widget
The Stack Management widget is an administrative widget that displays a list of all stacks you own, including information such as name, location, etc. Among other functions, it is used to view and define the properties of tags associated with your stacks. If you do not have a Stack Management widget on one of your dashboards, click the plus button (
) in the top right corner of the dashboard to add one. See the interface below.
- Jump to Device Details: The jump icon (
) takes you to the Device Details controls, where you can take various actions on a stack. - Multiselect: This feature works in concert with filtering to sort large numbers of stacks more easily.
- Label: The name of a stack. This property can be edited in the Device Details control panel.
- Last Updated: The last time that a software update was pushed to a stack.
- Status: Gives an approximate indication of the quality of the connection to the stack, in green/yellow/red.
- Location: The physical location of a stack. The property can be edited in the Device Details control panel.
- Owner: The primary administrator of the stack.
- Search: Search functionality for users with many stacks. Filters as you type.
- Filter table: Opens a menu allowing you to filter by any of the column headers.
Click the Jump icon () to open the Device Details panel, and click the ‘Tags’ tab at the top to navigate to Tag Properties shown below.
This tab shows a list of every tag that this stack is capable of sending to a dashboard. You may configure various properties of each tag, grouped by category. Tag properties configured here will apply across all dashboards and widgets, unless overridden by custom settings within a widget. Click the arrows on the left to open or close each set of properties. Each category and property are described in detail in the next article.
Shortcuts to Tag Properties
You can use the Configure Widget panel to jump directly to the properties of any tag that the widget is currently displaying. With the dashboard unlocked, hover your mouse over the widget and click the Configure Widget (
) icon to open the panel. Then click the jump icon () to go directly to that tag’s properties and make changes.