Multi-select, condition visibility, and data source requests in Business Forms 3.1.0

We are happy to announce the release of the Business Forms panel 3.1.0. This release includes the following updates:

• Added a multi-select box.
• Added the conditional visibility of form elements.
• Added the code editor for a custom payload.
• Added the code editor for the custom reset operation.
• Added support for the Data Source request.
• Added the onChange function to update elements in the local state within the custom code.

Grafana Catalog

The plugin was updated in the Grafana Plugins catalog on August 15, 2023.

Business Forms panel 3.1.0 for Grafana.

Multi-Select

A new multi-select box is similar to the select box and allows selecting multiple options.

A new multi-select box allows you to select multiple options.

Conditional element visibility

The new Show If option available for any form element allows you to control the visibility of the form element depending on other elements' values. The JavaScript function should return true to show the element or false to hide it.

For example, this form element is shown only if the selected value for the select element is equal to max.

const select = elements.find((element) => element.id === "select");

if (select) {
  return select.value === "max";
}

Element visibility can be controlled using a JavaScript function, which should return true or false.

Custom payload code editor

Initial request with Data Source

The code editor for the custom payload is available for initial requests using the data source. When the data source is selected, you can specify a custom payload to execute the rawSql SQL statement and any other property required for a specific data source.

Interpolation

Dashboard variables will be replaced automatically. The payload data should be inserted with string interpolation.

return {
  rawSql: ``,
  format: "table",
};

A response from the data source can be manually parsed in the custom code using the toDataQueryResponse() function, which returns data frames. Values from the data frames can be applied to the form elements as described in the documentation.

const dataQuery = toDataQueryResponse(response);
console.log(dataQuery);

Initial request for data source allows you to specify a request payload.

Update request

In the update request, you can send the payload as follows:

• All Elements
• Updated only
• Custom Code

In the Custom Code category, you can create your own logic to form a payload.

const payload = {};

elements.forEach((element) => {
  if (!element.value) {
    return;
  }

  payload[element.id] = element.value;
});

return payload;

/**
 * Data Source payload.
 * Dashboard variables will be replaced automatically.
 * The payload data should be inserted with string interpolation.
 */
return {
  rawSql: ``,
  format: "table",
};

Update request can send all, updated elements, and a custom payload.

Code editor Custom reset

The Reset button enables adding custom logic in the JavaScript code editor. By default, it calls the initial request.

Reset button allows you to add custom logic in JavaScript code editor.

Data Source request

Support for data sources was one of the most requested community features. Since version 3.1.0, you don't need a REST API server to interact with databases and storages configured as data sources.

Initial Request

Response from the initial request can be parsed manually as demonstrated above or automatically assigned to the form elements.

To get the latest value of any field returned from the data source, provide the field name and send it in the payload to update.

Assign element values based on the data from the initial request using data source.

Update Request

The update request payload for the data source should be created in the custom code according to the data source specification. For SQL databases, it's rawSql and format:

const payload = {};

elements.forEach((element) => {
  if (!element.value) {
    return;
  }

  payload[element.id] = element.value;
});

/**
 * Data Source payload.
 * Dashboard variables will be replaced automatically.
 * The payload data should be inserted with string interpolation.
 */
return {
  rawSql: ``,
  format: "table",
};

Update requests using data source.

onChange to update elements in the local state

In Data Manipulation panel 3.X, the onChange() function is required to manually update the form element's values in the local state.

onChange(elements.map((element) => {
  return element.id === 'name' ? { ...element, value: 'test' } : element;
});

Getting Started

You can install the Business Forms panel from the Grafana Plugins catalog or use the Grafana command line tool.

Install Business Suite plugins in Cloud, OSS, Enterprise. Getting started with the Business Suite.

For the latter, please use the following command:

grafana cli plugins install volkovlabs-form-panel

Tutorial

In this video, Daria provides two examples of what the Business Forms plugin can do and then outline the configuration steps. Towards the end, she emphasizes that the Business Forms panel can be created dynamically or, in other words, as a code with a reference where you can get copy-paste examples.

The powerful Business Forms panel 4.1.0 Overview.

We have many other tutorials that you can find helpful. You can review all related to this plugin tutorials here.

Release Notes

Features / Enhancements

• Updated jest selectors to use the npm package (#209).
• Added the onChange function to update elements in the local state within the custom code (#214).
• Updated ESLint configuration (#215).
• Added the multi-select element (#217).
• Added the conditional element visibility (#219).
• Added the code editor for the Custom Payload section (#220).
• Added the code editor for the Custom Reset section (#221).
• Added the Data Source request (#222).

Always happy to hear from you

• Ask a question, request a new feature, or report an issue at GitHub issues.
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