Creating a scenario trend chart

To create a trend chart for a scenario, you add it to a dashboard and set its traceCount property to the number of trace lines you want to display. This will cause a set of properties to be added to the property panel for each trace; trace1 through traceN. Following are the properties for trace1.

Each trace will have a traceNValue and traceNValueTable property. These define the data attachment for the traces. The traceNValue property is used to attach the trace to new data (data received after the time of attachment). The traceNValueTable property is used to attach the trace to historical data (data received before the time of attachment).

When attaching a trace to a scenario variable, you must specify a filter that identifies the scenario instance the trace will show data for. The filter to identify the instance will typically match on $instanceId although other filters can also be used.

The Trend Drilldown tutorial sample demonstrates how to use a trend chart where the scenario instance charted is determined by the selection in a scenario summary table. The following illustration is from the Trend Drilldown sample.

To recreate this sample, create a new dashboard and perform the following steps.

1. From the Tables tab in the Object Palette, select the Table object and add it to the dashboard canvas.

2. With the table object selected, in the Object Properties panel, double click the valueTable property and attach it to Apama by specifying the information shown below in the Scenario and Display variables fields. Do not apply a filter.

3. From the Trends tab in the Object Palette, select the Single Variable Trend object and add it to the dashboard canvas.

4. With the trend object selected, in the Object Properties panel, double click the trend chart object’s trace1ValueTable property and attach it to the trend table for the tutorial scenario by specifying values in the fields as shown below.

Here the Price variable is selected for the trace. The scenario instance charted will be the selected instance as indicated by the variable $instanceId.

5. With the trend object selected, in the Object Properties panel, double click the trend chart object’s trace1Value property and attach it to the trend table for the tutorial scenario by specifying values in the fields as shown below.

Here the Price variable is selected for the trace. The scenario instance charted will be the selected instance as indicated by the variable $instanceId.

6. Select the trend object’s scrollbarMode property and change its value to As Needed. This will add a scrollbar to the chart allowing you to scroll back in time to view earlier values.

7. Select a scenario instance in the table by double clicking on it. The chart will now begin charting the Price variable of the selected scenario instance.

If you have not previously displayed a sample containing a trend chart, no previous values for Price will be displayed. Apama does not collect data in a scenario trend table until the first attachment to an instance of the table is made.