Visualizations

LotusWeb includes built-in charting capabilities to visualize your query results. This guide covers all available chart types, configuration options, and best practices.

Overview

After running a query, you can switch between table and chart views to visualize your data:

• 5 chart types - Bar, Line, Area, Scatter, and Pie charts
• Flexible configuration - Configure axes and grouping fields
• Dark mode support - Charts automatically adapt to your theme
• Keyboard shortcuts - Quick access to visualization features

Chart Types

Bar Chart

Best for comparing categorical data with discrete values.

When to use:

• Comparing values across categories (e.g., sales by region)
• Displaying counts or totals for different groups
• Showing rankings or relative sizes

Example query:

SELECT department, COUNT(*) as employee_count
FROM employees
GROUP BY department;

Line Chart

Best for showing trends and changes over time.

When to use:

• Tracking metrics over time (e.g., daily active users)
• Showing continuous data with a natural order
• Comparing multiple series over the same time period

Example query:

SELECT DATE(created_at) as date, COUNT(*) as signups
FROM users
WHERE created_at >= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '30 days'
GROUP BY DATE(created_at)
ORDER BY date;

Area Chart

Best for showing cumulative totals or volume over time.

When to use:

• Emphasizing the magnitude of change over time
• Showing stacked comparisons across categories
• Visualizing cumulative growth

Example query:

SELECT DATE(order_date) as date, SUM(amount) as revenue
FROM orders
GROUP BY DATE(order_date)
ORDER BY date;

Scatter Plot

Best for exploring relationships between two numeric variables.

When to use:

• Finding correlations between two metrics
• Identifying outliers in your data
• Analyzing distribution patterns

Example query:

SELECT price, quantity_sold
FROM products
WHERE quantity_sold > 0;

Pie Chart

Best for showing proportions of a whole. Use sparingly.

When to use:

• Displaying market share or percentage breakdowns
• Showing simple part-to-whole relationships
• When you have 5 or fewer categories

Example query:

SELECT status, COUNT(*) as count
FROM orders
GROUP BY status;

Note: Pie charts become hard to read with many categories. Consider using a bar chart instead for more than 5-6 categories.

Configuring Charts

Opening the Settings Drawer

Access visualization settings in two ways:

• Click the chart icon in the results toolbar
• Press Cmd/Ctrl+G keyboard shortcut

Chart Type Tab

The first tab displays all 5 chart types as icon buttons. Click any icon to select that chart type.

Configure Tab

The second tab contains the field configuration:

Axis Options

Fine-tune your chart display:

• Show Labels - Toggle axis labels on/off
• X-Axis Title - Custom label for the horizontal axis
• Y-Axis Title - Custom label for the vertical axis

Configuration Status

A status indicator shows whether your chart is ready:

• Green checkmark - Configuration is valid
• Amber warning - Missing required fields

Keyboard Shortcuts

Best Practices

Choosing the Right Chart

Preparing Your Data

For the best visualization results:

1. Ensure numeric Y-axis data - The Y-axis field should contain numbers for most chart types
2. Use dates for time series - When charting over time, use DATE or TIMESTAMP columns for the X-axis
3. Limit categories - For bar and pie charts, aim for fewer than 10 categories for readability
4. Include grouping columns - To create multi-series charts, include a category column for the Color/Series field
5. Order your data - For line and area charts, ORDER BY your date/time column

Common Query Patterns

Grouped bar chart (multiple series):

SELECT
  DATE_TRUNC('month', created_at) as month,
  status,
  COUNT(*) as count
FROM orders
GROUP BY DATE_TRUNC('month', created_at), status
ORDER BY month;

Set X-Axis to month, Y-Axis to count, and Color/Series to status.

Time series with aggregation:

SELECT
  DATE(event_time) as date,
  SUM(value) as total
FROM metrics
WHERE event_time >= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '7 days'
GROUP BY DATE(event_time)
ORDER BY date;

Set X-Axis to date and Y-Axis to total.

Troubleshooting

Chart Not Rendering

• Check field selection - Ensure both X-Axis and Y-Axis fields are selected
• Verify data types - The Y-Axis field must contain numeric values
• Check for empty results - Run the query first and confirm data is returned

Colors Not Showing

• Add Color/Series field - Select a grouping field to enable multi-series coloring
• Verify distinct values - The grouping field should have distinct values to differentiate series

Chart Looks Wrong

• Wrong chart type - Consider if another chart type better suits your data
• Too many categories - Reduce categories or switch from pie to bar chart
• Missing ORDER BY - For time series, ensure data is ordered by the time column

Performance Issues

• Limit result size - Large datasets may slow chart rendering; use LIMIT or aggregate data
• Aggregate in SQL - Perform grouping and aggregation in your query rather than charting raw data