Creating Custom Dashboards in FME Flow

Introduction

In FME Flow, Dashboards conveniently display information generated by certain workspaces. Usually, they contain metrics about the Flow instance, but custom Dashboards can be created to show anything. 

In addition to those included with FME Flow installations, it's possible to create custom Dashboards. To do this, three components are required:

1. Data used to generate the dashboard. This can be stored in a periodically updated file in FME Flow (as with Dashboards included in FME Flow) or fetched at runtime in the workspaces that generate the Dashboard (as in the tutorial below).
2. A workspace that outputs an HTML file to $(FME_SHAREDRESOURCE_DASHBOARD)/dashboards. $(FME_SHAREDRESOURCE_DASHBOARD) is the Dashboards folder within Resources.
3. Some trigger to run the workspace and update the dashboard. 

Step-by-Step Instructions

As a demonstration, we'll create a dashboard containing a pie chart of selected items on the Flow server:

To skip these steps, download and import CompleteProject.fsproject.

1. Download ItemsPieChart.fmw and Open in FME Workbench.

The workspace loads data at runtime via the REST API, parses it, and then creates an HTML file to serve as the dashboard. The dashboard is written to $(FME_SHAREDRESOURCE_DASHBOARD)/dashboards/ItemsPieChart.html.

2. Test the Workspace

When prompted, set parameters as follows:

• Items to Include: Select all
• FME Flow Web Connection: Choose an admin web connection, or one with sufficient permissions to list items on the server.
• FME Flow Web URL: Everything before /fmeserver/... in your Flow URL. There should be no trailing slash.
• FME Flow Dashboards Directory: Set to a local folder for testing. 
  

3. Open ItemsPieChart.html

It should contain sections for each item type selected.

4. Publish and Generate Dashboard

Publish to Flow in the Dashboards repository.

• To publish a workspace from FME Workbench to FME Flow, follow the generic instructions below using the specific details listed in the article. If the article does not have a specific repository name listed, we recommend creating a Training repository. If a specific service is not listed in the article, please use the default Job Submitter.

  1. Click Publish

  From the File menu, click Publish to FME Flow, or from the toolbar ribbon, click Publish.

  Toolbar Ribbon:
  
  
  File Menu:
  

  Deploy Menu (2025.1+):
  

  2. Add a Web Connection

  In the Publish to FME Flow wizard, a FME Flow connection needs to be selected or created. To create an FME Flow connection, click the drop-down under FME Flow Connection and select Connect to FME Flow.

  

  The following instructions are for a basic connection, but if your FME Flow is set up for Microsoft Azure, SAML, or Windows Credentials, please see the Using Web Connections to Connect to FME Flow documentation.

  An FME Flow Connection dialog will appear; here, we will set up the connection. The connection information and credentials can be obtained from your FME Flow Administrator. If you have not yet logged into FME Flow after installing, please do so prior to continuing, as you will be prompted to change the password from the default:
  Username: admin
  Password: admin

  • • Web Service: FME Flow

    • Server URL: http://localhost

    • Connection Name: Training FME Flow

    • Authentication: Basic

    • Username: your username

    • Password: your password

    Click OK. FME will try to authenticate the connection. Once authenticated, this connection will be available whenever you publish a workspace. The connection will only need to be created once.

  • • Web Service: FME Server

    • Connection Name: Training FME Server

    • Server URL: http://localhost

    • Username: your username

    • Password: your password

    Click Authenticate. FME will try to authenticate the connection. Once authenticated, this connection will be available whenever you publish a workspace. The connection will only need to be created once.

    Click Next to move to the Create Repository page of the dialog

  3. Create Repository

  Repositories are used to store groups of related items that have been published to FME Flow (similar to directories). Items such as workspaces, source data, custom formats, custom transformers, and templates can be published to a repository.

  If you need to create a new repository, click on the New button next to Repository Name. Enter the repository name and an optional description. Click OK to close the Create New Repository dialog.
  

  To select an existing repository, click the drop-down next to Repository Name and select the desired repository.
  

  4. Upload Files

  Some workspaces require additional files to run correctly on FME Flow, so these need to be uploaded along with the workspace. To upload files, enable Upload data files at the bottom of the dialog.

  When files are uploaded through the publishing menu, they are stored within the repository. If you want to upload folder files (such as geodatabases) or to specify where the files stored, the Select Files button allows you to do that. For detailed instructions on how to use the Select Files button, see the documentation.

  5. Register Services

  The final step before publishing a workspace is to register services. Services control how the data will be output after the workspace is run.

  

  Services return results in different forms:

  • Data Download Service returns results as a downloadable zip file

  • Data Streaming Service returns results as a data stream

  • Job Submitter Service accepts and runs workspace job requests

  • KML Network Link returns a KML Network Link that can be used in Google Earth

  • Notification Service allows for event-driven messaging

  Typically, the Job Submitter is always enabled, but multiple services can be enabled. Once services have been enabled, click Publish.

  6. Review Translation Log

  To confirm whether or not the workspace was published successfully, check the Translation Log. The Translation log will show which repository you published to, which files were included, and a quick link to run the workspace.

Run the workspace on Flow from the Run Workspace page. This generates and saves the dashboard's HTML on the Flow server.

Navigate to Jobs > Dashboards and verify the dashboard has been created successfully.

5. Schedule the Workspace

To ensure up-to-date information is displayed, create a Schedule to run the workspace at a set interval.

See Schedule a Workspace to Run with FME Flow for more information.