Dials, gauges, and buttons

Dials, gauges, and buttons are graphical formats that you can use to indicate traffic lit data.

Buttons show the traffic lighting color that applies to the data value. Buttons do not graphically display the current data value or the limits you applied to the data value.

Dials and gauges display the current data value and the traffic lighting colors. A dial features a needle that rotates around a center point, like a car's speedometer. A gauge is linear, like a mercury thermometer. If you select either dial or gauge for your notification and did not specify any parameters, Smart Notification automatically calculates the scale and draws the needle onto the image. If the traffic lighting has one threshold, the coloring on the dial or gauge is split at 50% of the needle's range.

If the traffic lighting has two limits, the dial or gauge is split into thirds. However, you can select a dial or gauge to appear on your notification even if you have not applied data limits. If you do not assign data limits, Smart Notification displays an image with no color and draws the needle to 50% of the scale.

A tic value is a value for 1% of the dial or gauge's scale. Smart Notification calculates the tic value based on the assigned limits. If you use two limits, Smart Notification calculates the tic value based on the difference between the two limits.

If you use one threshold, Smart Notification calculates the tic value to be about a full magnitude smaller. For example, a threshold of 50 yields a scale from one to 100. In all cases the range of the dial represents a linear progression.

You can use customization options (parameters) to modify the look and behavior of dials, gauges, and buttons. For more information, see Dial, gauge, and button parameters.