Widget reference

Overview

Serial Studio has 15+ widget types for real-time data visualization. Widgets fall into two categories: group widgets (display multiple datasets from a group) and dataset widgets (display a single dataset value).

Widget type hierarchy

The diagram below shows all widget types organized by category, with their configuration keys and dataset requirements.

flowchart TD
    Root(["Dashboard Widgets"])
    Root --> Group["Group Widgets"]
    Root --> Dataset["Dataset Widgets"]

    Group --> G1["Data Grid · MultiPlot
Accelerometer · Gyroscope"]
    Group --> G2["GPS Map · LED Panel
3D Plot · Image View"]
    Group --> G3["Painter (user-scripted)
Web View"]

    Dataset --> D1["Plot · FFT Plot · Waterfall
Bar · Gauge · Compass · Meter"]

    Root --> Utility["Utility Widgets"]
    Utility --> U1["Clock · Stopwatch"]

Group widgets

Data Grid

• Widget key: "datagrid".
• Displays all datasets in a tabular format with titles, values, and units.
• Best for: overview of multiple channels, status monitoring.
• Configuration: none required beyond adding datasets to the group.
• Supports pause/resume.

MultiPlot

• Widget key: "multiplot".
• Overlays multiple dataset curves on shared axes.
• Per-curve visibility toggles.
• Auto-scaling Y-axis.
• Best for: comparing related signals (for example a 3-axis accelerometer over time).
• Configuration: add datasets with graph: true to the group.

GPS Map

• Widget key: "gps" (also accepts "map").
• Tile-based map with real-time position tracking.
• Plots the trajectory path.
• Shows latitude, longitude, and altitude.
• Auto-centers on the latest position.
• Zoom and pan with the mouse.
• Best for: vehicle tracking, drone telemetry, field measurements.
• Requires: datasets with latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude.
• Needs an internet connection for map tiles. Previously viewed areas are cached.

Gyroscope

• Widget key: "gyro" (also accepts "gyroscope").
• Attitude indicator showing yaw, pitch, roll.
• Best for: IMU visualization, drone orientation, robotics.
• Requires: exactly 3 datasets (yaw, pitch, roll).
• Expects absolute angles in degrees. If your sensor only provides angular rates (deg/s), integrate them with the Integrate Rate to Angle transform template.

Accelerometer

• Widget key: "accelerometer".
• 3-axis acceleration visualization with a computed total G-force.
• Shows pitch, roll, peak G, magnitude.
• Configurable max G range.
• Best for: vibration analysis, impact detection, motion sensing.
• Requires: exactly 3 datasets (X, Y, Z acceleration).

LED Panel

• Group widget (auto-created for datasets with led: true).
• Multiple multi-state indicator LEDs, one per dataset.
• With alarm bands defined, each LED lights in the color of the band the value sits in, shows the band's label next to the dataset title, and flashes while a band marked blink is active. Outside every band, the LED is off (annunciator-panel behavior).
• Without bands, the LED falls back to the legacy single threshold: on (dataset color) when the value meets or exceeds ledHigh (default 80).
• Best for: status flags, limit indicators, digital I/O states, annunciator panels.
• Configuration: set led: true on each dataset, then either define alarmBands (see Alarm bands) or set ledHigh.

Terminal

• Special widget. Always available when the console is enabled.
• VT-100 emulation with ANSI color support.
• Shows the raw text data stream.
• Configurable font and display settings.
• Keyboard input is forwarded to the connected device.

3D Plot (Pro)

• Widget key: "plot3d".
• 3D scatter and trajectory visualization.
• Orbit or free-camera navigation.
• Optional anaglyph stereo (red/cyan 3D glasses).
• Interpolation support.
• Best for: 3D position tracking, spatial data, point clouds.
• Requires: exactly 3 datasets (X, Y, Z coordinates).
• Renders through Serial Studio's custom QPainter-based 3D pipeline. No GPU or OpenGL driver required. Runs on low-end hardware including Raspberry Pi.
• Pro license required.

Image View (Pro)

• Widget key: "image".
• Live JPEG/PNG/BMP/WebP image streaming from the device.
• Autodetect or manual frame delimiter configuration.
• Independent frame reader per widget. Image frames and CSV telemetry coexist in the same byte stream.
• Export, zoom, and image filter toolbar controls.
• Best for: camera feeds, thermal imaging, visual inspection.
• Group-level configuration fields:
  • imgDetectionMode: "autodetect" (default, uses format magic bytes) or "manual" (user-defined delimiters).
  • imgStartSequence: hex start delimiter (manual mode only).
  • imgEndSequence: hex end delimiter (manual mode only).
• No datasets required inside the group. The widget reads raw image bytes directly from the transport stream.
• Pro license required.

Painter (Pro)

• Widget key: "painter".
• User-scripted dashboard widget. The script defines a JavaScript paint(ctx, w, h) callback (and an optional onFrame() callback) that renders directly into the widget's bitmap on every dashboard tick.
• Eighteen built-in templates are bundled with Serial Studio: oscilloscope, sparkline grid, dial gauge, polar plot, radar sweep, artificial horizon, heatmap, LED matrix, vector field, XY scope, and others.
• The script reads the group's datasets through a datasets global and dashboard tick metadata through frame.number / frame.timestampMs.
• Best for visualizations not covered by any built-in widget: instrument mimics, project-specific layouts, lab-equipment-style readouts.
• Repaints at the dashboard refresh rate (60 Hz by default, configurable 1-240 Hz). A 250 ms watchdog terminates the script if a single call does not return.
• See the Painter Widget reference for the full API.
• Pro license required.

Web View

• Widget key: "webview".
• Embeds a web page inside a dashboard group, backed by Qt WebEngine (Chromium).
• The only configuration is a URL, set in the group's settings in the Project Editor.
• Group-level configuration fields:
  • webViewUrl: the address to load.
• No datasets required inside the group.
• Best for: embedding a live map, a 3D model viewer, a hardware vendor's web dashboard, or any HTML content alongside your telemetry. The ISS Tracker example uses it to show a NASA glTF model of the station.
• Requires a build compiled with Qt WebEngine. On builds without it, the widget shows a "Web View Unavailable" placeholder instead of failing to load the project.

Dataset widgets

Plot

• Auto-created for datasets with graph: true (field name plt).
• Single-curve 2D time-series line chart.
• Auto-scaling Y-axis.
• Configurable plot range via the plotMin and plotMax project-file keys (C++ fields pltMin/pltMax).
• Optional custom X-axis from another dataset via the xAxis project-file key (C++ field xAxisId), which enables XY/scatter plots.
• Pause/resume.
• Best for: individual signal monitoring, trend analysis.

FFT Plot

• Auto-created for datasets with fft: true.
• Real-time frequency spectrum analysis via Fast Fourier Transform (KissFFT).
• Configurable FFT window size: 8 to 16384 samples (powers of 2). Default 256.
• Configurable sampling rate determines the frequency axis (default 100 Hz).
• Configurable frequency range via fftMin and fftMax.
• Best for: vibration frequency analysis, audio spectrum, signal quality.
• Configuration fields: fftSamples (window size), fftSamplingRate (Hz), fftMin, fftMax.

Waterfall (Pro)

• Auto-created for datasets with waterfall: true.
• Scrolling time-frequency plot (spectrogram). Each row is one FFT magnitude spectrum, with the newest row drawn at the top and older rows scrolling down.
• Reuses the dataset's FFT settings (fftSamples, fftSamplingRate, fftMin, fftMax). Enable both fft: true and waterfall: true if you want the FFT plot alongside the waterfall.
• Magnitude is converted to dB. The dynamic range (minDb / maxDb) is adjustable from the widget toolbar.
• Built-in color maps: Viridis, Inferno, Magma, Plasma, Turbo, Jet, Hot, Grayscale.
• Mouse wheel to zoom, drag to pan, hover for a frequency/time readout. Reset view from the toolbar.
• Configurable history depth (number of stored rows).
• Y-axis source. Defaults to elapsed time. Set waterfallYAxis to another dataset's uniqueId to drive the Y axis from that dataset's value instead. This is typically used for order-tracking plots (for example RPM vs. frequency).
• Best for: vibration order tracking, audio spectrograms, RF band monitoring, transient frequency events.
• Configuration fields: waterfall: true, waterfallYAxis (0 = time; otherwise the uniqueId of the dataset to use as the Y axis), plus the FFT fields above.
• Pro license required.

Bar

• Dataset widget key: "bar".
• Horizontal bar gauge with min/max range.
• Color-banded alarm zones with per-band severity (Info / OK / Warning / Critical).
• Shows current value and units.
• Best for: level indicators, resource usage, bounded values.
• Configuration fields (project-file keys): widgetMin (default 0), widgetMax (default 0), alarmBands (array; see Alarm bands). The widgetMin/widgetMax keys map to the C++ fields wgtMin/wgtMax.
• Two-page swipe view. Page 0 is the analog bar; page 1 is a large monospace digital readout. Swipe horizontally (or use the page indicator dots at the bottom) to flip. The active page is saved per-widget in the project file, so each Bar tile remembers its own preference.

Gauge

• Dataset widget key: "gauge".
• Circular or arc gauge display with colored outer-rim arc segments for each alarm band.
• Same configuration as Bar (min/max, bands).
• Best for: speedometers, RPM, pressure, temperature.
• Configuration fields (project-file keys): widgetMin, widgetMax, alarmBands. The widgetMin/widgetMax keys map to the C++ fields wgtMin/wgtMax.
• Two-page swipe view. Page 0 is the analog dial; page 1 is a large digital readout. The active page is persisted per widget.

Compass

• Dataset widget key: "compass".
• Heading indicator (0 to 360 degrees).
• Auto-converts a numeric heading to a cardinal direction (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW).
• Best for: heading and bearing, wind direction, orientation.
• Two-page swipe view. Page 0 is the compass rose; page 1 is a large digital readout (heading plus cardinal direction). The active page is persisted per widget.

Meter

• Dataset widget key: "meter".
• Analog half-arc meter with a sweeping needle, tick marks, colored arc bands, and value readout.
• Same min/max + bands model as Bar and Gauge.
• Best for: VU-style readouts, signal strength, pressure, voltage.
• Configuration fields (project-file keys): widgetMin (default 0), widgetMax (default 0), alarmBands. The widgetMin/widgetMax keys map to the C++ fields wgtMin/wgtMax.
• Two-page swipe view. Page 0 is the analog half-arc meter; page 1 is a large digital readout. The active page is persisted per widget.

Alarm bands

Bar, Gauge, Meter, and LED Panel widgets render one or more alarm bands. Each band is a contiguous value range with a color and a severity tier. The gauge paints them as colored stripes (Bar) or arc segments (Gauge / Meter), and the needle / fill tints to the active band's color when the value enters it; LED Panel entries light in the active band's color. The "APU tachometer" convention (white below normal, green operating range, yellow caution, red redline) is one canonical setup; any combination of ranges and colors is allowed.

Band schema. Under the dataset's alarmBands array, each entry is an object:

Bands may have gaps (the dataset's default background shows through), may overlap (later bands paint over earlier ones), and need not cover the full range. Editing is via the Alarm Bands button in the dataset toolbar (next to Transform), which opens a dedicated dialog with presets (Tachometer, Speedometer, Engine Temperature, Pressure, Battery Voltage, Fuel Level, Signal Strength, CPU / System Load, OK / Warning / Critical, Indicator, Fault Indicator), per-band color picker, severity selector, blink toggle, and a live preview strip.

Notifications. When the value enters a band with severity ≥ Warning, Serial Studio posts a notification (Warning or Critical level, with the band's label in the subtitle). Alarm tracking runs per dataset at the dashboard level, so notifications fire even when the widget displaying the dataset is hidden or not instantiated. A 3-second per-dataset cooldown suppresses oscillation spam.

Legacy compatibility. Project files written by older Serial Studio releases carry alarmEnabled / alarmLow / alarmHigh instead of alarmBands. On load, those are converted to two Warning-severity bands ([wgtMin..alarmLow] and [alarmHigh..wgtMax]). The legacy keys are not written back; re-saved projects carry only alarmBands. For painter scripts (Pro), dataset.alarmLow and dataset.alarmHigh remain readable as derived values (first / last Warning+ band edges) so existing scripts keep working.

Utility widgets

Clock and Stopwatch are dashboard-level utility widgets. They are not attached to any group or dataset; toggle them from the Start menu (Dashboard pane) and they appear as overview entries in the taskbar alongside Terminal and Notifications. Enabled state persists in QSettings under Dashboard/ClockEnabled and Dashboard/StopwatchEnabled.

Clock

• Toggle from the Dashboard Start menu.
• Two-page swipe view. Page 0 is an analog clock face (silver-bezel gauge style, hour/minute/second hands, 12-hour numerals); page 1 is a large monospace digital readout (12-hour time + full date).
• Driven by the system clock, ticks once per second.
• Active page is persisted in application QSettings (ClockWidget/clockPageIndex).
• Best for: visible session timestamps in screen recordings, lab/operator dashboards.

Stopwatch

• Toggle from the Dashboard Start menu.
• Single-page widget: large HH:MM:SS.mmm readout, Start/Stop, Lap, Reset buttons, and a scrollable lap table.
• Local-only timing; data is not persisted to the project, transmitted, or sent to the device.
• Best for: bench testing, run/test timing during a session.

Widget configuration summary

Dataset fields reference

Every dataset in a project file supports these visualization-related fields:

Dashboard layout

• Widgets appear as mini-windows on the dashboard canvas.
• Drag title bars to move them.
• Resize from edges and corners.
• Minimize individual widgets to the taskbar.
• Maximize to fill the canvas.
• Right-click the canvas for a context menu: tile windows, set wallpaper.
• Widget positions and sizes are saved per project via widgetSettings and persist between sessions.
• The Actions panel (if the project defines actions) shows up as a horizontal bar above the widgets.
• Dashboard render order follows the DashboardWidget enum: Terminal, DataGrid, MultiPlot, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, GPS, Plot3D, FFT, LED, Plot, Bar, Gauge, Compass, Meter, Clock, Stopwatch, Web View, ImageView, OutputPanel, NotificationLog, Waterfall, Painter.

Most widgets carry a small toolbar of icon buttons along their top edge that appears once the widget is large enough to fit it. Every button on every widget toolbar is listed in the Toolbar & Button Reference.

Picking the right widget

See also

• Project Editor: how to configure widgets in your project.
• Toolbar & Button Reference: every button on every widget toolbar and across the app.
• Operation Modes: dashboard modes and frame detection.
• Data Flow: how data reaches widgets from drivers through the pipeline.