Chart interactions in a data visualization

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated March 25, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Chart interactions in a data visualization

    Chart interactions in ServiceNow data visualizations allow users to define what happens when someone interacts with a chart segment, such as selecting a bar or pie slice. These interactions enhance dashboard usability by enabling actions like navigating to URLs, opening related visualizations, or filtering dashboard data based on selections. Configurations for these interactions are managed in the Chart interaction section of the visualization's configuration panel.

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    Note that chart interactions cannot be configured on technical dashboards or UI Builder pages, where interactions are limited to enabling or disabling drilldowns. For technical dashboards, drilldown events require separate configuration.

    Key Features

    • On-click behavior: Defines the action triggered when a user clicks a chart segment, such as a time series point or pie slice.
    • Enable drilldowns toggle: Allows turning chart interactions on or off where supported.
    • Available chart interactions:
      • Go to data view: Opens a data view relevant to the data source. This is the default for most data sources except User Experience Analytics.
      • Go to URL: Opens a specified URL, internal or external, with optional tooltip naming. Default for User Experience Analytics data sources.
      • Apply as filter: Filters all applicable visualizations on the dashboard by the selected chart value. Available only for horizontal/vertical bar and pie/donut charts with table and indicator data sources; not available in UI Builder.
      • Drill down to chart: Opens a different visualization filtered by the selected data. Can be configured per metric but only available in the Visualization Designer, limited to table data sources, and not supported on calendar, geomap, indicator scorecard, or list visualizations.

    Support Matrix and Limitations

    • Data visualization and data source compatibility: Different interactions support specific visualization types and data sources. For example, "Apply as filter" works only with bar and pie/donut charts with table or indicator data sources.
    • Restrictions: Interactions cannot be configured on technical dashboards or UI Builder pages except for enabling/disabling drilldowns. Drill down to chart is not configurable in inline dashboard editors.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    By configuring chart interactions, ServiceNow customers can create more dynamic and user-friendly dashboards. This enables users to explore data intuitively by drilling down, filtering dashboard content, or navigating to detailed data views or external resources. Understanding the compatibility and limitations helps ensure that interactions are configured correctly according to the visualization type and data source used, maximizing the value of data visualizations within ServiceNow dashboards.

    You can set what occurs when a user interacts with a chart, such as by selecting a bar column. Possibilities include navigating to a URL, opening another data visualization, and filtering all visualizations on the dashboard by the selected value.

    The configuration panel of a data visualization includes a section labeled Chart interaction. In this section, you set what is called "on-click behavior." This term refers to what happens when a user interacts with a segment of the chart that represents a value. Examples include selecting a point on a time series or a segment of a pie or donut. You can also disable chart interactions for the visualization.

    Important:
    You cannot configure chart interactions for data visualizations on technical dashboards or other UI Builder pages. You can turn chart interactions on or off with the Enable drilldowns toggle, but you cannot otherwise change them. Instead, you have to configure handlers for on-click events. For information about configuring drilldowns from data visualizations on a technical dashboard, see Add a drilldown event to a data visualization in a technical dashboard.

    The following actions are available for a chart interaction:

    Go to data view
    Opens a view of the data appropriate to the data type. For information about the views for each data source, see Data views for different data sources.
    Note:
    Go to data view is the default interaction for all supported data sources. User Experience Analytics data is not supported.
    Go to URL
    Opens the URL you specify. This URL can be on the instance or external to it. Where relevant, you can specify the name of the page that is opened in a tooltip. Go to URL is the default interaction for User Experience Analytics data sources.
    Apply as filter
    Filters all applicable data visualizations on the dashboard by the value of the selected segment. Does not apply when the Group by field is a time duration. Available only for Horizontal and Vertical Bar and Pie/Donut visualizations, and only for table and indicator data sources. Not available on UI Builder. For more information, see Make a data visualization act as a filter.
    Drill down to chart
    Opens a different data visualization that is filtered by the selected data. You can add a drill-down visualization for each metric on the parent visualization. You configure this new drill-down visualization seamlessly as part of the process of configuring the chart interaction.
    Note:
    Drill down to chart has the following limitations:
    • You cannot configure Drill down to chart in the inline dashboard editor, only in the Visualization Designer.
    • Drill down to chart is available only for table data sources.
    • You cannot set drill down to chart from the Calendar, Geomap, Indicator scorecard, or List visualizations. However, you can drill down from supported visualizations to any visualization that can display table data.
    Different chart interactions support different data sources and data visualization types. The following table shows the matrix of support.
    Table 1. Chart interaction support
    Action Supported data visualizations Supported data sources
    Go to data view All All that the visualization supports except User Experience Analytics
    Go to URL All except Geomap and Indicator Scorecard All that the visualization supports
    Apply as filter (Available only in inline dashboard editor)
    • Horizontal and Vertical Bar
    • Pie and Donut
    		 Table and indicator
    Drill down to chart (Available only in Visualization Designer) All except Calendar, Indicator scorecard, List, and Geomap Table