By creating an automation using Make.com, you can post new data to a dataset created in Geckoboard before using that dataset to power a new widget on your dashboard.
How Geckoboard and Make work together
In Geckoboard, you can create datasets, which are essentially like big tables/spreadsheets. We have an app on Make's platform that enables you to connect to your dataset and send custom data to your dashboard with no coding required.
Make offer a generous free plan that doesn't require billing information on sign up, so you can try it out risk-free.
To demonstrate this process, we'll use a Typeform survey to provide the data for our dataset and then build a data widget using that data.
Step 1: Create a new dataset in Geckoboard
We'll create a new dataset in Geckoboard that matches the required data types of a Typeform survey.
In Geckoboard, add a new Datasets widget. On the connection panel, click Create new dataset.
Give the dataset a name. Keep to lowercase letters, digits and no spaces. We don't support unicode characters in dataset or field names.
Now add the schema fields that correspond to the data types that make up the Typeform survey. There are 7 types of fields: string, number, money, percentage, date, datetime, and duration. Learn more about what data and format each field type can accept. For our example, we'll only need String for the survey submission IDs and Datetime for when the survey responses were submitted.
As your survey submission ID field can make up a unique key, tick the Add to unique key checkbox. Learn more about using empty/null and unique key fields.
When you've finished configuring your fields, click Create dataset.
With your dataset created, we'll switch to Make to connect our new dataset to a scenario.
Step 2: Create a Make scenario that connects Typeform to your dataset
We'll create a new scenario in Make that triggers when a new response to a Typeform survey is submitted and then sends the survey response data to a dataset.
On your Make Dashboard, click the Create a new scenario button in the top-right corner.
In the scenario editor screen, an empty module with a question mark will be displayed. Here, you choose what data the scenario should watch for. You do this by choosing a trigger app that will start your scenario. For our example, click Typeform.
Choose the Watch Responses module. This module is an instant trigger, which requires a webhook to execute the scenario immediately after the webhook URL receives a request.
Click Create a webhook and give your connection a name.
Add your Typeform account to Make. After you click the Continue button, Make will redirect you to the Typeform website, where you will be prompted to grant Make access to your account.
Locate the Typeform Form ID you want to use, then click Save.
Now, click the right ear of the first module, and it will pop up a screen for you to add the next module. In this case, add Geckoboard's Send Record to Dataset module.
Now, you will have to create a connection to Geckoboard. For this, you'll need to access your Geckoboard API key.
Next, select your new dataset.
Lastly, you will have to map the items that you want to send from Typeform to your dataset schema.
Before the scenario is activated, you should test it. As our example is an instant trigger, we won't need to click the 'Run Once' button to run a test. Instead, we'd need to either wait for new survey responses or complete it ourselves to test it.
You can also schedule how often your scenario will trigger by clicking the clock icon. Again, our example will trigger immediately as data arrives, so we won't need to schedule.
To activate your scenario, switch the ON/OFF toggle to ON.
Finally, we'll return to Geckoboard and add a new dataset widget.
Step 3: Add a new dataset widget in Geckoboard
With the survey submission IDs and datetimes, you can quickly build visualizations that show the number of submissions, either as a total or charted over time.
Switch to Geckoboard, click See dataset and select your new dataset from the list to start configuring your widget.
Now you can configure your widget by selecting your visualization type, add status indicators for number and gauge visualizations, comparison metrics, goals, and any additional formatting information about the data displayed.
Datasets default to a line chart, however if your dataset does not contain date or datetime fields you won't see a line chart. You'll need to select another visualization type.
To see a preview of your original dataset from the dataset options menu in the navigation bar.
You'll also see a preview of the widget as you configure it. For more on configuring datasets widgets, see create visualizations from datasets.
When your widget is ready, click Add to dashboard. Datasets widgets refresh automatically every 5 minutes, so you'll shortly see any new data added to your widget.