Customizing charts

TestRail’s Dashboard and Project overview areas have customizable charts that give you the flexibility to view your data across multiple projects in multiple ways. On these charts, you can view, select, and filter data using various options, so that the data is organized according to your needs.

The Dashboard and Project overview charts have the same controls and settings, but the scope for each one is different. The customizable chart on the Dashboard view gives you cross-project reporting capability by allowing you to visualize data across some or all of your projects. The chart in your Project overview limits the chart data only to the context of the currently selected project.

By default, both charts show the Activity (test changes over time) view for the Dashboard and Project Overview. However, you have access to a number of chart controls that allow you to filter the displayed data, change the chart type, and customize the date range. 

Chart type selection, result viewing, and export controls

The customizable chart controls are located above the chart. Each control button allows you to refine the data displayed or manipulate the chart. As mentioned above, each chart is first viewed with a default display setting, but once you customize the chart with these controls, the visualization options you chose will be saved even if you change windows or exit your Dashboard or Project. You can reset to the default display and erase any customization with the Reset button (explained below) and start over.

The chart controls look like this:

From left to right, each control button has a different functionality for customizing the chart:

• Download -  Allows you to download the displayed chart in three different formats: as an Image (PNG), as a CSV, or as an XLS file.
• Copy to Clipboard - Copies the displayed chart to your Clipboard so that you can paste it as an image.
• Reset - Allows you to reset all the chart customization made so far, and returns the chart to its default settings. You can then customize the chart once again.
• Chart Selector - Allows you to change the chart type used to display your data. The button displays the current chart type you are viewing. The type of charts include the following (Note the icon for each chart type in the upper right corner):

• Line chart (this type is selected by default)
• 
  Horizontal Bars chart
• 
  Stacked Bars chart
• 
  Grouped Bars chart
  
• 

• Refine - Opens the Chart refinement controls (explained below). This allows you to refine the chart by searching and filtering the desired data using different parameters.

Furthermore, by clicking on each project bar or line inside a chart, you will see a paginated results list of all the test changes for the project (Dashboard chart), or the Test Run status (Project chart) you clicked on, according to the date range selection when refining the filtered search.

Filter chart data with refinement controls

The Refine chart control button opens a small window showing the Search and Filter options available for customizing the corresponding chart view. Each chart type allows you to select one or two pieces of information, known as a primary dimension and a secondary dimension, to be displayed on the chart in relation to the selected Project(s). Using these Search and Filter options allows you to thoroughly examine your data within TestRail in multiple ways. Once you click Save Filters the chart will then display a more detailed and customized view for you.

The new window opens like this when clicked on the Dashboard view:

Since the Project chart view only shows related Test activities, the Search and Filter window will not display the Select project(s) (shown above) option. However, all other Search and Filter fields are available when refining a Project Overview chart. 

The search and filtering options for the Refine button are:

• Select project(s) - You can select which Projects you want to include in your chart display. You can remove Projects by clicking the ‘x’ on each Project name, or by just pressing Backspace on each one. To add a Project back, simply type the Project name and select it from an autofill menu that drops down. By default, all the Projects in your instance will be included in this space the first time, until you save your changes.
• Choose a primary dimension - You can select one of the following pieces of information to be displayed in the chart: 
  • Activity (default) - displays all changes to tests
  • Defects - displays tests that have defects associated with them in the defect field
  • Cases - displays new or updated cases
  • Results - only display tests for which a result has been added

This filter facilitates the view of your most desired main activity for the selected projects or activity inside a project. This way, if you click on each project or run in the chart, you can obtain a paginated result of these changes.

• Choose a secondary dimension - You can select an additional piece of information so that the chart shows a combination of search criteria, stacked together inside the same chart. The secondary dimension options will adjust based on the primary dimension that is selected. A secondary dimension is ONLY available for use with Stacked or Grouped Bar charts. You must select one of these chart types first using the Chart Selector button.

By combining this criterion with the primary dimension criterion, you can see a more specific and detailed result on each grouped chart. For example: choosing Activity as a primary dimension and Run as a secondary dimension lets you see all the test changes (Activity) that have occurred for each Test Run (Run).

• Choose additional search term(s) - You can search for a specific word or term to filter your data even further by including specific Test Cases, Milestones, Test Runs, or Test Suites. This search term has to be precise and correctly spelled for this filter to search the exact term. As you type, a list of options is displayed for you. You can select multiple Test Cases, Milestones, Test Runs, or Test Suites by typing in your next search term and selecting your desired item from the drop-down list. 

• Select a date range - You can view data from specific time periods by selecting a date range or customizing your date range. On the drop-down menu, select a date range from 1 day before present day, up to 30 days before present day. If you want to select a larger range of days or a more specific range of days (i.e. 13 days), you can select Custom and specify the range on the right of the drop-down menu. You can also use the calendar display on the right side of the window for easy date selection.

Customize the chart theme

You have the option to customize your charts and define the color themes in with Chart Themes. To open the Chart Themes window go to the Administration tab and select the Customizations option.

Change chart color schemes

To change the chart color schemes, select the color set that you prefer. You can choose between six options:

• TestRail (set by default)
• Fusion
• Gammel
• Candy
• Umber
• Custom

The Custom option allows you to customize the colors to your preference. It is recommended that you select various contrasting colors to make the bars or lines in your chart more visible. 

Ignore test results in reporting by status

TestRail users with administrator accounts can configure an additional status setting for Test statuses that they do not want to show on any chart or metric outside of their Test Runs, either because it is not relevant or it represents an outlier. Enabling this setting will result in the test being ignored when TestRail searches or generates progress charts and reports, and allows you and your team to work only with the desired information.

To ignore a specific status in TestRail metrics, go to Administration > Customizations > Result Statuses and click the edit button on the custom status. Make sure the box This status is ignored in TestRail metrics is checked and when you are done, click Save Status.

Cases with a status that is to be ignored will not appear in any generated chart and will also be marked with the N/A status label (or the custom label you entered) when viewing a Test Run:

This status will also be ignored when results are aggregated, e.g. into Test Plans or Milestones, and when reported on in TestRail reports such as the Milestone Summary report.

The status is displayed in some other areas though, like the activity view for a Test Run or Test Plan, for example, and will be reflected in some reports such as the Property Distribution reports.