Custom Dashboard vs Custom Widget
warning
Custom Dashboard is experimental. This feature may change or be removed.
Both let you ship your own HTML, but they solve different jobs. Pick the wrong one and you will fight the platform (or hit limits that look like bugs).
Side by side
| Custom Dashboard | Custom Widget | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | The whole dashboard is your HTML page. | One tile on a Normal or Blueprint dashboard. |
| Hosting | Upload one HTML file to TagoIO. TagoIO hosts the uploaded file (versioned). | You host the URL yourself (for example Files). |
| Data | One optional source: saved TagoSQL or GET-only URL template, resolved on the server. | Device variables, resources, realtime, send data, Analysis, full widget data model. |
| Protocol | Thin postMessage: dashboard:ready, dashboard:data, dashboard:theme (optional dashboard:style). | Full custom-widget library handshake. |
| RUN / share | Admin only. No TagoRUN, public share, or distribute. | Supported with widget dashboards (subject to your Run and share setup). |
| Editor | No in-app HTML editor. Download, edit offline, re-upload. | Edit and host outside Admin; point the widget at the URL. |
| Create UI | Create dialog tab Custom HTML (type "custom"). | Add a Custom Widget on a Normal or Blueprint dashboard. |
Choose a Custom Dashboard when
- You need a full-page app or report, not a cell in a widget grid.
- One server-bound query or GET is enough for the page.
- Viewers are Admin users.
- You want TagoIO to host and version the HTML file.
Start at Custom Dashboard, then Authoring HTML.
Choose a Custom Widget when
- The custom UI is one component among other TagoIO widgets.
- You need device variables, realtime, send data, or Analysis hooks.
- The dashboard must work in TagoRUN, share, or distribute flows.
- You already host static assets (or will use Files) and can point a widget at a URL.
Common mix-ups
| Assumption | Reality |
|---|---|
| "Custom HTML" in create means a Custom Widget. | That tab creates a Custom Dashboard (type "custom"). Widgets are added inside Normal or Blueprint dashboards. |
| Custom Dashboard can use the custom-widget library the same way. | Different protocol. Custom Dashboard uses dashboard:* messages only. |
| Custom Dashboard can bind many devices like a Normal dashboard. | Only one optional TagoSQL or GET source. |
| Custom Dashboard is available to Run end users. | Admin only. |
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