Customize Results

Honeycomb has several types of graph options to explore your query results in multiple ways. Customize your display and how you interact with your data by using:

Markers to identify points in time
the Markers Settings menu to control marker display.
the Download Query Results menu to download the query results.
the Graph Settings menu to customize your query results display.

Markers

Markers signal interesting occurrences within the context of your queries.

Use Markers to identify points in time, such as:

Deploys
Incidents
Activated/resolved Triggers
On/Off feature flags

Markers can apply to an entire environment or a specific dataset. Create an environment marker when the range of time is relevant across multiple datasets and Services, such as a deployment marker. Create a dataset marker when the range of time is relevant to the specific dataset or Service.

Note

Honeycomb Classic does not support Environment markers. Learn more about Honeycomb versus Honeycomb Classic.

To create a marker from the UI:

In your query results, move your cursor over the graph to your desired time point.
Select your desired time point, which causes the graph menu options to appear.
Select Add marker. The Add a Marker modal appears.
Enter the following information:
1. A Message for your marker, such as “Deploy #299” or “Abnormal Spike in Products Page Traffic”.
2. A Type for the marker, such as “deploy” or “trigger”. After creation, the type appears as a preface to the marker’s message when viewing the marker details.
3. The URL field is optional, but provides a great way for more context about the marker.
4. Select the “Environment-wide” checkbox to apply this marker to all datasets in your environment.
  
  Note
  
  Honeycomb Classic users must migrate first to use this Environment-wide feature.
When finished, select Create to add your marker to the graph.

Tip

To add markers via a command line tool or further manage existing markers, use either curl or honeymarker, a lightweight marker management tool that provides a CRUD command line interface. Refer to our Markers CLI documentation for more information.

View Markers in the UI

Once created, markers appear on any queries that run within the same time period as the marker(s).

Each marker type can appear in its own color.

Tip

To change marker color, configure dataset markers in Dataset Settings or environment markers in Environment Settings.

Hover over the downward caret icon to view a marker’s details. A solid vertical line appears and a window displays the marker’s name, description, and if applicable, a selectable URL.

To persist the marker’s vertical line and information window, select the downward caret icon. To close the persisted display, use the x icon that appears in the window after selection.

Screenshot illustrating a selected marker and marker details

Access Graph Settings

The Markers Menu, Download Query Results, and Graph Settings menu icons appear after a query runs in Query Builder. These three icons - text bubble, download, and gear respectively - appear directly below the time picker and the Query Builder interface.

Select each icon to open its menu options.

Markers text bubble icon, Download Query Results icon, and Graph Settings gear icon display

Control how Markers display on the query results, either by filtering or changing the markers’ appearance.

By default, Honeycomb shows environment markers in environment-wide queries and dataset markers in dataset queries.

Hide or Show Markers

Hide or show markers in the results display either by using the Graph Settings menu or the m keyboard shortcut.

Filter Markers

To access Filter Markers, either:

Press l on your keyboard
Select the Speech Box icon below the time picker in your query results, and select Filter Markers.

The Filter Markers modal appears. Use to modify what markers appear based on:

on their value
whether or not markers of the opposite type (environment/dataset) are allowed
their marker type

Select Submit to update the display of markers. Screenshot illustrating the 'Filter Markers' dialog box for a dataset query

These download options remain static in the menu.

Download CSV

Use Download CSV to download the query results in .csv format.

Note

We may process or alter the data returned in the CSV to prevent CSV injection vulnerabilities. For more information, contact Support via support.honeycomb.io or email at support@honeycomb.io.

Download JSON

Use Download JSON to download the query results in JSON format.

These Graph Settings menu options control the appearance of the query results. Select an option to apply it to the current query results. The selected option in the menu then updates to display the opposite of that option. For example, Display Line Graphs becomes Display Stacked Graphs.

Prefer Overlaid Charts

Honeycomb renders a separate chart for every VISUALIZE clause in your query by default. Checking Prefer Overlaid Charts combines any visualized AVG, MIN, MAX, and PERCENTILE clauses into a single chart.

Supported operations include:

AVG
MAX
MIN
P001
P01
P05
P10
P25
P50
P75
P90
P95
P99
P999

Charts will not overlay for queries that have a GROUP BY clause. Unsupported operations include:

CONCURRENCY
COUNT
COUNT_DISTINCT
GROUP BY (removes overlays)
HEATMAP
RATE
SUM

Display Stacked Graphs or Line Graphs

Line Graph: [default] Displays each group as a line of values over time. Read the value at a particular time directly from the Y axis on the left side of the graph.
Stacked Graph: Displays groups as stacked colored areas under their line graphs. Each shows a group’s relative contribution to the total. The Y axis reflects the sum of all groups.

Display Log Scale or Linear Scale

Log Scale: [default] The Y axis of a Log Scale graph increases exponentially. Each Y value increase represents an order of magnitude (10ⁿ) change. A Log Scale graph is useful for data with an extremely large range of values.
Linear Scale: The Y axis of a Linear Scale graph increases by a fixed amount as values increase. It is useful for data with a limited range of expected values.

Display UTC Time X-Axis or Localtime X-Axis

UTC Time: Displays the X axis in Coordinated Universal Time, the time at 0° longitude. UTC is sometimes referred to as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). UTC does not observe Daylight Savings Time.
Local Time: Displays the X axis in your browser’s local time.

Omit Missing Values or Fill Missing Values with Zeros

Omit Missing Values: [default] Interpolates between points when the intervening time buckets have no matching events. Use to display a continuous line graph with no drops to zero.
Fill Missing Values with Zeros: Substitutes zero values for time buckets with no matching events.

Hide or Show Graph Hovers

Graph Hovers appear in the results display when hovering over a graph. Hide or show Graph Hovers either by using the Graph Settings menu or the w keyboard shortcut. For example, use this setting to remove any obstruction to the overall graph display, or to optimize for screenshot purposes.

Honeycomb.io Documentation