Bar with dashboard variables should be always visible

[ungolyant]

Steps to reproduce:
Create or open a dashboard that has at least one dashboard variable shown (not hidden), and has many panels so scrollbar is shown on the right. Scroll the page down.

Actual Result:
Bar with variables will not be visible any more.

Expected Result
I would like (at least as an option in Dashboard settings page) that bar with dashboard variables is always visible. Reasons:

1. A variable value selected by the user can influence greatly on data shown (e.g. filtered) on visible panels/charts, thus data shown on a panel can be very misleading if user is not aware of current variable value.
2. There are use-cases when (often) changing of variable value is very useful, and scrolling up and down, as well as not being able to see immediate change of data shown on a panel can very frustrating.

Environment:

• Grafana version: v8.3.4 (a551d74)
• User OS & Browser: Windows 10, Firefox & Chrome

[ashharrison90]

hey @ungolyant 👋

thanks for raising this!
agreed, we can make the experience better here. it's tricky though because there's also situations (e.g. if you have 20 or so variables that take up a lot of vertical space) where you wouldn't want that bar to stickily position to the top.

we're using github discussions to track feature requests so i'll transfer this to a discussion for now. please feel free to add upvotes there and when we're ready to commit to implementing it we'll convert it back to an issue.

hope that makes sense! 😄

[ungolyant]

Hello Ashley,
Thanks for the reply. I would say that the best option is to have a setting/checkbox in Dashboard Settings, so the dashboard creator can chose for itself weather he would like "pinned" parameters line or not. Or maybe in Dashboard Settings > Variables screen?

[ungolyant]

I am trying to mitigate this UX issue by splitting charts into many Dashboard Rows so I can collapse many Rows that are above a chart that I am looking at, but when I have too many Rows it is still a problem to see all of them plus toolbar with Dashboard Parameters...

[fionera]

I would really like to see this as a feature. Even when you have them folded its very annoying to always scroll up and remove your focus away from the panels

[vasiliev123]

I would also love to see this implemented like @fionera said already. Many times we've got filters for servers and we need to move away our focus from panels to just change the server ;)
I'm also cheering for implementing an option in dashboard settings whether someone wants to see filters always on screen or not.

[patsevanton]

A very necessary feature have a setting/checkbox in Dashboard Settings

[gelicia]

Hello, as you may have heard, we are transitioning away from using discussions to discuss feature requests. This is being addressed in #11166