BlueFire Data Adapter - Z-Order Explained; Interacting with You Dash

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Customizing your Dash

Z-Order Explained

When the View Dash page is displayed, the gauges are 'stacked' on top of each order, then

positioned. This 'stack' is called the Z-Order. It refers to the Z axis which is the 3-D depth of the

gauge while the X axis is the 2-D width and the Y axis the 2-D height. So the Z-Order is the order

of the gauges as you are looking down at them from the top. A gauge that is underneath another

gauge cannot be grabbed for dragging unless a portion of it is sticking out from the top gauge.

When you define your dash and add gauges, Text gauges have a higher Z-Order than Graphic

gauges. This allows you to move Text gauges over Graphic gauges. This is the same for gauge

visibility. A gauge that is behind another gauge will be obscured by the gauge that's on top of it.

Note that if the gauge's background color is the same as the dash's background color, the gauge's

background will be transparent to the underneath gauge.

Graphic gauges are square so a circular gauge that is half a gauge still occupies the same Z-Order

space as a full gauge. Likewise for Linear gauges, they occupy the same square space if they are

horizontal or vertical. You should take this into account when designing your dash.

Text gauges are stacked according to the order they are added. So to move a smaller Text gauge

over a larger one, the smaller gauge must be after the larger gauge in the 'Add or Remove

Gauges' list. If the smaller gauge is before the larger one you can move the larger gauge to be

before the smaller one by tapping the smaller gauge in the list, then select the larger one from the

drop down list. The larger gauge will be moved above the smaller one.

A good example is where you have added three gauges, Gauge1, Gauge2, and Gauge3. In the Z-

Order, Gauge2 will be above Gauge1 and Gauge 3 will be above both Gauge2 and Gauge3. In the

Dash View page, if you move Gauge2 over Gauge1, Gauge2 will obscure Gauge1 and you will not

be able to move Gauge1. Likewise for Gauge3. Now if you want Gauge2 to be behind Gauge1, go

back to the Dash Customize page and tap 'Add or Remove Gauges'. This brings up your list of

Gauge1, Gauge2, and Gauge3. Tap on Gauge1 and select Gauge2 from the drop down list. Tap

'Done' if you're on iOS. Gauge2 will be moved in front of Gauge1 and your list will now be Gauge2,

Gauge1, and Gauge3. Go to the View Dash page and move Gauge1 over Gauge2 and you'll see

that Gauge1 now obscures Gauge2. If you set the background color of these gauges to something

other than the dash's background color, the obscurity becomes more apparent.

Interacting with you Dash

Here are ways to interact with your gauges on the View Dash page:

 Double tapping a gauge will show the Customize Gauges page.

 A single tap in open space will return to the previous page.

 A double tap in open space will show the Customize Dash page.