Canvases combine the power of Grafana with the flexibility of custom elements. Canvases are extensible form-built visualizations that allow you to explicitly place elements within static and dynamic layouts. This empowers you to design custom visualizations and overlay data in ways that aren't possible with standard Grafana panels, all within Grafana's UI. If you've used popular UI and web design tools, then designing canvases will feel very familiar.
> We would love your feedback on Canvas. Please check out the [open Github issues](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues?page=1&q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Aarea%2Fpanel%2Fcanvas) and [submit a new feature request](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/new?assignees=&labels=type%2Ffeature-request,area%2Fpanel%2Fcanvas&title=Canvas:&projects=grafana-dataviz&template=1-feature_requests.md) as needed.
Elements are the basic building blocks of a canvas and they help you visualize data with different shapes and options. You can rotate and move elements around the canvas. When you move elements, snapping and alignment guides help you create more precise layouts.
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Element snapping and alignment only works when the canvas is not zoomed in.
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When you select an element that you've added to a canvas, you can access editing options for it that are dependent on the element type. The following sections describe the different elements available.
### Basic shapes
A basic shape element can display text (both fixed and field data) and its background color can be changed based on data thresholds. You can add the following basic shapes to a canvas:
The metric value element lets you easily select the data you want to display on a canvas. This element has a unique “edit” mode that can be triggered either through the context menu “Edit” option or by double clicking. When in edit mode you can select which field data that you want to display.
The text element lets you easily add text to the canvas. The element also supports an editing mode, triggered via either double clicking or the edit menu option in the context menu.
The server element lets you easily represent a single server, a stack of servers, a database, or a terminal. Server elements support status color, bulb color, and a bulb blink rate all configurable by fixed or field values.
The button element lets you add a basic button to the canvas. Button elements support triggering basic, unauthenticated API calls. API settings are found in the button element editor. You can also pass template variables in the API editor.
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A button click will only trigger an API call when [inline editing](#inline-editing) is disabled.
When building a canvas, you can connect elements together to create more complex visualizations. Connections are created by dragging from the connection anchor of one element to the connection anchor of another element. You can also create connections to the background of the canvas. Connection anchors are displayed when you hover over an element and inline editing is turned on.
To remove a connection, simply click on the connection directly and then press the "Delete" or "Backspace" key.
You can adjust connectors, adding angles to them, to fit the canvas you're working in. When you move connected elements, the connector resizes to fit the space. To adjust a connector, click it to display the midpoint controls and move those as needed. To make a connector a straight line again, move the midpoint back until the midpoint controls disappear.
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You can set the size, color, direction, and style of connections based on fixed or field values. To do so, enter into panel edit mode, select the connection, and modify the connection's properties in the panel editor.
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You can enable infinite panning in a canvas when pan and zoom is enabled. This allows you to pan and zoom the canvas and uncover larger designs.
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Infinite panning is an experimental feature that may not work as expected in all scenarios. For example, elements that are not top-left constrained may experience unexpected movement when panning.
The context menu lets you perform common tasks quickly and efficiently. Supported functionality includes opening / closing the inline editor, duplicating an element, deleting an element, and more.
The context menu is triggered by a right click action over the panel / over a given canvas element. When right clicking the panel, you are able to set a background image and easily add elements to the canvas.
The inline editing toggle lets you lock or unlock the canvas. When turned off the canvas becomes “locked”, freezing elements in place and preventing unintended modifications.
Canvases support [data links](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/panels-visualizations/configure-data-links/), but only for all elements except drone and button elements. You can add a data link by following these steps:
If multiple elements use the same field name, and you want to control which elements display the data link, you can create a unique field name using the [add field from calculation transform](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/panels-visualizations/query-transform-data/transform-data/#add-field-from-calculation). The alias you create in the transformation will appear as a field you can use with an element.
