How to use Great Gadgets

Owned by Danut M [StonikByte]
Last updated: Jan 30, 2024
3 min read

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Overview

Great Gadgets app consists in a suite of gadgets that you can use in your Jira dashboards and/or Confluence pages. All the gadgets support the wallboard visualization mode of the Jira dashboards.

See more details below on how to use the gadgets in Jira and Confluence and what you need to have installed for each case.

Using the gadgets in Jira

You can start using the dashboard gadgets right after installing Great Gadgets for Jira Cloud or Great Gadgets for Jira Data Center. There are no post-installation steps to do as these apps do not have any global (system-level) configuration settings.

To add a gadget to a dashboard:

  • In Jira, go to Dashboards

  • Create a new dashboard or select an existing one

  • Click the Add gadget button of the dashboard

  • In the "Add a gadget" screen, filter by "great" or "StonikByte" to display all the gadgets of the app

  • Click the "Add gadget" button of the gadget that you want to add

  • Once you added the gadgets, close the "Add a gadget" screen and continue by entering the gadget settings. See below the instructions for how to configure the gadgets.

Using the gadgets in Confluence Cloud

For using the gadgets in Confluence Cloud you have to install Great Gadgets for Confluence Cloud in your Confluence Cloud instance. Once installed, this app makes all the gadgets available as macros in your Confluence Cloud instance.

Most of the macros are based on data taken from Jira. For these macros to work, you must have a Jira Cloud instance linked with the Confluence Cloud instance. In addition, the Jira Cloud instance must have either Great Gadgets for Jira Cloud or StonikByte Connector for Jira Cloud app installed.

To insert a macro into a Confluence page:

  • Start editing the page where the macro will be inserted

  • Click the "Insert" icon from the top menu bar and start searching for the macro that you want to insert. Search by "great gadgets" or "StonikByte" to display all the macros of the app.

  • Continue by entering the macro settings. See below the instructions for how to configure the gadgets.

  • When done, click the Save button from the macro's settings screen. The macro will be displayed on the Confluence page.

To edit an existing macro from a Confluence page:

  • Start editing the page that contains the macro

  • Hover the mouse pointer over the macro and click the Edit icon

  • Edit the macro settings. See below the instructions for how to configure the gadgets.

  • When done, click the Save button from the macro's settings screen. The macro will be displayed on the Confluence page according to the new settings.

Using the gadgets in Confluence Data Center

If you have Jira Data Center with Great Gadgets for Jira Data Center installed, you can also use the gadgets in Confluence Data Center.

All you have to do is to import the gadgets from Jira as macros in Confluence. Follow the Atlassian documentation on how to make the gadgets available in Confluence: https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/registering-external-gadgets-204050482.html

IMPORTANT There is a known issue that prevents this feature to work in environments that are configured to use Single Sign On (SSO). The solution is to apply the workaround described here: https://bitbucket.org/StonikByte/great-gadgets-add-on/issues/158/app-gadgets-not-working-on-confluence-data .

Using the gadgets in wallboard mode

In Jira, you can display the gadgets in wallboard mode to make them visible on big TV screens as information radiators, for example.

To trigger the wallboard mode, click the View as wallboard option of the Jira dashboard's menu.

Dark Theme Support

The app fully supports the Dark theme available in Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud.

Supported languages

The app for Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud is fully localized in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Romanian.

For on-screen texts to appear localized, the Jira user must have one of these languages enabled in their Jira profile. Otherwise, they will be displayed in English.

Usage examples

More examples of use of Great Gadgets can be found on https://blog.stonikbyte.com/.