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updatedAt: 2026-10-14T21:17:34.000Z
agentTools:
projectIndex: https://docs.observeinc.com/llms.txt
---
# Customize dashboard parameters
Learn how you can add more complex filters to your dashboard cards.
When you [Add dashboard parameters](https://docs.observeinc.com/docs/add-dashboard-parameters) in Observe by Snowflake, the bindings have the following properties by default:
* They apply only to a single field or tag.
* They filter that field or tag to be **equal** to the selected value(s).
For example:
You can apply more complex filters to your dashboard cards. For example:
* **Dynamically adjusting a chart query.** You can adjust the **resolution** of a time chart while viewing a dashboard by directly injecting a parameter into the `timechart` OPAL verb.
* **Filtering using a non-equality.** You can apply **range** filters to your dashboard cards, such as a parameter that filters to duration greater than (**>**) some input, or a **contains** filter, such as a parameter that filters to all service names that contain **batchjob**. To do either of these cases, you must manually edit the default parameter OPAL binding to use a different filter operator.
Observe the following tips for creating custom parameter binding expressions:
* Make sure your parameter input matches the type of field you want to filter. Most parameters apply values of type `string` (with the exception of number parameters, which are type `float64`). So if you want to create a single-value that filters durations above a threshold, make sure to convert your parameter from a `string` to a `duration` using `parse_duration()`.
* Once you create a custom parameter binding expression, you’ll be locked into OPAL mode and will no longer be able to bind parameters to that modified card using the UI.
# **Example: Dynamically adjust the **`timechart`** resolution**
Create a single-value parameter and define a set of custom values that represent different time buckets. For example:
Replace the resolution in your time chart with `$test_span`, and convert that parameter (string) to type duration using `parse_duration` :
# **Example: Filter duration greater than some threshold**
Create a number parameter and bind it to your selected card.
Then alter that binding expression to use greater than (**>**) instead of equals (**=**), and convert the parameter from float64 to a duration.
duration_ms($Minimum_duration_ms) or is_null($Minimum_duration_ms)
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# **Example: Filter service name based on partial match**
Create a text parameter and bind it to your selected card.
Then alter that binding expression to use `contains()` instead of `=`. You don't need to convert the parameter type because `contains()` already accepts strings.
# Example: Create custom dashboard parameters using card queries
In this example, we'll use Kubernetes Logs data to create a dashboard with four total cards:
* Three of the cards are used as dashboard parameters.
* The fourth card contains data that can be filtered using the parameters from the first three cards. We will create single-value dashboard parameters using the first three cards to sort by cluster, namespace, and container names.
Begin by creating a new dashboard:
1. From the left nevigation, select **Dashboards**.
2. Click **New dashboard**.
3. Select **Add cards**.
4. Under the Tables section, select **Dataset**.
5. Find and select the **Kubernetes Logs** Dataset.
6. Give this query a name, such as **return cluster names**.
7. Click the code icon ()** ** to open the OPAL editor, enter the following OPAL, then click **Apply**:
4. Repeat this procedure to add a second card to return namespace names:
5. Add a third card to return container names.
6. The fourth card contains the data we want to sort. We'll pick a series of columns from the Kubernetes Log:
At this point, we have a dashbard with four cards:
Next, we want to hide the cards we're using as filters. In the first three cards, hover on the card, click the ellipsis icon () and select **Hide card**.
After hiding the **return cluster names**, **return namespace names**, and **return container names** cards in our example, we are left with just one visible card:
Now, lets create the dashboard parameters.
1. Click **Add parameter**.
2. Select **Single-value**.
1. Enter **Cluster** as the display name.
2. Under **Populate menu using**, select **Card**.
3. Select **return cluster names** as the card.
4. Select **cluster** as the column.
5. Click **Save & select cards**.
6. Select all of the cards in the dashboard except for **return cluster names**, we don't want to apply the filter to the source card. We are going to bind the value to the **#k8s.cluster.name** correlation tag.
7. Click **Save**.
3. Repeat this process to create a single-value card parameter for the namespace and container cards.
* Create a filter called **Namespace** and apply it to the **#k8s.namespace.name** correlation tag in the other three cards, but not the **return namespace name** source card.
* Create a filter called **Container** and apply it to the **#k8s.container.name** correlation tag in the other three cards, but not the **return container name** source card.
4. Give the dashbard a name, then click **Save**.
Here is the dashboard with the three single-value parameters:
To test the dashboard filters, let's begin by selecting a cluster: **k8s.observeinc.com**. The Kubernetes Log Data card shows data only from the selected cluster:
If we select another parameter, such as the **observe** namespace, the table onlys contain entries from the **k8s.observeinc.com** cluster and the **observe** namespace:
