[LENS] If no data is displayed, provide a better way to notify a user and get them to what they want

[bradquarry]

Describe the feature:
Provide a more prominent notification around why no data is displayed in a LENS chart. Then, provide a way to visually select a time range within an index that actually has data of interest.

Describe a specific use case for the feature:
It seems like a usability miss that many users (including myself) will try to create their first LENS charts and get "No data" since Kibana defaults to the "last 15 minutes" in time picker. This is especially odd if you're not looking at things from a time-series perspective or initially know to look for a time filter in the UI. Also, even when using time picker how do you know you're looking at 'all the data'? You just end up selecting "last 15 years" as a catch-all.

An example in our UI that tries to address this is the "Use Full Dataset" button in our Single Metric ML UI. This might not be the best option for LENS given how large datasets can be.

One solution might be displaying an error in bold centered in the LENS chart area vs a small yellow box on the left with "Oops! There no data in the time range for the selected fields! Click here to select a time range with data!" And have a link to a pop-up modal that shows, using the currently selected fields, the whole index with counts of matches for the whole index over time. Something like the bar chart we have in discover.

Pointing users to the time picker directly probably isn't a solution because how do you know what range has data of interest if any? How do you know where the 'book ends' are?

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/kibana-app (Team:KibanaApp)

[kjakman]

Was about to file same request for Kibana in general (though Lens users can be expected to need more hand holding/know less)

Can't count how many time I've seen users confused about no data due to the last 15m default (including me + other consultants/trainers).

Suggestions:

1. If >= N docs (lots of data): Make the default last 15m of actual data (15m before last document -> ts of last doc)
2. If < N docs (less data): Use full dataset
3. If < N docs, add button for "Use full dataset"
4. Maybe add button for "last 15 min" (of actual dataset) if more than N docs?
5. Maybe add a "last/newest" keyword or similar to timepicker:timeDefaults for time of most recent document ?
   {
   "from": "last-15m",
   "to": "last"
   }

[alexfrancoeur]

cc: @AlonaNadler @VijayDoshi

[AlonaNadler]

Thanks for the suggestion @kjkman we were discussing at one point a similar suggestion and that might be a good start. I agree to show empty Lens since the default date range is the last 15 minutes is repeating feedback and we should address it.
would be good to think of a solution that supports clusters that might have more than N documents but ingest data every X hours, for example, every 12 hours.

As a short term solution, we did plan on changing the text
#48800
"Looks like you don’t have any data. Try:

• Extending the time range
• Using Field filtered ↑ to show fields without data
  "

@wylieconlon the text issue was closed but this item was not checked, any chance we can make this small change in the text until we come up with a better solution

[wylieconlon]

I've just re-read this thread, and I'm confused about whether we have proposed a specific solution. The text change you've suggested @AlonaNadler is now implemented.

If I understand correctly, @bradquarry was asking for a solution involving additional buttons in the chart renderer, screenshot shows multiple charts with empty data. We show this empty state in dashboards and the Lens editor:

There is a separate issue with the list of fields which we show in the Lens editor, and I have proposed a solution to this problem specifically: #67203

[AlonaNadler]

If I recall correctly, we had two things we wanted to do short term. Text changes (done), when there is no data to use the tour componenet to focus on the timepicker and suggest to change the time range. The latter didnt happen since the tour componenet wasn't ready. Perhaps we should do it now that it is ready? @cchaos

Some of the issues we got was also due the the bugs we had in 7.5 where fields with data were not showing up which I remeneber we solved.

[VijayDoshi]

It feels to me like there is a missing category from the time picker that would be generally useful. In addition to "Last" and "Next" add a "Most recent" or "Latest" and make that the default.

Are we dancing around that missing category?

[AlonaNadler]

We had a discussion around that. Showing time picker on time range that has data by default. At the time it felt like a bigger initiative so we looked for smaller tasks to solve this problem.
Im not sure we opened an issue for that I will check so we won't lose it

[cchaos]

Also, this category does exist in the global time picker.

[VijayDoshi]

I think that is a little different than what I'm saying.

In the above Last 15 days = today - 15 days; whereas, Latest would be data from most recent document's timestamp - 15 days.

[alexfrancoeur]

Similar ask: #12608

…

On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 2:53 PM VijayDoshi ***@***.***> wrote: I think that is a little different than what I'm saying. [image: Screen Shot 2020-05-27 at 11 48 42 AM] <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/22304494/83060435-4d98c580-a010-11ea-8f3f-ca53a2eca187.png> In the above Last 15 days = today - 15 days; whereas, Latest would be data from most recent document's timestamp - 15 days. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#54181 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGAD4737QOP5ZHYYB6QWEODRTVOTBANCNFSM4KD5X7JQ> .

[wylieconlon]

I think this discussion is great, but it's not focused on Lens: we are using the standard timepicker that all apps are using.

Instead, I think I am going to close this issue to focus on the solution that we have proposed of using an EuiTour component to indicate that the data is "empty" because of the time range: #58276