# Static placeholders for data without datapoints

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/static-placeholders-for-data-without-datapoints/170979>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [March 5, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/static-placeholders-for-data-without-datapoints/170979 "2019-03-05T19:22:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brolly759](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@brolly759](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/brolly759)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/static-placeholders-for-data-without-datapoints/170979/1 "2019-03-05T19:22:40Z")

</div>

When looking at a time segment, if there are no data-points it doesn't visualize it. For example, 10 sensors, 1 sensor stopped reporting a week ago, if I only look at 1 day increments, Kibana doesn't know how to visualize no data for sensors that are considered "Active" but haven't posted data. Is there a way to have a reference of what should be on the dashboard and handle no data correctly?

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nathan\_Reese](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nathan_reese/32/84829_2.png) [@Nathan\_Reese](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nathan_Reese)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/static-placeholders-for-data-without-datapoints/170979/2 "2019-03-05T20:26:36Z")

</div>

> Is there a way to have a reference of what should be on the dashboard and handle no data correctly

Visualizations display aggregated results from documents in Elasticsearch. A visualization can not display anything if no documents exist in Elasticsearch.

You could solve this problem in a couple of ways

1. Set up a [Watch](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/6.6/watcher-ui.html) to be notified when data stops flowing.
2. Set up an external process that inserts a document into Elasticsearch when a sensor stops reporting. Your visualizations could then display these "no data" documents.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brolly759](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@brolly759](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/brolly759)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/static-placeholders-for-data-without-datapoints/170979/3 "2019-03-06T00:25:29Z")

</div>

1. Is not feasible over 10k's of devices.
2. Is a terrible idea filling ES null values just to visualize.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/static-placeholders-for-data-without-datapoints/170979/4 "2019-04-03T00:25:30Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.