A dashboard app is a software application that visually tracks, analyzes, and displays charts, KPIs, and key data points to monitor the health of your business. Dashboard App from Dashboard Builder is a free, self-hosted, PHP-based app you run on your own server, built with a drag-and-drop interface—no coding required.
What Is a Dashboard App and How Does It Work?
A dashboard app connects to one or more live data sources—typically a database, spreadsheet, or API—and transforms that raw data into charts, KPI tiles, and visual summaries, all displayed on a single, centralized screen. Instead of manually pulling numbers from separate reports, a dashboard app runs a query in the background, maps the result to a chart, and refreshes the view so you're always looking at current data.
Dashboard App from Dashboard Builder works this way under the hood: it's a PHP-based app built on Apache + PHP + MySQL (or PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite, and more) with a free charting engine. You connect your database once through a drag-and-drop interface, and the app generates the PHP/HTML5 code that renders your live charts—so the dashboard updates automatically as your underlying data changes, and you can check your business health from your phone, tablet, or PC.
Note: Looking for a native app instead of a web-based one? See Dashboard App for Windows—a dedicated desktop tool that installs directly on Windows 7/10+ and doesn't require a local web server or internet connection to run.
How to Build a Dashboard App (Step-by-Step)
Building a dashboard app with Dashboard Builder comes down to five steps: connect your database, configure your chart, write or generate your SQL, adjust the layout, and generate the PHP source code for your web application.
Connect with your database. Access the web folder in your browser (e.g. http://localhost/dashboardbuilder). On the welcome screen, click the Database icon, select your database type from the Data Sources tab—for example SQLite with a database path like ../data/Northwind.db—and save the connection. A green checkmark confirms it connected successfully.
Configure your chart settings. Click the gear icon for chart settings, and Dashboard Builder will list every table available in your connected database so you can choose what to visualize.
Write or generate your SQL statement. Enter a query directly, or let the built-in SQL generator build one for you. For example, a simple sales-tracking query might look like:
SELECT strftime('%Y-%m',o.shippeddate) as xaxis, sum(d.quantity) as yaxisFROM `order details` d, orders oWHERE o.orderid = d.orderidGROUP BY strftime('%Y-%m',o.orderdate) LIMIT 50
Run the query, then assign the returned columns to your X-axis and Y-axis dropdowns and save.
Adjust the position and size. Drag the corners of the chart panel to resize and reposition it. Layout is fully responsive, built on the Bootstrap framework, so your dashboard adapts to any screen automatically.
Generate your PHP source code. Click Generate, and Dashboard Builder outputs ready-to-use PHP source code for the chart you just built—copy and paste it directly into your own application.
Ready to build your own dashboard? Download Dashboard App for free to get started today.
Supported Visualizations & Data Sources
Dashboard App supports a wide variety of chart types, including line, scatter, bar, pie, donut, bubble, stacked, area, heatmap, Sankey diagram, and choropleth map—all rendered as dynamic, D3.js-powered graphics. You can preview a live example in the Dynamic Dashboard App Example.
For data, the app connects to MySQL, MS SQL, SQLite, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Sybase, and Cubrid for static or real-time database-driven dashboards—no programming required—and can also import directly from MS Excel and CSV files.
Requirements & Installation
Dashboard App can be installed on Windows, Linux, Mac, or any other platform that supports Apache.
Server Requirements
- PHP Version 5.6 or later
- Apache 2 or later
- Windows 7 or later / Linux 3 or later
Supported Browsers
- Firefox 52 or higher
- Chrome 57 or higher
- IE 8 or higher
Installation
- Download the free version from the download page.
- Place the files in a directory on your web server, e.g.
…/www/yoursite/dashboardbuilder-v3-FREE/. - Unzip the file using the Extract Here option to the root folder of "dashboardbuilder".
Before connecting your database, make sure your web server (Apache, Nginx, etc.) is configured to serve the folder containing Dashboard Builder, with read-write permission granted (chmod -R 777) to the folder and sub-folders. Check your browser console to confirm all files load without errors.
Advantages of Using a Dashboard App
1. No Coding Required
The drag-and-drop interface and auto-generated SQL and PHP mean you can build a working dashboard without writing code.
2. Own Your Data and Server
Because it's self-hosted, your data never leaves your own Apache environment—no third-party cloud service required.
3. Embed Anywhere
Export clean PHP and HTML5 code and integrate it into any PHP application, WordPress, Joomla, or Laravel site you already run.
Auto-Generated PHP Source Code
Once your chart is built, Dashboard App generates ready-to-use PHP source code you can drop straight into any PHP application, website, or framework—published under the MIT license, so you're free to customize it however you need.
$data = new dashboardbuilder();$data->type = "line";$data->source = "Database";$data->rdbms = "sqlite";$data->dbname = "data\Northwind.db";$data->xaxisCol[0] = "xaxis";$data->yaxisCol[0] = "yaxis";$data->title = "Line Chart";$result[0] = $data->result();
You can find the complete license details on the code license page, and the full open-source project on GitHub.