net/vnstat: dashboard widget by joeroback · Pull Request #5336 · opnsense/plugins

joeroback · 2026-03-20T03:24:32Z

Important notices
Before you submit a pull request, we ask you kindly to acknowledge the following:

I have read the contributing guide lines at https://github.com/opnsense/plugins/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
I opened an issue first for non-trivial changes and linked it below.
AI tools were used to create at least part of the code submitted herewith.

If AI was used, please disclose:

Model used: claude code (Opus 4.6 (1M context))
Extent of AI involvement: claude wrote the basic layout and helped with some of the date/time calculations

Related issue
If this pull request relates to an issue, link it here: closes #5353

Describe the problem
Vnstat dashboard widget

Describe the proposed solution
Adds vnstat dashboard widget. Allows you to select interface, and period (hourly, daily, monthly, yearly)
It remembers the last selected interface/period
Preferences to select the update tick interval, defaulting to 5 minutes

sopex · 2026-04-13T20:40:48Z

I would suggest these to be next to each other :)

Also, under no circumstances should a scrollbar appear. Lock the possible sizes a bit.

joeroback · 2026-04-14T17:21:33Z

i am trying to figure how to do that. the sizeToContent seems like its just a suggested size and almost all existing widgets have scrollbars and don't resize automatically to content, with the exception of the interface statistics widget.

there is a lot of text in this widget, so if its squashed to 1 column, it looks weird, but its not obvious how to require 2+ columns.

i've added an option to show/hide the avg rate column, which should help ppl who want a smaller widget, but still 4 columns don't really render under one column. open to suggestions, but also prefer not over engineer this simple and helpful widget

joeroback · 2026-04-15T02:51:30Z

ok i improved the height resizing, but still limited the sizeToContent to 1000px, which is more than all the other widgets currently, which seems to be 650px max. so scrollbar can appear in edges cases.

i also added another config option to exclude selected interfaces from the widget, with the defaults of enc0, pflog0, pfsync0. not sure if there is a better way to get the list of interfaces, currently i am getting them from the vnstat database vs the system interfaces. either choose has pros and cons

joeroback · 2026-04-21T14:59:44Z

i know a dashboard widget isn't super critical, but at the same time, its annoying to keep having to rebase, etc. would it be possible to this this merged or provide whatever other feedback?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-BD843w7lI

Monviech · 2026-04-21T15:23:13Z

I can request a review from the plugin maintainer for you. Done.

joeroback · 2026-05-05T15:55:58Z

i am really confused by this PR. i am not trying to be disrespectful, but this has been open for more than a month. on the forums, opnsense folks are always saying "PRs welcome" .. yet this doesn't feel that way. maybe i am wrong and this is the average for the time a PR stays open and unreviewed

Monviech · 2026-05-05T16:20:12Z

You are inside the plugin repo with this PR and here are multiple maintainers each maintaining one or multiple plugins.

For example, I maintain caddy, ndp-proxy-go, ndproxy (Tier 3) and also contribute to some Tier 2 and 1 plugins (frr, opnwaf).

Each maintainer is listed in the Makefile of the individual plugin.
I pinged the one responsible for this plugin via a review request, it's nothing personal if that takes a while. It's all best effort since most contributers and maintainers here use their free time (you included). Somebody has to own and maintain the code you contribute in the end.

Some plugins with higher tiers have priority and are directly supported by opnsense main developers.
https://docs.opnsense.org/support.html

So things like these just take a while if nobody has time I'm afraid.

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:35:49Z

+        $interfaces = array_map('trim', explode("\n", $response));
+        $interfaces = array_values(array_filter($interfaces, function ($v) {
+            return !empty($v);
+        }));


just how unreliable is the dbiflist output?

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:36:27Z

+     * retrieve vnstat data as structured JSON for a specific interface
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public function jsonAction()


this action name is too generic

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:37:13Z

+            return array("error" => "Invalid or missing interface name");
+        }
+        $backend = new Backend();
+        $response = json_decode($backend->configdRun("vnstat json " . escapeshellarg($iface)), true);


Suggested change

$response = json_decode($backend->configdRun("vnstat json " . escapeshellarg($iface)), true);

$response = json_decode($backend->configdpRun('vnstat json', [$iface]), true);

should do the same but canonically

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:38:09Z

+        if (empty($iface) || !preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z0-9_.]+$/', $iface)) {
+            return array("error" => "Invalid or missing interface name");
+        }


this seems spurious.. it's either an interface or not. even better to test the error when asking for garbage input (as an empty string can also be passed safely)

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:39:04Z

+        $backend = new Backend();
+        $response = json_decode($backend->configdRun("vnstat json " . escapeshellarg($iface)), true);
+        if ($response === null) {
+            return array("error" => "Failed to retrieve vnstat data");


normally we use ['status' => 'failed'] everywhere. the error message is seldomly shown and not even translated

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:39:21Z

+message:request Vnstat interface list
+
+[json]
+command:/usr/local/bin/vnstat --json --iface %s


the %s here looks misplaced?

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:40:41Z

 PLUGIN_VERSION=		1.3
-PLUGIN_REVISION=	1
+PLUGIN_REVISION=	2


would be nicer to set version 1.4 and remove the revision since this is a big enough change

fichtner

The widget code itself feels a bit much for what it tries to achieve but I'm not objecting to it. There needs to be more review in any case.

fichtner · 2026-05-05T17:42:21Z

+        this.currentPeriod = 'month';
+        this.currentInterface = null;
+        this.configurable = true;
+        this.excludedInterfaces = ['enc0', 'pflog0', 'pfsync0'];


this looks like something a backend or controller would ideally know about so it can be enforced?

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch 2 times, most recently from c73cb32 to b73a1c0 Compare March 22, 2026 03:39

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch from b73a1c0 to bda8564 Compare April 14, 2026 17:15

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch from bda8564 to 50cc26c Compare April 15, 2026 02:49

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch from 50cc26c to 06ae5fd Compare April 19, 2026 14:16

Monviech requested a review from mimugmail April 21, 2026 15:24

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch from 06ae5fd to 416a3a1 Compare April 23, 2026 15:33

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch 3 times, most recently from 29c9413 to 46d0e17 Compare May 5, 2026 15:52

net/vnstat: dashboard widget

7a040c7

joeroback force-pushed the feat/vnstat/dashboard-widget branch from 46d0e17 to 7a040c7 Compare May 5, 2026 15:56

fichtner self-assigned this May 5, 2026

fichtner reviewed May 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

	$response = json_decode($backend->configdRun("vnstat json " . escapeshellarg($iface)), true);
	$response = json_decode($backend->configdpRun('vnstat json', [$iface]), true);

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sopex commented Apr 13, 2026

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joeroback commented Mar 20, 2026 •

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Monviech commented Apr 21, 2026 •

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joeroback commented May 5, 2026 •

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