I can't say for sure without seeing your full dashboard XML, but I believe it is because you aren't using the right tags. Are you nesting the search in a <table>? For example: <dashboard>
<label>test_temp_delete_me</label>
<init>
<set token="clientType">something</set>
<set token="reportWindow.earliest">-1h</set>
<set token="reportWindow.latest">-5m</set>
<set token="refreshInterval">5m</set>
</init>
<row>
<panel>
<table>
<search id="baseSearch">
<query>|makeresults | eval clientType = $clientType$,eval timestamp=50, applicationName="someapp", message= "somemessage", entryKey="somekey"</query>
<earliest>$reportWindow.earliest$</earliest>
<latest>$reportWindow.latest$</latest>
<refresh>$refreshInterval$</refresh>
<refreshType>delay</refreshType>
</search>
</table>
</panel>
<panel>
<table>
<search base="baseSearch">
<query> | stats first(timestamp) as timestamp, first(applicationName) as applicationName, values(message) as message by entryKey
| table timestamp, entryKey, applicationName, message
</query>
</search>
</table>
</panel>
</row>
</dashboard>
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