Use Case


The Action Button column formatting option allows you to trigger internal or external events, push or pull data (to and from enterprise apps), or perform custom workflows when clicked upon. 

This widget offers multiple designs of action buttons that can be used. Additionally, you can also use the properties panel of the Action Button to customize their look and feel. Developers can also add custom code for an action button via Code Mode, allowing them to integrate seamless workflows on their presentation.


Action Button Events


The different events possible on the Action Button are listed below:


EventDescription
Next sub tabThis functionality navigates the user to the next tab within the same presentation.
Previous sub tabThis functionality navigates the user to the previous tab within the same presentation.
Reset filtersThis function allows users to clear filter selections, or in case default values are set, then reset filters to their default values.
Reset presentationThis function refreshes the presentation by clearing any user interactivity performed on it, as well as removing all applied filters.
Go to ReportThis function navigates users to a specified report. This report can be specified by providing its report UUID. 
Go to sub tabNavigates to any sub tab in the same dashboard, where the sub tab is specified by its order number. For example to jump to the forth sub tab, enter 4 in the sub tab # field.
Go to URLNavigates to an external link or page using the specified URL. You can also choose to open the new link in a new tab or window or in the current window.


How to Use: Action Button feature


Follow the example below to create an action button event using the data set. 

  1. Login as an authorized user.
  2. Click on the Plus sign that appears at the top right corner and select Report.
  3. On the New Report window, click on a metric view that will form the basis of your analysis. Here, for instance, Site Performance is selected. 
  4. On the report interface, add your required data fields. 
  5. To drag a data field in the Columns box, expand one of the folders that appear in the left pane of the report interface window and by using the click-and-drag method on the columns, populate the Columns box. You can use the search box presented above the folders to search for a specific column. Here, for instance, Region, Country, and Current Count of Sites Activated are selected.
  6. Open the field menu of the column name on which you want to apply an action button event, and then select Format and then Edit.
  7. On the Column Formatting tab, in the Format box, select Action Button.
  8. Set the other inputs as follows:
    1. URL: Allows you to direct the user to a specific web URL or web page address when the user clicks on the action button. It is mandatory that two hash symbols (##) should follow the URL so that the action button click directs the user to the specific web page that corresponds to the column value. Here, for instance, the parent website URL is specified in the URL box but clicking on the action button directs the user to the specific page (of the parent website URL) that corresponds to the column value.
      Note: Instead of a URL, the user can also enter a reference to another column of data in the table by using the {{1}} syntax, where 1 denotes the position of the column appearing in the report table.
    2. URL Type: Allows you to specify if the URL is Remote (public) to the system that is accessing it or if the URL is Local (private).
    3. Apply URL Encoding: Enable this option to apply URL encoding used for special characters (such as %20 for a space) to the field values. Note that this applies to the entire URL, so this may break URLs if they contain symbols would inadvertently be replaced with encoded values too.
      Disable this option if you wish to leave field values in their original format. This is recommended for URLs that contain symbols so that they remain as symbols instead. 
    4. New Window: Allows you to open the URL in a new browser window when enabled.
    5. Button Display Text: Enter the text to be displayed on the action button.
    6. Disable Button on Click: Specify whether the button should be disabled or not when clicked. If enabled, the button will be replaced by a tick mark after the first-click event by the user. 
    7. Use data values to disable button: The button will become disabled by specified data values in a given column. 
    8. Show Field: When enabled, displays the column in the table output.
    9. Suppress Duplicates: When enabled, does not display duplicate values in the table output.
  9. Click the Cross icon, which appear at the top right corner of the Column Formatting window when the changes are done. The results are shown below and clicking the action button will direct the user to the specific web page.