Use Case
Canvas style dashboards have unlimited flexibility. The Dashboard Canvas provides a WYSIWYG editor so you can quickly see your designs come to life – and a preview mode so you can interact with the draft Dashboard before publishing.
Multiple object types can be included on a Canvas:
- Report content (tables, charts, maps, canvas)
- Text
- Images
- Buttons
- Lines
- Shapes
- Icons
- Custom objects
Content can be freely maneuvered – using drag and drop or via the properties editor. Control down to the pixel level (x and y coordinate).
Content can be overlapping and it’s z coordinate position can be manipulated – by sending the object backwards and forwards.
Fine grained control of appearance is possible, including defining colors from a preset palette, or even using the hexadecimal color code. Borders, edges, shadows and many other aspects of appearance are configurable.
Objects can be grouped together for easier manipulation.
A dashboard may consist of one or more tabs. When creating a new dashboard, you will need to start with a new tab.
The enabling of the keyboard shortcut - Ctrl + A will allow the user to select all the dashboard components, such as reports, tables, charts, and so on present in the canvas of the selected dashboard tab. A single operation can be performed on all the selected dashboard objects by right-clicking on any of the selected objects.
Follow the steps below to create a canvas dashboard:
- Login into LSAC application as an authorized user.
- Open KPI Studio from My Apps tab in the platform left navigation bar.
- Click the Plus sign that appears at the top right corner of the window.
- On the Create New Dashboard window, select either one of the dashboard fixed layouts or the dashboard canvas layout as shown below. By default, the canvas layout dashboard is chosen, all others are fixed layouts.
- Enter a unique name for the dashboard tab now or you can do it later.
- Similarly, you can select a default view or data set for your dashboard or you can click Create New View to create a new view. This opens the View Builder.
- Click Create to continue.
- The tab layout of the selection made will appear in edit mode on dashboard. For instance, here the dashboard canvas is shown.
- Click Create Sub Tab to create more sub tabs and add other dashboard objects to any of the sub tabs via the left side widget navigation.
Note: The dashboard builder auto saves the dashboard as a draft, as you continue to edit it. - Click Preview Mode to view and test your dashboard in preview mode before publishing and sharing it.
- Once you click Preview Mode, you can click Edit Dashboard to make further changes to the dashboard.
- Click Publish to save the changes and to share it with others.
Dashboard Properties
The following section discusses the properties of the dashboard.
Note: These property options will differ based on the selected dashboard template. The dashboard layout will have limited properties options, whereas the dashboard canvas will have all the properties options visible.
| Property Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Allows you to enter a unique name or reflects the current name of the dashboard. Click Name to update the name. |
| Default Data Set | Allows you to select a default view or a data set for your dashboard. This is optional. |
| Automatic filter linking | Allows you to automatically link your dashboard filters. This toggle is enabled by default. |
| Filter Reset Control | Enable this toggle so that the Reset button will be available in a filter widget control panel and will reset the entire dashboard to its original state. This will reset all filters and other dashboard interactions, including drill functions applied by the user. This toggle is disabled by default. |
| Left Filters (discussed below) | Enable this toggle to display the buttons for the left side navigation filters on your dashboard. Note: This toggle is disabled by default. When enabled the following toggles become available:
|
| Make Content Sticky | Enable this toggle to keep any global content containers (filters, associated reports, and so on) fixed in position so that they are always visible when scrolling through the dashboard content - effectively locking the global content container content to the screen. Content is sticky in preview and publish modes, but not in edit mode. Note:
|
Left Filters
If Left Filters toggle key is enabled, then the Filter icon is visible at the top in the left navigation pane. Click the filter icon to add, link, or apply filters.
Enable Hide Reset Link, which appears below Left Filters toggle key, to hide the button Reset that appears when you expand the filter icon.
Enable Hide Control Panel toggle key to hide all filter options that appear when you expand the filter icon.
Auto Run Filters
Auto Run Filters ensures filters are run when their values are changed, without using the Apply button. Auto Height automatically adjusts the height of a filter widget to best fit all its items.
Follow the example below to apply the auto run filter:
- Login to the LSAC application as an authorized user.
- Open KPI Studio from My Apps tab in the platform left navigation bar.
- Open an existing dashboard in Edit mode by clicking the drop-down of one of the dashboards you have edit access to. Note: You should have editing rights to the dashboard.
- Click the Filters drop-down to see the Filter Properties panel on the right pane of the screen.
- Enable the Auto run filters toggle key. Also enable the Auto Height toggle key for best results.
- Change the values of the filter parameters that appear in the Filters pane, located on the left side of the window.
- The value in filter parameter Study Name has been changed from SCI-CD47-001 to Alpha 33.
- Click Apply, in the pop up window to confirm the filter value changes. The widgets present in the dashboard automatically refresh to render data based on the changed filter value, without the need to click Apply from the Filters pane.
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