PhixFlow Help
22 Building Dashboards
By the end of this section you will be able to:
- Create a dashboard with multiple elements
- Apply filters on dashboard charts
- Apply sort orders on dashboard grids
Create a dashboard with multiple elements
The following video illustrates how to create a dashboard with multiple elements:
To recap the steps in the video:
- In the repository, find - Dashboards
- Press Add Dashboard
- Set the dashboard name to
Debt Overview
- Press
Create the dashboard by using some stream views you created earlier, and by creating a new view:
- Open the configuration form for the stream
Overall Debt Levels
- Drag the view
Debt levels by payment means
onto the dashboard pane - Right click on the chart
Debt levels by payment means
in the dashboard and select Dashboard Options → Add Horizontal Bar - Drag
Debt levels by payment means 2
into the space - Right click on the chart
Debt levels by payment means
in the dashboard and select Dashboard Options → Add Vertical Bar - Drag the icon from the stream configuration form for
Overall Debt Levels
onto the space - Choose view type Grid, and drag on all attributes from the stream to create the new view
- Go into App mode to see the results
Remove dashboard elements
- Open the dashboard
Debt Overview
- Right click on the view
Overall Debt Levels_1
and select Dashboard Options → Remove Element from Dashboard
Removing a dashboard element only removes the view from the dashboard, it does not delete the view.
Add view
Since we have only removed the dashboard element, the view we created still exists. We will add it back into the dashboard:
- Open the stream configuration form for
Overall Debt Levels
- Find the view
Overall Debt Levels_1
, and drag it into the empty space in your dashboard - Go into App mode - you should see that the dashboard is the same as before
Set dashboard to maximise on opening
Set your dashboard to that it automatically maximises when it is opened:
- Right click on any view in the dashboard and go to Dashboard Options → Show Dashboard Details
- In the dashboard configuration form, tick Open Maximised
- Close and open the dashboard, it will now be maximised
Apply filters on dashboards
You will now filter one of the views Debt levels by payment means
to show only the last 40 days:
- Right click on the view
Debt levels by payment means
in your dashboard - From the context menu, select Dashboard Options → Show Dashboard Details.
PhixFlow displays the configuration form for the dashboard. In the form: - Go to the Dashboard Elements section.
The table of elements has a lot of columns. Use the scroll bar to view them. If you want to see more of the column headings, you can drag the column dividers. - In the table of elements, double click
Debt levels by payment means
PhixFlow displays the configuration form for this dashboard element- In the Data Retrieval Options section, select the Use Custom Default Filter box
- In the Default Filter drop-down list, select
Last 40 days
- Press to save your changes and close the dashboard element form.
- PhixFlow has updated Dashboard Elements table with the new information.
- Press to save your changes to the dashboard and close form.
- Now check the result of the filter
Using background filters
Over the next two exercises you will create a dashboard that supports investigation into debt issues. First, you will create a view with a background filter:
- Open the configuration form for the view
Overall Debt Levels
.
You can do this directly from the stream configuration form forOverall Debt Levels
by double-clicking on the view- In the Basic Settings section, set the Background Filter to
Last 40 days
- Save your changes to the view
- In the Basic Settings section, set the Background Filter to
- Create a new dashboard, called
Debt Investigation
- Drag the view
Overall Debt Levels
onto it - You will see that the data has the
Last 40 days
filter applied.
The chart on the left shows the filtered data. The chart on the right shows the unfiltered data.
- Drag the view
- In the dashboard, press and add a new filter:
- Name:
Cash Only
- Conditions:
PaymentMeans
equalsCASH
- Name:
- The resulting data set will contain records with
PaymentMeans
=CASH
and within the last 40 days (34 records showing)
To verify this, open the Default View on the stream Overall Debt Levels
and apply the Cash Only
filter; all CASH
rows will be shown (100 records)
A background filter will always be applied – in addition to any other filter applied to the view. Once a background filter is applied on a view, it is not possible to see the data without this filter. In this way a background filter differs from a default filter – default filters can be overridden by users if they simply select a different filter, or even clear the filter entirely. |
A background filter can be set on a view, as in this exercise, or in the dashboard element properties for the view on a dashboard. |
Using prompt for value filters
To complete the dashboard for investigating debt issues, you will now create a filter that will allow users to display one of the types of payment (cash, direct debit or cheque). To do this you will set the filter to prompt for a value.
Step 1 Create the filter
- In the workspace, open the
Debt Investigation
dashboard. - Add a filter to the dashboard
Debt Investigation
:- Name:
select Payment Means
- Conditions:
- Where ALL the following are true
PaymentMeans
equals_prompt.PaymentMeans
- Press the ABC button - this will now say fx
- Press to save your changes.
- Name:
- Creating the filter also applies it, so in the dashboard, PhixFlow displays a box prompting you to enter a value.
- Enter
CHQ
and press .
The prompt is case-sensitive, so make sure you enter capital letters. - The data will refresh to show one blue data line for cheques (34 records).
Step 2 Apply the filter by default
Anyone using this dashboard can now apply the select Payment Means
filter. However, we want PhixFlow to automatically use this filter and prompt a user to enter a payment means, e.g. CHQ, CASH or DD.
- In the workspace, open the
Debt Investigation
dashboard. - Right-click the dashboard and select Unlock the layout.
- Right-click the dashboard again and select Show the Stream View Configuration.
PhixFlow opens the stream view configuration form forOverall Debt Levels
:- In the Basic settings section, in the Default Filter drop-down list, select the option
select Payment Means.
- Press to save your changes.
- In the Basic settings section, in the Default Filter drop-down list, select the option
- In the workspace, PhixFlow displays the prompt.
Step 3 Check the setting works
- In the workspace, close the dashboard.
- In the repository list, find the
Debt Investigation
dashboard and double-click the name to open its configuration form. - In the form toolbar, click Display to open the dashboard in the workspace.
- The dashboard opens and PhixFlow opens the filter prompt.
Every time that this dashboard is opened the user is prompted to enter a value. To change the filtered data, CHQ, CASH or DD click the filter icon to redisplay the prompt.
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