Tutorial Part 8: Creating Apps with Xcelsius

This tutorial is part of a course that explains the creation and registration of apps for the Dashboard Framework. In this eighth part, you learn about context apps. These allow you to specify the configuration settings for all apps of a dashboard at dashboard level, rather than at app level (as is the case for a configuration app). The relevant context app is always visible in the corresponding dashboard, which means you are not required to access this first to configure settings.

In this step, you use the app from part 4 as the starting point. In the underlying app, you could use a configuration app to configure the following settings

You could select whether you want to display the costs, the overall duration, or the number of telephone calls per branch and month in the app.
You could specify for which month you want to display this information.

You now make the following changes:

You create a separate app for each of the three metrics to be displayed. This means the selection is no longer made using the configuration app, and each metric is later to be displayed individually and simultaneously in a separate app of the corresponding dashboard.
Similarly, the month is no longer set using the configuration app, but using a context for which you will create a context app in a later step of this tutorial.

Prerequisites

This procedure is part of a comprehensive tutorial about Creating and Registering Dashboard Apps. During this tutorial, you create and register apps and their data sources.

You create this Xcelsius app in the eighth part of the tutorial.

Note Note

Ensure that you have already performed the previous steps, as described in Tutorial Part 8: Creating a Dashboard with a Context App.

End of the note.

Procedure

Load the Xcelsius file ztut4_metrics_month from the fourth part of the tutorial.
In the graphics area, delete the labels for the month and year since these will later be displayed using the context app at dashboard level.
Increase the size of the bar chart in the graphic area (which is currently empty), thereby filling the available area.
Delete the subtitle in cell G4.
Until now, the metric to be displayed was set using the SELECTED_METRIC connection. You no longer require this connection because you are creating separate apps for each of the three metrics to be potentially displayed.
To delete the connection, choose Data Connections , select the SELECTED_METRIC connection, and choose the – (minus) pushbutton. Then close the Data Manager.
Now create three apps one after the other in which the three individual metrics are displayed. To do this, you need to create a suitable title and set the value in cell H13 accordingly. The value in this cell determines which metric is displayed and until now, was set using the SELECTED_METRIC connection that we just deleted.

The first app is to display the monthly costs. Proceed as follows:
1. In cell G2, enter the title Monthly Costs per Branch.
2. In cell H13, enter the number 1. This ensures that the costs are displayed in column B and therefore also in the chart.
3. Save the Xcelsius file locally on your computer with the name ztut8_costs_month.
4. Generate a Flash file (file name extension swf) from your Xcelsius file by choosing File Export Flash (SWF) . Save the Flash file with the name ztut8_costs_month.
The second app is to display the monthly overall duration of the telephone calls. Proceed as follows:
1. In cell G2, enter the title Monthly Call Duration per Branch.
2. In cell H13, enter the number 2. This ensures that call duration is displayed in column B and therefore also in the chart.
3. Save the Xcelsius file locally on your computer with the name ztut8_duration_month.
4. Generate a Flash file (file name extension swf) from your Xcelsius file by choosing File Export Flash (SWF) . Save the Flash file with the name ztut8_duration_month.
The third app is to display the monthly number of telephone calls. Proceed as follows:
1. In cell G2, enter the title Number of Telephone Calls per Month and Branch.
2. In cell H13, enter the number 3. This ensures that the number of telephone calls is displayed in column B and therefore also in the chart.
3. Save the Xcelsius file locally on your computer with the name ztut8_number_month.
4. Generate a Flash file (file name extension swf) from your Xcelsius file by choosing File Export Flash (SWF) . Save the Flash file with the name ztut8_number_month.

Result

With the Xcelsius files and the associated Flash files, you have created the user interface of your future dashboard apps.

Continue this tutorial by performing the next step, Tutorial Part 8: Creating a Context App with Xcelsius. In this step, you will create the context app with which you specify the month for which you want the data to be displayed.