1622913 - How to create multi-layered dashboards in Xcelsius

• Passing variable from a parent dashboard to a child dashboard

• Xcelsius 2008

There are 3 basic steps to creating your multi-layer dashboard inside of BOE:

1: Multi-Layer Dashboards: A multi-layer dashboard is defined as a parent Xcelsius SWF file that dynamically loads external SWFs inside a nested slideshow or image component. In our case we will pass a dynamic URL to a slideshow component inside of our parent SWF.

2: Flash Variables: A Flash Variable will load any variable from the framework for which an Xcelsius SWF is loaded (HTML, SWF, .NET, etc).
In our case will push the login token as a Flash Variable from the BOE instance (HTML) that the SWF resides in.

3: Concatenate a URL: In many instances you can dynamically concatenate variables and from within a model to dynamically generate a URL during runtime. This URL can be used to load or send parameterized queries, or launch reports.

Step by Step Instructions
Configuring the Child SWFs
1. Build and publish your child SWF files to the BOE repository.
2. Locate the "iDocID" for each child SWF. The easiest way I found to locate this ID, was to navigate to the BOE repository and load each SWF file inside of Infoview. I would then right click on the HTML off to the right hand side of the screen and click "View Source" to show the HTML code. I would then locate the iDocID. Otherwise, you can also get the ID by logging into the CMC and locate the file under the folders and right-clicking on 'Properties'.

Build the Excel File

3. Take all of the iDocIDs and load them into the Excel file. In my case I knew that a selector would be used toggle between my child SWFs. I reserved a space for my insert in row for my selector (yellow).
4. Create a space for your Login Token, which will be pushed to the model via Flash Variables (pink).
5. Concatenate the URL for the child SWF inside of BOE. This concatenated URL will be based on the following URL: ="http://lm-xi33en:8080/Xcelsius/opendoc/documentDownload?iDocID="&A3&"&sKind=Flash&CELogonToken="&B2

6. Save the Excel file and import into Xcelsius.

Build the Xcelsius Model

7. Insert a Slideshow Component, which is located in the components window within the Connectivity folder.
8. In the Slideshow properties window, bind the URL to the concatenated URL (A5).
9. Create the rest of your Xcelsius model. In our case I added my selector to allow us to toggle between child SWFs.

Configure the login token Flash Variable

10. Add the Flash Variable: Go to Data > Connections
11. Add a Flash variable and name it "CELogonToken". Then bind the value to the spreadsheet (B2). The name is extremely important to identify the variable inside of Infoview.
12. Save and publish your model to the repository.

Other Considerations
In this case we use the iDocID. You can also use the DocName or CUID for better life cycle management.

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