2.1 Creating a Dashboard
To build a dashboard, you lay out components such as gauges, tables, and charts on a simple canvas called a Viewsheet. Viewsheets can retrieve data from queries, data models, or Data Worksheets. (See Data Modeling and Getting Started with Data Mash-Up for more information on creating these assets.)
Note: Creation of new dashboards is currently not supported on Apple iPads.
The following example walks you through the creation of a simple Viewsheet. You will use an existing Data Worksheet called 'ProductSales' as the data source for the dashboard, and you will configure output and selection components to allow users to quickly analyze the 'ProductSales' data.
Follow the steps below:
If the server is already running, just point a browser window to http://localhost:8080/sree/Reports.
1. On Windows, launch the User Portal from the Windows 'Start' menu: Start > All Programs > Style Intelligence > Style Intelligence Server. This starts the server and opens the browser to the server home page.
2. On Linux, run the InetsoftServer.sh file in the bin folder of the installation directory to start the server. In your browser, enter the URL http://localhost:8080/sree/ to access the server home page.
3. Select the 'User Portal' link to open the Portal.

4. Press the Design tab, and select the 'Visual Composer' link.
This opens Visual Composer in a new window. The left-side panels in Visual Composer are labeled Asset and Component. The Asset panel lists all Data Worksheets and Viewsheets. The Component panel lists all of the components available to a Viewsheet.


5. Press the 'New Viewsheet' button. This opens the 'New Viewsheet' dialog box.
6. In the 'New Viewsheet' dialog box, expand the 'Global Worksheet' node and expand the 'Tutorial' folder. Select the 'ProductSales' Data Worksheet and press 'OK'.

This creates a new Viewsheet that draws its data from the 'ProductSales' Worksheet.
7. Expand the 'ProductSales' node at the top of the Component panel in Visual Composer. Drag the 'SalesByDate' data block into the Viewsheet grid. This adds the 'SalesByDate' data block to the Viewsheet as a Table component.

8. Under the 'ProductSales' tree node, expand 'SalesByDate' to show the list of fields within that data block.

9. Click and drag the 'State' field to an empty cell in the Viewsheet grid. This creates a Selection List that will let the user choose the states for which data is displayed.

10. From the 'Selection' folder in the Component panel, drag a Range Slider component into an empty cell in the Viewsheet grid. This will let the user specify a time period for the displayed output.

11. Drag and drop the 'Month(Date)' field onto the Range Slider in the grid. This links the Range Slider to the 'Month(Date)' field.

Use the main toolbar to change the fonts, colors, and other visual properties of the elements. You can right-click an element to see further options.
This allows the Range Slider to filter the 'Date' field in the Worksheet data block.
12. Drag the handles on the Range Slider to adjust the size as desired.

See Dashboard Design in the User Documentation for more information on global and user scope.
13. Press the 'Save' button in the Viewsheet toolbar, and save the Viewsheet under 'Global Viewsheet' with the name “Sample Viewsheet”. This deploys the Viewsheet to the server under global scope.


14. Press the 'Preview' button on the main toolbar. This provides a preview of what the user will see in the Portal, and allows you to interact with the dashboard as a user would.

You have now completed construction of your first dashboard. To explore the dataset using this Viewsheet, see Using a Dashboard. For more information about creating Viewsheets, see Quick Start: Creating a Viewsheet in Dashboard Design (User Documentation).
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