Change data in Dashboard

Michael Hornshøj

created 12 years ago

Hi…
Have been working with your Dashboard and is quite impressed with it ́s features - however a problem has shown itself here.
I ́ve made a Dashboard who gets it ́s data from sql-server, and saved it ́s layout, and upon loading, it is shown perfectly.
But then I wanted to be able to add a "filter" or criteria based on user selected category. This gives me some problems :-(
ìve put a splitcontainer control with a grid on the one side, and the dashboard on the other, and my plan was when the user selected a row in the grid, the dashboard would be updated with the selection as criteria / filter.
I ́ve loaded the new data into a datatable/dataset, but when I try to put this in the dashboards data with the command:
         Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.DataSources(0).Data = Data
I keep getting the error: "Data cannot be assigned if a data provider is used" and this I do not understand, as it is a table from the same sql-database table, only with data reflecting what the user selected (only one group not all as is loaded when the form is shown)
Then I tried another approach to get the job done:
            Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.DataSources.Clear()
            Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.AddDataSource("Data", Ds.Tables("Datatabel"))
And this didn ́t produce any errors, but i neither produced any data in the dashboard, as all items were cleared and showed nothing anymore.
Is the datasource for Dashboard static, or is there a way that I can provide new data for the dashboard ? Or is there a way that I can (through code) can pass a filter to the viewer, like ActiveFilterstring in Gridview, i.e. "Group=1"
Hope you can help me
Regards,
Michael
PS. Have applied update/build with the fix with the ability to enter user/password for the sql-server datasource upon loading - and this was wonderfull :-)

Answers approved by DevExpress Support

Basil (DevExpress)

created 12 years ago (modified 10 years ago)

Hi Michael,
Thank you for your kind words. I am happy to hear that you have found this fix helpful.
To update data within a dashboard item, assign a new data source to its DataSource property after you update the Dashboard.DataSources collection.
I have attached an example that shows how to do this.
Please also note that we have added the DashboardViewer.ReloadData method that allows you to accomplish this with a single call.
You can get a public fix that contains this method from the following page right now:
Usability - There is no public API for reloading data from database
Thanks,
Basil

WindowsApp...ation1.zip

Show previous comments (5)

Michael Hornshøj 12 years ago

Hi there…
Thanks for you reply, but a couple of questions
Your project runs here - just like I want it to, but…
I ́ve add a dashboard designer, and when it opens fields are shown in you graph, but theres no datasource ? Where do you get the data from ? And as there is no datasource, how do you get the fields into the graph ?
I ́ve modified your project code into my own, but when i click the grid from who the end user selects the group, the items in my dashboard are cleared, but no new data are shown. My code is as follows:
        HentDataSQL(Ds, "DataTabel", String.Format("Select * From Salg_Uge_Gruppe WHERE GruppeID={0}", Me.GridView1.GetFocusedRowCellValue("GruppeID")), StatConn) ' This is a sub i ́ve created who loads the sql data into Dataset "Ds", and table "DataTabel" - and before this is done the table is disposed
        Dim NyData = New DataSource(Ds.Tables("DataTabel"))
        Dim Item1 As GridDashboardItem = Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.Items(0)
        Dim Item2 As ChartDashboardItem = Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.Items(1)
        Dim Item3 As ChartDashboardItem = Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.Items(2)
        Dim item4 As RangeFilterDashboardItem = Me.DashboardViewer1.Dashboard.Items(3)
        Item1.DataSource = NyData
        Item2.DataSource = NyData
        Item3.DataSource = NyData
        item4.DataSource = NyData
As you can see, my code is a copy of yours - only modified to reflect my datasource.
You are using the strong-typed dataset - I don ́t as I create the dataset in code, and initialy the data loaded by the Dashboard is defined in the datasource-editor inside the dataset. I ́m there, where I think that the Dashboard doesn ́t show any data, as it looks at the wrong datasource - does this sound completely wrong ?
I ́ve attached the file from where it reads the dashboard definition (xml) and my .vb file that shows the dashboard - sry can ́t supply you with the database (sql db >6gb), but i hope you can get a picture of what I mean
Regards,
Michael

Dashboard_Salg3.xml

Michael Hornshøj 12 years ago

Ups… only on file… Heres the VB-file

DashViewer.vb

Basil (DevExpress) 12 years ago

Hi Michael,
Thank you for your clarification.
In the XML file you have provided, data members are referred to with the use of table names as prefixes (for instance, "Salg_Uge_Gruppe.Ar"). Such prefixed identifiers must have been generated by the Query Designer and are correctly resolved in the Dashboard Viewer only if the data source is loaded from a dashboard XML file. For data sources provided in code, these prefixes are not valid and data members should be referred to by their names (in the foregoing example, "Ar").
That is what happens when you click the grid in your project. As you do this, a data source gets assigned in code and prefixed data member identifiers become not valid for this data source.
To solve this problem, you need to change the dashboard XML in the Dashboard Designer so that it contains no prefixes within data member identifiers. First, do one of the following:
-- Assign the data source to the dashboard in code and open the dashboard in the Dashboard Designer.
-- Open the dashboard in the Dashboard Designer and create a data source in the Query Designer by specifying a custom SQL string (use the SQL View tab). Specifying a custom SQL query in the Query Designer does not produce prefixed identifiers either.
After this, you will need to bind dashboard items to data and save the dashboard XML file.
Please try this solution and let us know of your results.
Thanks,
Basil

DevExpress Support Team 12 years ago

Do you mind if we make this report public, so that other customers can learn from it? We can remove your files from the report if you wish.

Michael Hornshøj 12 years ago

Hi…
First - thanks for your VERY good explanation on what is happening "behind the scenes" - that gave me the picture, to work out off, and - I must say - I ́m getting more, and more impressed with what the dashboard really can do.
Please feel share our words here - if anyone else can get help from it. As neither of my files contains any sensitive data/passwords, do not bother to remove the files. Again if anyone else can get any help from them, then it ́s okay with me - that ́s how I get information from other KB articles.
And now on to the "funny" part :-)
Have gotten it to work, but an addition as I had to work a bit with it. First adding datasource to the dashboard wasn ́t any problem (http://documentation.devexpress.com/#Dashboard/CustomDocument12149), and that worked like a charm, and I quickly created a new dashboard, saved it, and opend the viewer (with the "selector" grid we spoke about earlier, and like your sample code), and it just worked like I wanted it to… Great !!
(A suggestion for new features here, would be the ability to assign a datasource to ALL the elements off the dashboard in one stroke, without having to doing so on each element - and yes I can see it can be tricky, as different datasources can be assigned to the different controls on the dashboard yes, but I ́m sure you understand what I mean. Is this what the new feature will contain you spoke of, the one whos been requested as a fix ?)
BUT I ́m missing an event… When/if I load the dashboard into the designer AFTER it has been saved, the datasource is empty. The name is shown in the selector box, but no fields… I then started looking for an event i.e. "AfterLoading" but couldn ́t find any. Your documentation wrote about it (http://documentation.devexpress.com/#Dashboard/DevExpressDashboardCommonDashboard_DataSourceCollectionChangedtopic), but this I couldn ́t get to work here, so I had to make a "workaround", and loaded the dashboard-file from code with then .OpenDashboard command, and AFTER this
     Me.DashboardDesigner1.OpenDashboard("I:\Dashboard_Salg4.xml")
        With Me.DashboardDesigner1
            .Dashboard.DataSources.Clear()
            .Dashboard.AddDataSource("Data", Ds.Tables("Data"))
        End With
This did the trick, and I was able to modify my saved Dashboard. Only setback is that I have to load the file through code each time, as else I can ́t get it to add the data that I ́ve added when creating the Dashboard.
This leads me to another suggestion, that an event is created that fires AFTER the designer has loaded the xml-file. If it ́s there, please let me know it :-) But I haven ́t found it… I tried the DashboardDesigner.Load event, but this fires as the designer is loaded and not when the designer loads the xml file…
And now I ́ll start working seriously with the Dashboard, as now I can control the datadisplayed - simply GREAT !!
Will be reporting back to you, if I find any shortcurts on what we have been writing about here.
Thanks again for your superb explanation on how to do things here - that ́s what I call "the DevE way" :-) :-)
Regards,
Michael
Ps. Why can ́t i format the data in the cells in the grid ? I.e. why do numbers have to be aligned to the left in cells ? It would be much niecer if the were aligned on the right side ? And yes the format function you have introduced in ver. 2012.2.4.12341 does help a lot, but… ;-) ;-) It ́s not perfect, but it is getting closer ;-) ;-)

DevExpress Support Team 12 years ago

Thank you for your suggestion. We appreciate your input. We will take your comments into account when scheduling our development.
With the current dashboard version, it is possible to accomplish this task without additional event handlers. You can use the following code:

C#
dashboardDesigner.OpenDashboard("test.xml");  
dashboardDesigner.Dashboard.DataSources.FindFirst(ds => ds.Name == "DS").Data = data;

C#
Dashboard dashboard = new Dashboard();  
dashboard.LoadFromXml("test.xml");  
dashboard.DataSources.FindFirst(ds => ds.Name == "DS").Data = data;  
dashboardDesigner.Dashboard = dashboard;

Note that in the latter case, it is necessary to dispose of the Dashboard manually.

DevExpress Support Team 12 years ago

This behavior with cell alignment looks like a bug. So, I have registered a separate report: Dashboard Grid numeric cells have incorrect left alignment

DevExpress Support Team 12 years ago

Thank you for your cooperation. I have made this report public.

Created: December 13, 2012 6:48 AM

Modified: January 19, 2015 8:06 AM

Platform: Business Intelligence

Product: Dashboard for WinForms

Build: 12.2.4

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Change data in Dashboard

Answers approved by DevExpress Support

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