The Freight Report was designed to be run with input controls. When you add a report that has input controls to a dashboard, the controls don’t appear on the dashboard until you explicitly add them, one-by-one. When the report runs, dashboard users provide input using the control. Data based on the user input appears in the dashboard. For example, using the input control, you select Mexico. The report on the dashboard shows orders from Mexican companies.
To add controls to the dashboard:
| 1. | If the Freight Dashboard created in Creating a Simple Dashboard is not open, locate the /Dashboards folder in the repository. Right-click the dashboard name and select Open in Designer from the context menu. |
| The Open in Designer submenu opens a dashboard or an Ad Hoc report for editing in the Dashboard Designer or Ad Hoc Editor, respectively. |
The Freight Dashboard appears in the designer, as shown in the figure A Simple Dashboard with Sample Reports, and the input controls for the report appear in the Special Content folder.
| 2. | In the Available Content list, open the Special Content > Single Report Controls folder. |
The three input controls associated with the Freight Report appear.
| 3. | Right-click Country and select Add to Dashboard. |
The Country input control and its label appear above the Freight Report on the canvas.
| If you want to place the input control in a location other than above the report, drag it from the Available Content list to the desired location. You can delete, reposition, and resize the input control or its label independently. |
| 4. | Select a new value from the Country input control. |
The data displayed in the Freight Report changes, but not in the Account report. The Account report does not refer to an input control named Country.
| 5. | Add the OrderID and RequestDate controls to the dashboard. In the Available Content list, right-click RequestDate, and select Add to Dashboard. Right-click OrderID, and select Add to Dashboard. |
| 6. | Ctrl-click to select the input controls and their labels. |
| You can use a selection rectangle or Ctrl-click to select multiple frames and items on the canvas. |
| 7. | Drag the controls below the Freight Report. |
| 8. | Draw a selection rectangle to select the OrderID input control and its label, and drag them directly beneath the Country input control. |
| 9. | Draw a selection rectangle to select the RequestDate input control and its label, and drag them directly beneath the OrderID input control. |
| 10. | Click the OrderID label, and change it to Order.Change the RequestDate label to Date. |
| 11. | In the Available Content list, navigate to Special Content > Dashboard Controls, and drag the Submit and Reset buttons underneath the input controls on the canvas. |
| By default, a dashboard automatically updates when you change the values in its input controls. When the dashboard includes the Submit button, the server doesn’t update the dashboard until you click the Submit button. |
The dashboard is saved to the repository.
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