Working With Active Technologies Form Controls

In this section:

How to:

Reference:

The use of active dashboards adds to the existing capabilities of active reports and integrates them using Document Composer Coordinated Compound Report functionality.

The following are characteristics of active dashboards:

You also have the ability to set an active report initial presentation style, which enables active reports to render as reports, pivot tables, or charts. With these types of visualizations packaged into the active report output, active reports can be integrated with Coordinated Compound Reports to present reports, pivot tables, and charts all within the same page.

Tip: When you create active dashboards using Document Composer, active reports (regardless of the initial presentation style setting) are to be imported, referenced, or created using the Report object, not the Graph object.

Adding active form controls to an active dashboard locks you into the active dashboard mode. For more information, see Active Technologies Dashboard Mode.


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Procedure: How to Create an Active Technologies Report With Active Technologies Dashboard Characteristics

Ensure that your active reports comply with the characteristics of active dashboards. You can modify an existing active report or create new ones that meet the criteria.

  1. Open or create a new report in Report Painter.
  2. Select an active report format from the Output Format drop-down list.
  3. Select By from the Columns toolbar and add the primary sort field to the active report.

    The first field must be a visible By field for active dashboards. All values found as the primary sort field will be listed in the active dashboard.

  4. Ensure that the first field has the same name as the column name.

    The first field must be the same name and format for active dashboards.

    • Right-click on the By field and select Column Title from the context menu.

      The Title dialog box appears.

    • Type the column field name that will be used as the primary sort field among the active dashboards, if applicable.
    • Click OK to close the Title dialog box.
  5. Select Format from the Report menu.

    The Format tab of the Report Options dialog box opens.

  6. Click the Initial Presentation drop-down list to select a presentation style for the active report.

    When the active report is integrated in the active dashboard, it can present reports, pivot tables, and charts all within the same page.

    Tip: When you create active dashboards using Document Composer, active reports (regardless of the initial presentation style setting) are to be imported, referenced, or created using the Report object, not the Graph object.

  7. Save and close the active report.

    In the following example, there are three HTML Reports that show REGION as the first visible By field in the report. These active reports comply with the active dashboard characteristics.


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Procedure: How to Create an Active Technologies Dashboard in Document Composer
  1. Create a new procedure with Document Composer:
    • With the Procedures folder highlighted, select New/Procedure from the File menu.

      The Add Procedure dialog box opens.

    • Enter a name for the new procedure in the File name field.
    • Select Composer from the Create with drop-down list.
    • Click Open.

      Document Composer opens.

  2. Select the following properties from the Properties window:
    • Select active report, active Flash, or active PDF from the Output format properties field.
    • Select On from the Coordinate report properties field.

      A coordinated compound layout coordinates all reports and graphs from the document with a common sort field. The coordinated report is burst into separate page layouts at run time. Each value for the first sort field displays on a separate page.

    The following image shows the Properties window with these options selected.

  3. Add multiple active reports to create the active dashboard:
    1. Select New Report from the Insert menu.

      The cursor changes into a crosshair.

    2. Click and drag the crosshair to create a report object and adjust it to the size you want.
    3. Import or reference an existing active report.
      • Right-click on the report object and select Import existing report from the context menu.

        or

      • Right-click on the report object and select Reference existing procedure from the context menu.

      The Get source file dialog box opens.

    4. Select the active report and click Open to add it to Document Composer.

    Repeat these steps to embed multiple active reports into the coordinated compound document that will create the active dashboard.

  4. Position the reports in the document. For more information about positioning reports, see Positioning Report Objects in the Active Technologies Dashboard.
  5. Optionally, you can bind objects to an active report. For more information about binding reports, see Binding Objects to an Active Technologies Report.
  6. Add an active form control to the document. For more information about active form controls, see How to Add an Active Technologies Form Control to the Layout.

    Note: Adding an active form control to a document with synchronized active reports results in Document Composer being switched into a limited active dashboard mode. For more information on the active dashboard mode, see Active Technologies Dashboard Mode.


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Binding Objects to an Active Technologies Report

How to:

You can create multiple views of an active report by binding an active report object to another active report. Binding or synchronizing is the act of configuring an association between an active report and other active report objects in Document Composer.

You can synchronize active report objects and show the synchronized report groups in Document Composer. The synchronize options are available from the Positioning toolbar in Document Composer.

You can only synchronize objects to one active report at a time. If you try to synchronize an object to a second active report, the first synchronization is removed.



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Procedure: How to Synchronize Active Technologies Report Objects to Active Technologies Reports

When there are objects synchronized to an active report, those objects are updated any time the active report updates.

  1. With at least two active report objects on the canvas, select active report, active Flash, or active PDF from the Output format drop-down list of the Compound document Properties window.
  2. Select the objects to be synchronized.
    • Select the active report object as the object to be synchronized.
    • While pressing and holding the Ctrl key, select the active report as the report that you want to bind to.

      The synchronize buttons on the Positioning toolbar are activated.

      The binding object (active report) is indicated by clear boxes around the edges. The synchronized object (active report object) is indicated by solid black boxes around the edges.

  3. Click the Relate Bottom_Left button on the Positioning toolbar.

    The active report object is synchronized and refreshed with data from the active report.

    There is no separate procedure associated with these active report objects. If you right-click these items, there are no options to edit the procedure.



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Procedure: How to Show Active Technologies Report Relationships

Select Show relationships from the Positioning toolbar.

An arrow displaying the relationship is shown in the layout.


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Configuring Active Technologies Form Controls in Document Composer

How to:

Reference:

To add an active form control, it is required that you insert a new control to the layout. Inserting a control type while the output is set to active reports creates an association between the control and an active report, thereby linking actions to directly affect bound active reports.

An active form control is only applicable if there are active reports embedded or referenced in Document Composer.



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Procedure: How to Add an Active Technologies Form Control to the Layout

Any input control from the Components toolbar can be configured as an active form control.

To add an input control:

  1. Select the control type (Text Box, Drop Down List, List Box, Radio Button, or Check Box) from the Insert menu or toolbar.

    Note: There must be at least one active report on the canvas for the input controls to be available.

  2. Click and drag the crosshair to create a control object and adjust it to the size you want.

The input control is added as an active form control. You can now configure the control by right-clicking the control and selecting Properties and settings.



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Procedure: How to Insert a Dashboard Bar Into the Layout

A Dashboard Bar is an additional page layout where you can insert controls, reports, and charts that display above the dashboard tabs. The Dashboard Bar is only available for the active report formatted documents. A Dashboard Bar can be a maximum of one page.

You can insert a Dashboard Bar into active Flash and active PDF formatted documents. However, if you run these documents, an empty page will be returned.

To insert a Dashboard Bar:

  1. From the Compound document Property list, select either active report, active PDF, or active Flash.
  2. From the Insert menu, click Add Dashboard Bar.

    The Dashboard Bar is inserted into the document.

    You can now insert controls, reports, and charts that display above the dashboard tabs.

    Note: Though the Dashboard Bar can be a full page, it is not recommended that you insert large reports and charts, as this would make the Dashboard Bar appear the same size or larger than the dashboard.



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Reference: Properties and Settings Dialog Box (Active Technologies Reports)

The Properties and settings dialog box appears when you right-click an input control.

The Properties and settings dialog box is shown in the image below.

The Properties and settings dialog box contains the following settings:

Source report

The selected report will be the report that the target reports are filtered on. The values in Columns will be populated by the columns of the source report. Only one source report can be selected.

Columns

Lists all columns from the source report. The target reports will be filtered on the selected column value. Only one column can be selected.

Condition

This option sets the condition for how to populate the target reports.

  • Equal (default)
  • Not Equal
  • Greater Than
  • Greater Than or Equal
  • Less Than
  • Less Than or Equal
Add "ALL" option

Adds the option to select ALL data source values for the control.

Apply filter on load

When selected, this option causes the default value to be applied to the reports and charts when the page is loaded. This option is not active while Add “ALL” option is selected.

Multiselect

When selected, you can select multiple values from a list box or check box.

Target reports

The selected report or reports that the source report will filter. You can select multiple reports by holding down the Ctrl key.



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Procedure: How to Chain Active Technologies Form Controls

You may chain controls to one another by using the Add to current chain button on the Positioning toolbar. Chaining populates controls based on the selected value from the prior control in the chain.

  1. With at least two controls on the canvas, select the controls you want to chain.
    • Select the control you want to be first in the chain.
    • While pressing and holding the Ctrl key, select the controls you want to be in the chain from first to last.

      The chaining buttons on the Positioning toolbar are activated.

  2. Click the Add to current chain button on the Positioning toolbar.

    The selected controls are now chained. The controls will populate based on the selections from each prior control in the chain. To see the chaining relationship between controls, use the Show Chain order button on the Positioning toolbar.



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Procedure: How to Remove Active Technologies Form Controls From a Chain

You can remove controls from a chain by using the Remove from current chain button on the Positioning toolbar. To see the chaining relationship between controls, use the Show Chain order button on the Positioning toolbar.

  1. With a set of chained controls on the canvas, select the first control you want to remove from the chain. While pressing and holding the Ctrl key, select any additional controls you want to remove from the chain. The chaining buttons on the Positioning toolbar are activated.
  2. Click the Remove from current chain button on the Positioning toolbar.

    The selected controls are now unchained.


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Switching the Chart Engine

You can switch between the default JavaScript charts and Fusion™ charts. To do this, select compound document from the Properties tab and then select active report from the Output format property list. The Chart Engine property is now available. Select one of the options from the Chart Engine property drop-down list, as shown in the following image.

The Chart Engine options are described below:


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Reference: Active Technologies Dashboard Mode

Selecting an active report output type (active report, active Flash, active PDF) from the Output format drop-down list of the Compound document Properties window and inserting an active report activates the input controls in the Insert menu and on the toolbar. Adding an active form control switches Document Composer into a limited active dashboard mode.

In the active dashboard mode, the Output format drop-down list will be populated by only active report, active Flash, and active PDF, as shown in the following image:

To access the other output types, you must remove any active form controls from the canvas. If there are any active form controls on the canvas, the only available output types will be for active reports.


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