The Refresh button, on the dashboard toolbar, initiates a round trip to the server to bring the latest data back to the dashboard. A dashboard will automatically refresh when a process is run or an item is added to a numbered list.
There are other ways to refresh a dashboard. The methods described in this topic provide some alternative options for refreshing a dashboard.
The ways in which these alternative methods are implemented will depend on:
- the kind of data you’re dealing with;
- the situation in which the dashboard is being used; and
- how the target user will interact with the dashboard.
Synchronization
If Synchronize Selection is enabled for dashboard elements that share a dimension, when you click a dimension in one of those elements, the entire dashboard refreshes.
This is useful in a context where you click on one element to drive another, such as drilling into a hierarchy. The refresh triggered in this method is implicit — there is no obvious refresh option on the dashboard — a refresh is initiated by clicking on a shared dimension in either dashboard element.
This method requires that the dimension the two elements have in common is on either a row or column.
- Choose the data that you want to publish as an element on a dashboard.
- From the View menu, select the relevant Publish … to Dashboard command and choose a dashboard. The menu option you choose will depend on the kind of data you’ve chosen to publish.
- Apply Synchronize Selection to the new dashboard element.
- Choose further data, perhaps from a different module, that contains a dimension shared with the data in the first dashboard element.
- From the View menu, select the relevant Publish … to Dashboard command and publish to the dashboard selected in step 2.
- Apply Synchronize Selection to the dashboard element.
- Arrange the dashboard elements on the dashboard in Dashboard Designer.
- Click the Save and Exit button on the dashboard toolbar.
Use a line item as a ‘button’
This is a variation of the previous method. However the detail of the second dashboard element is hidden, leaving a single line item that works as a ‘button’ to refresh the entire dashboard.
This is more useful where users require an explicit refresh option on the dashboard itself.
- Choose the data that you want to publish as an element on a dashboard.
- From the View menu, select the relevant Publish … to Dashboard command, and choose a dashboard.
The menu option you choose will depend on the kind of data you have chosen to publish. - Apply Synchronize Selection to the dashboard element.
- Choose further data, perhaps from a different module, that contains a dimension shared with the data in the first dashboard element. (Another approach is to add a new line item and name it with the label of the button, for example, Refresh Dashboard.)
- Pivot the data to put line items on columns.
- Hide all rows and columns, except the name of the line item shared with the data in the first dashboard element.
- In Column Settings, set the Width for Row Labels to 6 pixels and the width of the remaining line item to a value that accommodates all the characters in the name.
You will now have a single field, with the name of the line item emboldened.
- From the View menu, select the relevant Publish … to Dashboard command, and publish to the dashboard selected in step 2.
- Apply Synchronize Selection to the dashboard element and deselect Show Module name, Show Label, and Show Page Selector.
- Arrange the dashboard elements on the dashboard in Dashboard Designer and select Save and Exit from the dashboard toolbar.
Click on the ‘button’ (line item) to refresh the dashboard.
