Tired of opening your dashboard to find no pre-populated values? Frustrated when your combo boxes and list boxes don’t display a value upon runtime? This brief blog post will assist admins/super users in populating those values to avoid confusion for end users when they open a dashboard devoid of any values.
Consider this: an end user logs into OneStream and opens their dashboard, only to find their cube view and combo box empty, contrary to what they expected.
As an admin, you're confident that the combo box was created correctly, and the right parameter was applied.
So, why doesn’t the dashboard populate a value upon runtime? Setting the default value on the parameter doesn’t always result in our dashboards displaying a default value. There’s an 'Action' -> 'Load Dashboard Server Task' section within our dashboard. This section has various uses, but in this instance, we'll focus on creating a Dashboard Extender Business Rule within Assemblies where we can assign a value to the above parameter. Please note that these instructions are applicable for those using PV7.4.2 and higher. Users of earlier versions can use Business Rules within the Tools section of the Application tab. Upon creating the Dashboard Extender Business Rule and assigning it to the dashboard, the hardcoded value or variable we declare will populate as a parameter.
Instead of crafting the Dashboard Extender under Business Rules, we’ll create an Assembly within our Dashboard Maintenance Unit (DMU). The DMU stores Assemblies where we can construct dashboard-specific business rules.
Next, we'll right-click on 'Files' to 'Add File', allowing us to create our Dashboard Extender Business Rule. We can craft four types of Business Rules: Dashboard Data Set, Dashboard Extender, Dashboard XFBR String, or Spreadsheet. In this instance, we'll generate a Dashboard Extender.
In our Business Rule, as you can see below, we can use a specific code to modify the listed parameter at runtime. You’ll notice our parameter, ChildrenOf_Legal, is integrated into the code. We also specify the value we want to display at runtime, “EUS01”, within the Business Rule.
Having scripted our Business Rule, we can now assign it to our Dashboard. We need to ensure that the 'Load Dashboard Server Task' is configured to 'Execute Dashboard Extender Business Rule (Once)’. In PV 7.4.2, there isn't a tooltip to guide us on the syntax for invoking the Business Rule within our Assembly. Nonetheless, the following syntax is effective in calling the necessary information:
{Workspace.Current.MyAssembly.MyBusinessRule}{OnLoadMainDashboard}{}.
Here, {Workspace.Current.MyAssembly.MyBusinessRule} accesses the current workspace and the assembly and business rule we've established. {OnLoadMainDashboard} is the function utilized within our Business Rule. The final {} is purposed to call out any specific parameters - we'll leave this part blank.
With these steps completed, when our end users run the dashboard for the first time, the value we declared in our Business Rule will appear in our Dashboard.
It's important to note one caveat with this method - if you attempt to assign the action to an embedded dashboard within your main frame dashboard, the rule will fail to execute. The action must be assigned directly to the main dashboard to function correctly.
Adopting this approach effectively eradicates any confusion for end users. Rather than facing blank values when the dashboard runs, we now populate a value for them, creating a win-win scenario for both admins and end users!
