Unfortunately Xcelsius does not have a native mechanism to send data back to the database, as a dashboard’s main purpose to read data and not write back to the database.  However, I do see the value in being able to persist comments so that we can go back later and be able to look at documentation on why certain things happened, etc.

In this article I will give step by step instructions on how to use web services and Xcelsius to accomplish the task of inserting comments.  However you will have to write your own web service code

Preparation

In order to facilitate the ability to create comments from Xcelsius we must have a mechanism to do so and a place to persist the comments.

You will need to store the comments in a database.

Thus you will need the following:

• Database
• Database table that will house the comments and additional parameters such as user, dashboard, etc

To allow Xcelsius to send comments to the database, we will need to create a Web Service and then call that Web Service from Xcelsius while sending in the appropriate parameters (comments, user, dashboard, etc).

To facilitate the ability to use Web Services, you must have a .NET or Java application server available.

Pseudo steps to create the Web Service

1. Start creating your web service using the programming language of choice (VB .NET or Java)
2. Create a method that will house your “insert comment” code
3. Method will need to have input parameters that contains your comment text and any other parameters such as user, dashboard, etc

       Steps in the method

1. Log into database
2. Begin Transaction
3. Create insert statement that will insert the input parameters (comment text, etc)
4. Make sure that there is some sort of rollback mechanism to handle errors
5. End transaction
6. Close database connection

When you are finished coding, you will then need to deploy the Web Service onto your .NET or Java application server.

Useful Resources to help you code your Web Service

1.  Introduction on what a Web Service is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_service

http://www.w3schools.com/webservices/ws_intro.asp

2.  Example of creating a simple VB . NET Web Service for a .NET application server

http://www.w3schools.com/webservices/ws_example.asp
3.  Example of creating a simple java based Web Service that runs on a Java server

http://www.roseindia.net/webservices/buildingsimplewebservice.shtml

4.  Java code to connect to a DB, create a table, insert into table, and retrieve from a table (you are only interested in inserting) Start on step 22 if you are interested in the code

http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/Database-SQL-JDBC/AccessMySQLDatabaseopenconnectioncreatetableinsertandretrieve.htm

Xcelsius Steps

In the Xcelsius example, we will walk through the steps on creating an input/output comment box; and creating a web service connection that inserts a user’s comment into the database.

1.  Drag an Input Text Area and Label component onto the canvas.  Users will enter their comments into the input text area and the label component contain existing comments.

2.  Bind the Input Text Area to the cell highlighted in yellow.  The web service connection will use this as one of the inputs.

3.  Now let’s setup our Web Service Connection.  On the data manager, add a Web Service Connection and enter the WSDL url into the WSDL URL: input box.

4.  Bind the input values to the cells of your spreadsheet.  (In our example we bind to 3 input values. Note that the output value is optional so we will skip that part.  In addition we will skip creating a Web Service Connection that retreives prior comments since it uses the same concept of what we are doing here)

5.  Insert a Connection Refresh Button component onto the canvas.  Make sure the Web Service Connection is checked.

A replay of the presentation can be found at the following link => http://bit.ly/rkBU1p

I’ve also attached the powerpoint presentation that you can download here

Unfortunately my previous tutorial at http://davidlai101.com/blog/2008/11/04/all-you-need-to-know-about-opendoc/ only works with Business Objects XI R2

Please note that the tutorial was taken from SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook so if you are interested in more useful Xcelsius recipes, be sure to purchase a copy

If you only need the Excel Template for setting up OpenDocument calls, you can download it here

If you are interested in getting detailed information on OpenDocument Parameters please download the official SAP OpenDocument documentation here

Otherwise continue reading for the Tutorial

Getting ready

A WEBI report with a prompt must be setup first.  In our example, the WEBI report will ask for a Region parameter.

You can download the example XLF source file from here

How to do it…

1.            Drag a Combo Box selector onto the canvas and bind the label values to the list of Regions on the Excel spreadsheet as shown below. Set Label as the Insertion Type and bind the Destination to the cell highlighted in yellow, which will be the input parameter passed to the opendoc call.

2.            Log into BI Launch Pad (Formerly Infoview), go to the location of where the Web Intelligence report is located. Right click and select properties.

3.            Copy the CUID

4.            On cell B14 shown below, an opendoc url is constructed. Paste the CUID from Step 3 onto Cell B23 highlighted in grey. Cell C23 equals the Selected Region cell C2 from Step 1.

5.            Drag a URL Button component onto the canvas from the Web Connectivity section of the Components window. In the URL Button properties change the Label text to Open WEBI report, and bind the URL to the opendoc url cell B14 from Step 2.

I’ve been given the opportunity to share my experiences with BI Web Services and how to build more efficient dashboards using BI Web Services in the upcoming SAP Inside Track Vancouver 2011.  Please mark your calendars for September 27, 2011 2:30pm -> 3:20pm PST!

In this presentation you’ll learn about BI Web Services and how it provides a hybrid of QaaWS and Live Office.  As well as some new powerful features that were not available before. We’ll also discuss some limitations and work arounds to prepare you for the road ahead.

For those who are attending, there will be a set of door prizes which include copies of my book SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook

For those who cannot physically attend, there will be a remote access link found in the wiki link below.

For more information on the event, please visit http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/events/SAP+Inside+Track+Vancouver+2011

Hope to see everyone there!

Well I did a quick test and yes there is a bug! So I wanted to warn everyone including SAP about this new bug.

I’ve tried both methods where I use the color code and the color itself, and both give the error.

Here are the steps shown to reproduce the problem
First try to bind a chart series color to a dynamic cell (In this case I tried cells with both the name and code)

As soon as you bind the cell, you will get the error as shown below. After that whenever the cell changes, the color will not be reflected appropriately on your chart.

I’d like to congratulate the 2 lucky tweeters who have won an eBook copy of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook

They are ……..

rodri_m_d
montoyainigo

On Monday July 25, 2011 we will be randomly drawing 2 winners and grant them access to their free eBooks!

All you need to do to join the Tweetaway twitter contest is to send out a tweet with a link to the SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards Cookbook page.

The easiest way is to tweet by clicking on this link! or you can use the share buttons from the PacktPub SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards Cookbook page

Retweeting other tweets is also allowed and there are no limits to how many tweets you can tweet!

Good luck and happy tweeting!!

The following features were added

The new waterfall chart component saves developers the hassle of emulating one using the stacked bar chart and excel logic.  For those of you who haven’t upgraded to SP4 you can find a good example of completing waterfall charts @ http://www.femkekooij.nl/?p=325. To see how much easier and cleaner it is to create a waterfall chart using the waterfall component, check out the example @ http://myxcelsius.com/2011/06/15/xcelsius-2008-sp4-waterfall-chart/

The other major new feature that I consider very useful, is the ability to replace the scorecard component with spreadsheet table alerts.  Please read my post @ http://myxcelsius.com/2011/06/28/xcelsius-2008-sp4-spreadsheet-alerts/ to see how you can use the spreadsheet component to accomplish what you need from a scorecard component and more!

The combination charts having alert capabilities is also very important as we do not have to overlay multiple charts on top of each other anymore to accomplish alerting functionality.

We cover the ins and outs of using the Dashboard Design components, connecting to different data sources, as well as providing examples on how to use many of the top Xcelsius Addons.  Each recipe contains easy to follow step by step instructions and screenshots on accomplishing each task.  In addition, XLF example source files are also included for every recipe to make sure users are following the recipes correctly.

The book is published in eBook (ePub and DRM-free PDF) and paperback format and is available from the Packt Publishing website

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook overview

Over 90 simple and incredibly effective recipes for transforming your business data into exciting dashboards with SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Xcelsius

Xcelsius 2008 was recently included in SAP’s BusinessObjects 4.0 family, rebranding “Xcelsius Enterprise” as “SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0”. With features like flexible design and what-if scenarios, the powerful dashboarding software allows enterprises to make business decisions at a glance, and this book allows you to go far beyond the basics of these techniques.

This cookbook full of practical and applicable recipes will enable you to use the full latest capabilities of Dashboard Design to visually transform your business data. A wide range of recipes will equip you with the knowledge and confidence to perform tasks like configuring charts, creating drill- downs, making component colors dynamic, using alerts in maps, building pop-up screens, setting up What-If scenarios, and many more.

The recipes begin by covering best practices for using the Dashboard Design spreadsheet, the data-model, and the connection with the components on the canvas, later moving on to some from-the-trenches tricks for using Excel within Dashboard Design. The book then guides you through the exploration of various data visualization components and dashboard interactivity, as well as offering recipes on using alerts, dashboard connectivity, and making the most of the aesthetics of the dashboard. Finally, the recipes conclude by considering the most important add-ons available for Dashboard Design and enabling you to perform relevant and useful tasks straight away.

What you will learn from this book :

• Become fully equipped with best practices for using the Dashboard Design spreadsheet
• Present data using the wide variety of data visualization components
• Learn how to make dashboard components interactive for an enhanced user experience
• Take advantage of Dynamic Visibility features on the dashboard
• Master manipulating the look and feel of your dashboards
• Gain confidence in using alerts on charts and other components
• Get to grips with advanced Dashboard Design components like the Trend Analyzer, Fisheye Picture Menu, History Component, and the Canvas Component
• Optimize the user experience of the dashboard
• Connect your dashboard to live data sources
• Export and publish the Dashboard Design model into several environments.
• Learn about the most applicable add-ons available for your dashboard requirements.
• Master setting up alerts on charts, gauges, maps and scorecards

Approach

This guide to SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 (formerly Xcelsius )is a cookbook packed full of practical recipes written in a clear, concise manner with annotated examples to empower readers to quickly accomplish specific dashboard tasks.

Who this book is written for

If you are a developer with a good command and knowledge of creating dashboards, but are not yet an advanced Dashboard Design user, then this is the perfect book for you. You should have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel as well as knowledge of basic dashboard practices, though experience of Dashboard Design as a specific dashboard tool is not essential.

I’d like to send out a special thank you to all of those who attended the Toronto BusinessObjects Customer Exchange yesterday.  The event wouldn’t have been a success without the support of all those who attended. I am hoping that everyone had a great learning experience!

For those who attended my presentation on dashboard essentials, you can download a copy of the presentation deck below

Download powerpoint presentation here