Dashboard Platform: Setup and Deployment (Webinar Recap)

The full release of the Syncfusion Dashboard Platform has been a success. We’ve gathered feedback and questions from our beta testers and early adopters and created a webinar to help answer some of your most pressing questions. The most popular request, by far, has been for a setup and deployment demonstration.

In the recording below, Syncfusion VP Daniel Jebaraj demonstrates an implementation using Dashboard Platform. In this video, you’ll see how fast you can get from start to finish (or in this case–from data to distribution). At the end of this webinar we hosted a live Q&A with attendees, which we have included in the recording.

There were more questions than we had time for during the webinar, but we didn’t want those to go unanswered. We have expanded on a number of unanswered questions and included them below. If you have a question about the Syncfusion Dashboard Platform that wasn’t covered, contact us and we’ll get it answered for you.

Extended Q&A From Attendees

Is it possible to connect to a MySQL database?

Absolutely. Please refer to our documentation for more details.

Do you support authentication with OpenID (Google, FB, Microsoft)?

No, currently we don’t have support for OpenID. However this is already on our to-do list and will be implemented in the future.

Where can I find information about your simple ETL capabilities? Do you have a recorded webinar about them?

Please refer to our documentation that illustrates the simple ETL capabilities of the Syncfusion Dashboard Platform. We do not have a recorded webinar about them at this time.

On your PivotGrid_1, if I want the distinct count of OrderID ordered by descending order, how can I do that?

This is currently not possible but it will be supported in the future.

Can information be organized by the value or measure?

You can order the value or measure for the grid and chart widgets. For other widgets, it will be supported in future releases.

Can I create custom measures like Power BI or customization fields?

Yes, you can create custom measures with the Expression Designer during data source design through the Dashboard Designer.

Will selecting something from a data visualization widget filter other visualizations on the dashboard?

Yes, this is possible by configuring dashboard filters. Master-listener relationships can be established between widgets to control this behavior. Refer to our documentation for more information.

Can you pass the current user information as a parameter to the dashboard for filtering?

Currently this is not possible, but it will be supported in our upcoming release.

If I choose USA as a value from Chart1, will it filter all other widgets in the dashboard?

If Chart1 is marked as a master widget for all other widgets in a dashboard, then choosing from Chart1 will apply the filter to the other widgets. Please refer to our documentation for more details.

What is required of a web host for a dashboard?

The Dashboard server can be installed on a Windows server (Windows Client OS 7+ or Windows Server OS 2008 R2+). It is also possible to host it as an Azure web application.

Can I build custom widgets?

No, this is currently not possible. We actively add support for new widgets and will be happy to actively consider your request.

Is there a way to have some behavior configured? Like predefined dates for the date picker?

Yes. You can configure the date picker with relative dates such as the last 10 days, last week, etc.

Can you show how to configure dates when the user opens the dashboard?

Yes, please refer to this help topic.

Is it possible to embed dashboards in another system?

Dashboards can be embedded in a system using the Dashboard Platform SDK. Refer to this help topic for more information.

Can you parameterize the data source in any way, maybe linking for a user login to create a dashboard with data relevant to the user?

Currently this is not possible, but it will be supported in our upcoming release.

I see linked dashboards. Can you make a widget link or drill-down to another dashboard?

Yes, we can enable linking in a widget to link to another dashboard. Please refer to our documentation for more information.

Can I publish to public users without requiring login?

Currently this is not possible, but it will be supported in our upcoming release.

Is it possible to embed dashboards within ASP.NET Web Forms and MVC applications?

Yes, this is possible using the Dashboard Platform SDK.

What about SAP HANA database connectivity? HANA is an in-memory computing database.

This is currently not possible but it will be supported in the future.

Is Active Directory required or can we create our own dashboard users?

No, active directory is not required. It is possible to create your own dashboard users with our built-in permission management system. That said, there is complete support for Active Directory if you need to integrate with it.

Which formats are available for scheduled dashboards for mailing?

Currently, image is the only format available. We already have plans to expand to Excel, Word, and PowerPoint file formats. Most widgets already expose a layer that allows export to these formats.

What is the difference between a widget and a dashboard?

A dashboard is a composition of one or more widgets. Each element on the dashboard like the charts and grids are widgets.

Is it an annual fee or one payment?

One low Annual fee. Global unlimited licenses cover everyone within your organization for one low annual fee.

What can the end user change? Filters? Date ranges? Dimensions? Groupings?

End users can change filter values, date ranges, and groupings.

Can you expose the dashboard without an ID and password?

Currently, this is not possible but it will be supported in our upcoming release.

Is Azure the only cloud option? Is there an option to publish to Amazon?

Yes, Azure is the only directly supported cloud option for now. There are however no issues publishing to AWS virtual servers running Windows. This is definitely a supported scenario for deployment.

Is it multi-language?

Yes. Both the Dashboard Designer and Dashboard Server can be localized to a specific culture.

Does it run on Linux?

No, the Dashboard Platform is only supported on Windows. However, published dashboards can be viewed on any platform including Windows, Linux, OS X, Chrome OS, Android and iOS.

Is data in the dashboard tied with data of type DateTime?

Yes. The date picker widget can be tied with the data column of type DateTime.

How can we connect to Azure DocumentDB and show it in a dashboard?

This is currently not possible but it will be supported in the future.

Can you show me a demo of embedding the dashboard to my application?

Please refer to this help topic.

I was not able to present a date time field summary in hours, only minutes and days.

Currently, this is not possible but this will be supported in our upcoming release.

Can a viewer user select a filter in the Reports screen?

Yes, users can select filters.

Are there any combination charts like line vs. bar?

We do have support for combination charts. However, line vs. bar is not supported at the moment. This will be available in the future.

Can I embed a dashboard into PPT files? Like SAP Dashboard Design (Xcelsius is the old name)?

You may embed as an image. In fact this can be automated using our PowerPoint API.

Can I put a filter selector on a chart?

Yes, the chart widget can be configured as a listener for filter widgets. Any filter value that is set will affect the displayed values on the chart.

Is there any component required to be embedded with my website if I include the dashboard?

Yes, you would need to embed our HTML5 dashboard viewer control within your website. There are no client-side requirements except for a modern web browser.

Can I do What If? analysis in the dashboard? For example, if I sell my products at USD15 what margin that I will get?

This is currently not possible but may be supported in the future. For full scale analysis requirements please consider our Big Data Platform. It supports extremely complex analysis and includes the complete Scientific Python stack on top of Apache Spark.

Will the dashboard be responsive?

Yes. It will be responsive for desktop, tablet, and mobile views.

Is it possible to connect to Postgres DB?

Currently this is not possible, but it will be supported in our upcoming release.

What is the linked dashboard area in the bottom right corner? How do you use it?

This area will have the published dashboard links that refer (link) to any of the widgets in the current dashboard. Double-clicking a dashboard will open it in a new designer instance for modification. Refer to this help topic to enable linking in a widget.

If some gauges evaluate the percentage of a target, how can you set colors depending on the percentage achieved?

This is currently not possible but it will be supported in the future.

Can I modify MVC views of this site?

Yes. We are working on responsive support and mobile support for the Dashboard Server application and it will be available in the next release. You can also modify the views; however, they will be replaced if you install a later version.

Can I host dashboards on SharePoint?

This is currently not possible without using the SDK but it will be supported in the future.

Do you have Gantt charts for project scheduling?

This is currently not possible but it will be supported in the future.

Can the data source also be a SSAS tabular model/cube?

SSAS cube data connection will be supported in our upcoming release. Tabular model data connection support will be considered in future releases.

So you can connect to SharePoint Lists via REST?

Yes. The RESTful web service should have either basic or no authentication. OAuth authentication is not currently supported but we have plans to support it soon.

Do you offer any educational discounts?

Please review our community license. It may be a fit for most such needs. The community license is completely free.

What about localization to German?

Yes, the Dashboard Designer, Dashboard Viewer, and Dashboard Server can be localized to German with culture files in the appropriate format. Please refer to the following links for more details:

• Dashboard Designer
• Dashboard Viewer
• Dashboard Server