Print      Open PDF Version of Online Help

Analytics > Dashboards > Controlling the Appearance of Dashboard Pages

Controlling the Appearance of Dashboard Pages

This topic explains how to control the appearance of dashboard pages.

Columns are used to align the content on a dashboard. The sections within the columns hold the content. You can add or remove columns, and set the width in pixels or as a percentage of the dashboard page.

When you have more than one column on a dashboard page, you can break the columns to arrange them on the page. For example, if you have two columns side by side, breaking the rightmost column causes it to move beneath the first column, and both columns will span the width originally occupied when they were side by side. If you have three columns side by side, breaking the middle column causes the two outer columns to move beneath the first column, and the first column spans the width originally occupied by the first two columns.

Before you begin. To edit a dashboard, your user role must have the Access V3 Analytics privilege. To edit dashboards other than your own personal dashboard (My Dashboard), your user role must also have the Manage Dashboards privilege. In addition, to edit a custom dashboard that is stored under /Shared Folders/Migrated Company Wide Shared Folder, your user role must have the Access Migrated Company Wide Shared Folder privilege.

To set the width of a column

1. Open the dashboard in the dashboard builder.

   For information about opening a dashboard in the dashboard builder, see Editing Dashboards.

2. In the dashboard builder, click the Properties icon for the column and select Column Properties.
3. In the Column Properties dialog box, expand the Additional Formatting Options link.
4. In the Additional Formatting Options section:
   • If you want the size of the column to be determined by the option selected in the Page Size setting in the Dashboard Properties dialog box, then select Best Fit.
   • If you want to specify the size or the minimum size for the column width, then select Specific Size or Minimum size, and then specify the details of the specific or minimum size, as follows:
     • To specify the width in pixels, enter the number of pixels, for example, 200.
     • To specify the width as a percentage of the dashboard page, use the percent (%) sign, for example, 20%.
5. Click OK.

To add column breaks

• Click the Properties icon for the column, select Break, and then select the appropriate type of break:
  • No Break. Select this option to place the column next to the column that is above it.
  • Column Break. Select this option to place the column beneath the column that is currently to the left of it (or next to it).
  • Page Break with Column Break. Select this option to place the column on another page in printed and PDF versions. This option also places the column below the column that it is next to, if you have not selected the Column Break option.

    NOTE: The Break option is available only if the page has multiple columns and only for columns after the first column.

You can force the first column on the page to always display at the top of the page even when a user scrolls down the page.

To always display the first column at the top of the page

• Click the Properties icon for the first column and select Freeze.

Adding Sections to Columns

Sections are used within columns to hold the content of a dashboard. Sections are aligned vertically by default. You can drag as many sections as you want into a column.

If you drag and drop content into a column without first adding a section to hold the content, a section is created automatically.

If you drag a section from one column into another column, any content in that section is also included.

To add a section to a column

• From the selection pane, drag and drop a Section object from the Dashboard Objects area into the column.

  The column is highlighted when you are at an appropriate location in the column to drop the section.

Arranging Content Within Sections

When you drag an object to a section that already contains a single object, you can choose to drop the object either horizontally or vertically within the section. This sets the layout for the section. However, you can later change the layout for the section, as described here.

To arrange the content in a section horizontally

• Click the Horizontal Layout icon for the section.

To arrange the content in a section vertically

• Click the Vertical Layout icon for the section.

You can also apply formatting to the dashboard, for more information, see Applying Formatting to Dashboards.