SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
5 Xcelsius tips to start 2011 right!
Let’s kick off 2011 with some Xcelsius (SAP Crystal Dashboard Design) tips which may help you during the development of some cool Xcelsius dashboards.
1. Document from start
Documenting your work sounds like something that can wait until you finished the dashboard. In Xcelsius development this can get you into trouble. As a dashboard gets more complex during development it is important to remain in control. There are a number of ways you can apply this:
Use colors to express the functionality of spreadsheet cells, i.e. yellow for data input from Xcelsius, green for Excel formulas, orange for Dynamic Visibility and blue for external data. In addition to colors you can insert comments and borders on spreadsheet cells to keep things clear for yourself and others.
Use different worksheets for the data and Excel-logic for each corresponding dashboard tab or layer. Also group components and give these groups a logical name. If you use multiple components of the same type also rename them. Use the Object Browser to do this.
2. Use Global Font
So you built a nice dashboard and now you want to see how it looks with some different fonts. Manually changing the font of all your components texts is obviously a big no-no here. It takes way too much time and will frustrate you even before you started. Luckily you can change the font of all texts at once with the Global Font option.
Go to the Document Properties in the File menu. Select Use Global Font and choose your font from the list. Do not forget to select Use Embedded Fonts. That way you are sure the dashboard will look like you designed it on every computer it is run on. If you choose Use Device Fonts the dashboard will only use fonts that are available at the user’s computer. If the font that you used is not available another font will be used which can mess up your layout! So even if the SWF-file gets a little bigger, don’t use this setting!
Which Xcelsius (SBOD) version do I have?
SAP released the third fixpack for Xcelsius (SBOD) service pack (SP) 3 last week. This is the eighth update since the initial release of Xcelsius 2008. You might be wondering which version you are using right now.
To see which versions you have, go to the Help menu and choose About Xcelsius.... In the table below you can find an overview of all releases.
| Release | Version | Build |
| Xcelsius 2008 (RTM) | 5.0.0.99 | 12,1,0,121 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP1 | 5.0.0.99 | 12,1,0,247 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 1.1 | 5.1.1.0 | 12,1,1,344 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP2 | 5.2.0.0 | 12,2,0,608 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 2.1 | 5.2.1.0 | 12,2,1,66 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP3 | 5.3.0.0 | 12,3,0,670 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.1 | 5.3.1.0 | 12,3,1,776 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.2 | 5.3.2.0 | 12,3,2,864 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.3 | 5.3.3.0 | 12,3,3,973 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.4 | 5.3.4.0 | 12,3,4,103 |
| Xcelsius 2008 FixPack 3.5 | 5.3.4.0 | 12,3,5,1128 |
| Xcelsius 2008 SP4 | 5.4.0.0 | 12,4,0,11,66 |
