Xcelsius 2011: Direct query binding
Somewhere in the first half of 2011 the next version of SAP Crystal Dashboard Design (Xcelsius) will be released as part of the new SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 (#BI4) portfolio. SAP hasn’t given us a release date yet, but they did put a few demo’s and tutorials online that already give an impression of what is coming.
The most important new feature to Xcelsius seems to be an additional way to connect a dashboard to a Universe. A new Query Browser menu is introduced which enables the creation of queries on Universes without leaving Xcelsius or having to use tools like Query as a Web Service (QaaWS).
In these queries you can determine which fields should be loaded into the dashboard and define some filters, prompts and sorting settings. To use these prompts to filter data during dashboard runtime the new Query Prompt Selector component can be used.
Binding the results of such a query to the spreadsheet works just like binding the current data connections. Additionally it will be possible to bind a component directly to a query, so without using the spreadsheet at all! This feature will certainly make development a lot easier and faster.
Finally I want to share a video that demonstrates these new possibilities. Also have a look at the tutorials SAP put on their community website which learned me the above, since I do not have access to the beta/ramp-up version yet. BTW if you can get me this, plz let me know. 😉
HackingSAP.com - Jan 10, 2011 | SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, Xcelsius
Tagged | BI4, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, SCDD, Xcelsius
32 comments
Kevin
June 11, 2011Hi Xavier,
I having problems with the “query browser” of Xcelsius 2011…recently I have downloaded this new edition (30 day trail version), but when I trying to connect to the “query browser” the system indicates a “Log On Server Error”…I have installed this edition in my personal laptop, so my server is my laptop…so I don’t know if this edition works in this way…I hope you can help me…thanks!
Xavier Hacking
June 12, 2011Hi Kevin,
Is your server a BI4 server? It only works with BI4, BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 won’t.
Kaya
May 17, 2012Hi Xavier – first off, great book by the way. Well organized and well communicated.
Anyway, 1 quick question. If I build a query against a Universe, I know I can bind the query objects to the chart components. But, how do I bind the selector components (say filter/radio button/etc..) to the chart components?
Previous – you would use the EXCEL SS and have a ‘destination’ target for the selector component – then you could tell the chart component to use that ‘destination’ area. How do you now do that with query against a Universe? If you don’t mind, can you include screenshots? I assume this is possible?
Thanks so much
Kaya
Xavier Hacking
July 8, 2012Hi Kaya,
Check chapter 8 of the book, page 224 -229.
Cheers,
Xavier
Shafeeq
June 19, 2012Hi Xavier, Thanks for the post.
This is something I was trying to figure out – what if we want the prompt to be dynamic, like a selection value from a regular combo box ? I have been trying to see if the selected item from a combo box could be loaded as a prompt value to a query, but somehow the dashboard I’m working with does not accept the newly selected value of the prompt. It uses the default, used while designing. I’m even wondering if this is some kinda bug.
If you’ve had a tryst with something similar, I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks,
Shafeeq
PS: I’m using SAP Dashboards 4.0 FP03
Xavier Hacking
July 8, 2012Hi Shafeeq,
Does this also happen when you use the Query Prompt Selector component?
Cheers,
Xavier
ruby
October 10, 2012I am not able to select a Universe in Add Query dialog box, it is keep showing please wait. any idaea? thanks ruby
Xavier Hacking
October 10, 2012Is your Universe of the ‘new’ .unx type?
Rajesh
December 10, 2012Out of track question…which approach is better…query binding through query browser or qaaws in terms of performance?
Xavier Hacking
December 10, 2012Check this excellent article about this: http://bobj.sapbiblog.com/2012/02/20/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-direct-binding-in-dashboard-designer-4-0-xcelsius/
sekhar
January 29, 2013Hi Xavier,
We have a Requirement in Dashboards, Pls help us to come out from this situation.
Sample data:
Region Country Code Sales 1 Sales2 l Sales 3
All
Region1 Country 1 20000 4000 6000
Region1 Country 2 30000 3500 7200
Region2 Country 3 40000 4500 7700
Region2 Country 4 50000 5500 8200
Region3 Country 5 60000 6500 8700
Region3 Country 6 70000 7500 9200
Time Period:
Apr’11
May’11
June’11
…
…
Jan’12
Feb’12
Requirement:
Here we have two selections 1)Time period 2) Region
If we select on Time Perod:
Apr’11 or
May’11
we wanna see the data for selected Time period with respetive regions(w.r.countrys)
If we select Region, data should display for selected Region(ex: Region1 is selected,data should be displayed for Country 1&2,
If Region2 is Selected data displayed for Country 3 &4…)
If we select “All ” data should show for All countrys…
So displaying of Data(For Regions/Countrys) Depend on Time Period Selection
Thanks In Advance!!!
sekhar
January 29, 2013pls send .xlf.file to mail
it will help us
Xavier Hacking
January 29, 2013Hi Sekhar,
Did you already try using Filtered Rows for this?
Cheers,
Xavier
SAM
May 26, 2013Hi Xavier,
I’ve installed SAP BI Dashboard 4.0 SP5. When I start Dashboard tool “Query Browser” tool is disabled. Please help me to enable this tool so that I may connect to my universe.
Regards,
Sam.
Xavier Hacking
May 30, 2013Hi Sam,
Do you have a license for the Departmental Edition of Dashboards 4.0? The Presentation Design doesn’t support live-data sources and has these features greyed-out.
Cheers,
Xavier
Themba
June 7, 2013Hi Gurus,
How will I display Xcelsius dashboard, that has period from e.g 201005 to period to e.g 201012
I am using a combobox but It only display date to, it does not display all the period between.
How can I do this, your help will be appreciated. I am using Xcelsius department edition 2011 and still new to this
Xavier Hacking
June 8, 2013Hi Themba,
Is all the data stored in the spreadsheet or are you using a connection to get the data from a database on runtime? You can use/add variables/filters in such a connection to only receive the data set you want to use in the dashboard.
Also check chapter 8 of the SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook for more step-by-step info.
Cheers,
Xavier
Themba
June 8, 2013hi Xavier,
Thanks, for the prompt response. Currently I am using spreadsheet with all the data I need.
e.g period 201005 – 201012 and amount for each period.
the only problem I have is to display the period between 201005 and 201012 on my graph. I am new to xcelsius I downloaded trial edition 2011. I don’t have the books yet, but will purchase them soon
SAM
June 19, 2013Hi Xavier,
I want to know about possibility to hide and display components at runtime e. g. I’ve added five components/graphs. But as a user I want to remove two components. Now I’m left with three components, suddenly I find a need of adding one of the component then I enable one component and I’m with four components on dashboard. Please guide me about such possibility in SAP BO Dashboard.
Best Regards,
Sam.
Xavier Hacking
June 19, 2013Hi Sam,
You can achieve this with ‘Dynamic Visibility’. Check chapter 4 of the SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 Cookbook: http://www.hackingsap.com/blog/sap-businessobjects-dashboards-4-0-cookbook
Cheers,
Xavier
SAM
June 20, 2013Hi Xavier,
I know about dynamic visibility but it does help improving performance, as all components get loaded, user just makes it invisible, but my query is about adding/removing components from dashboard as per user descrition making it permanently saved like this and possiblity to change the layout/size of other components e. g. If I need three components out of five components (Default) saved by developer then user’s dashboard must have three components only, later user may go for four or two components. In short I’m asking about user’s freedom to keep desired components in its desired layout without depenedency on developer.
Best Regards,
Sanjeev.
Xavier Hacking
June 20, 2013Maybe you can do something with the Local Scenario button in combination with some Dynamic Visibility settings. The Local Scenario can save the state of the dashboard locally.
Cheers,
Xavier
David
June 21, 2013Hi Xavier,
After creating creating a query in Dashboard Design, the selected values in the Query Browser is grayed out and thus I cannot bind my prompts to the spreadsheet.
Please assist in this reagrd.
SAM
June 23, 2013Hi Xavier,
There are two issues that we are facing as follows:
1. Opening the content in PDF format. Error #2170. Resolution is to add cross platform policy. We are able to open the content in remaining all formats, only pdf format is pending. Please suggest if cross platform policy is a solution or something else is required. We have also configured Global Security Settings.
2. Dynamic Layout management of dashboards placed on applications. We want to change the size of components and want to adjust their order.
Please suggest solution for above mentioned issues.
Regards,
SAM.
Xavier Hacking
August 1, 2013Hi SAM,
1. I have no idea.
2. Changing the size of components on run-time is not possible. You could add resized copies of the component that you want to resize and use dynamic visibility to show only one of them at a time.
For the reordering: There are components that have Position X/Y options.
Cheers,
Xavier
Steve
July 31, 2013Hi Xavier,
First of all, thanks for publishing this awesome blog, we all enjoy it.
I have a query in Bex 7.3 that has a default date of the day from a user exit variable. When inserting the query in Dashboard there is an invite that asks for the results object as well as the filters. Since the date of the day is already filtered in the BEx query, do I need to filter it again? When inserting Calandar Day in filters, it actually shows the date of the day, will that be automatically updated every day?
Regards,
Steve
Xavier Hacking
August 1, 2013Hi Steve,
What do you mean with “updated every day”? Are you creating a dashboard that needs to run continuously (24/7)? The default value in the user exit will only be set when you execute/refresh the query.
If you want to change this default value with a component from the dashboard, you can do so by binding the filter to this characteristic. If you don’t do this the query just will use the default value.
By the way, alway test run your BEx queries with BEx Analyzer before adding them as a connection to SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards. In that you can check its exact behavior and look at the output.
Cheers,
Xavier
Arun
August 6, 2013Hi Xavier,
I am getting this error whenever I access dashboard – com.businessobjects.rebean.wi.services.nooutputexception.
My dashboard access webi report through QAAWS and BIWS.
Appreciate if you can give some suggestions.
Arun
Veeru
February 13, 2014Hi Xavier,
I’m working with BO 4.0 SP6 and Xcelsius 2011 SP6 connected with BW 7.3.1 with BICS connection. I’m trying to create a dashboard with xcelsius using a BEx query. My problem is to select some BEx query, is not possible to select any BEx query because all queries are disabled.
Appreciate if you can give some suggestions.
Cheers,
Veeru.
Xavier Hacking
February 16, 2014Hi Veeru,
Did you select the “Allow External Access to this Query” option in your BEx Query? You can find it in the Properties –> Extended tab. See this screenshot: http://my.theobald-software.com/pics/externalaccess.png
Cheers,
Xavier
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Alasdair
June 16, 2015Hi Xavier:
First of all I’m very new to BO Dashboards (im using 4.1). I am trying to run dashboards from an OLAP cube-based .unx universe. This works ok but I need to be able to filter data based on logged in user. My research tells me you can’t apply row-level restrictions on an OLAP universe itself. I also tried capturing the logged in user at the dashboard level using a flash variable CESerializedSession but can’t seem to filter my data this way. Do you have any thoughts?
Thanks,
Alasdair
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