Showing posts with label Xcelsius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xcelsius. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Xcelsius and the Object Browser
In Xcelsius, the Object Browser is your new best friend. It stores and displays all of the components that are on the canvas and allows you to hide them and/or lock them into position. Xcelsius allows you to design a dashboard by placing components on the canvas. It adds exciting visualization to Excel data– trends, what-if, projections and much more.
To add a component to a canvas of the visualization:
Open the spreadsheet that contains the data you want to use.Decide which type of component you need. ( Selectors, Containers, Charts, Gauges.)
Select the component and click on the canvas to insert the object.Use the Object Browser to control the component.Click on the eye to hide temporarily.Click on the padlock to lock the component position on the visualization.Once you have completed the components layout, you save it. The process of saving converts your visualization of the Excel data to an .xlf file. Click on preview and and a .swf file is created. This file then can be placed in a web page, PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Acrobat.
Xcelsius creates a dynamic, interactive and visual presentation of Excel data and a wow factor to your presentations!
Learn more about the Object Browser and other cool Xcelsius features in our 2-day Xcelsius class.
Tips for Emailing from Xcelsius
I often get questions about sending emails from Xcelsius. In fact, I get them so often, I thought I’d take a moment to document what I know. Here, I’ll show you how to :
Send a basic emailSend an email to multiple recipientsAdd a Body to you emailPrevent that awful Browser window from popping up when sending an email from Xcelsius.First, you’ll want to add a simple URL button onto your canvas and go to properties:
.
To start a basic email, enter this into the URL input box:
mailto:mike@someaddress.com?subject=Email To DataPig
This will start a basic email when URL button is pressed. The email will have the To line filled in and the Subject line filled in.
If you want to send the email to multiple recipients, you can include other addresses separating each with a comma. Like this:
mailto:mike@someaddress.com, mico@someaddress.com?subject=Email To DataPig
Want to use the CC and BCC lines? That’s easy. Simply add the cc and bcc parameters:
mailto:mike@someaddress.com?cc=mico@someaddress.com&bcc=ryan@someaddress.com&subject=Email To DataPig
Notice that you will need to use the ampersand (&) to separate the parameters
OK, let’s get fancier and add a body.
mailto:mike@someaddress.com?cc=mico@someaddress.com&bcc=ryan@someaddress.com&;subject=Email To DataPig&body=I ate too much salmon.
If you need to add a multi-lined body (meaning the text of your body is on multiple lines), you can use your own carriage return encoding %0D.
To be able to use this, you will need to uncheck the “Encode URL” option. This will tell Xcelsius that you will handle the encoding.
.
Once you’ve disabled Xclesius’s encoding, you can enter something like this:
mailto:mike@someaddress.com?cc=mico@someaddress.com&bcc=ryan@someaddress.com&subject=Email To DataPig&body= I ate too much salmon.%0DNow I have salmonella.
And as always, you can dynamically build your mailto url address in Excel with formulas and simply reference it in the URL button.
So what about that nasty browser window that pops up when you send an email from Xclesius?
You can get rid of it by changing the “Open In” option to ‘This Window’.
After doing this, the extra browser window doesn’t open when you export your final SWF and HTML. You’ll still see it when you are in Preview mode, but rest assured, it will be gone when you go to run-time.
There you have it! Happy emailing!
Mike Alexander is the author of several books on advanced business analysis, including Crystal Xcelsius For Dummies. You can find Mike at Datapig Technologies, where he serves as principle contributor and shares free video tutorials with the Microsoft Office and Xcelsius communities.
Tags: Crystal Solutions, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008, Xcelsius 2008 Tips, Xcelsius Gurus
Xcelsius Will Always Be Xcelsius
So what’s in a name? Some people will tell you “everything” while others will tell you it depends on what you are naming.
Some products have not only become defined by their name but have been so successful they end up defining all products of the same type like “Kleenex” and “Band-Aid” . Others have found out that their product name can end up portraying the wrong image like Chevrolet’s Nova car – “No va” meaning “it doesn’t go” in Spanish! The French company Bull Computers also had a hard time with its “Bull” named products in North America. However, Bull also launched a clever marketing campaign around the ambiguity of its name entitled “Know Bull” which did get some attention.
At this year’s Sapphire, Sir Richard Branson told this great story of how when he went to register the name “Virgin” for his company in the UK, the company registration official turned it down because they deemed the name as rude. So Branson returned the next day with a dictionary showing the definition of “virgin” as being pure and they accepted it.
So I have been somewhat intrigued about recent forum discussions surrounding SAP’s decision to rename Xcelsius – their amazing and very popular dashboard product.
Xcelsius already had some name recognition when Business Objects acquired Infommersion (the original developers) in November 2005 but then proceeded to rename it Crystal Xcelsius. This resulted in a lot of confusion as people started to relate the product to Crystal Reports and thought it was an add-on to this report writer product. So when the next major release was developed, the decision was made to drop the Crystal name and so Xcelsius 2008 came to market.
For the last two years Xcelsius has become one of the most popular and prolifically used BI dashboard products in the marketplace and its name has become synonymous with data visualization and dynamic dashboards.
So why would you take this very well known product with such a cool and catchy name as Xcelsius and rename it SAP Crystal Dashboard Design or SAP Enterprise Dashboard Design?
Well apparently this is because SAP uses a “master brand strategy” where SAP is the master brand and the product brand name takes a back seat.
So why not SAP Xcelsius?
Well this is because SAP also uses “descriptive naming” for all its products so in the case of Xcelsius, the back seat has been completely removed!
Since “SAP Crystal Dashboard Design” is so long, it is bound to become abbreviated. However, I doubt this will be shortened to “SCDD” since a Google search points you to the “California State Council on Development Disabilities” . It is more likely to become “Dashboard Design” since that is the new descriptive product name. A Google search on “Dashboard Design” comes up with about 2.5 million results starting off with Qlikview, followed by Tableau Software then Corda and SAP Crystal Dashboard Design comes in at about number 14. Interestingly, there is little ambiguity when you search on “Xcelsius”.
Translating Dashboard Design into other languages may also prove interesting. Xcelsius will always translate into Xcelsius in all languages and I have a feeling the name will persist. At the end of the day, it is not just the name that counts, it’s the product itself. Xcelsius is as unique as a product as it is as a name. I will never forget that day in 2005 when I first saw it and was totally blown away. Infommersion created something truly amazing and ahead of its time. It remains top of its class and, for me, Xcelsius will always be Xcelsius.
Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology. Possible Waterfall charts in Xcelsius
Posted on 1 October 2010 10:44 am.Femke
In Xcelsius a waterfall charts is not default available, however with a little imagination you can create one from a stacked bar chart. Below I have published 4 examples.
Waterfall Example 1AExcel source
Use the columns for the series (= coloring) and the rows for the labels (= columns in chart) by setting the data range to “Data in Columns”. On the appearance tab set the Marker Gap to 0 and the Marker Overlay to 100. Apply the series coloring accordingly.
Note: remember how Xcelsius builts up the chart; from bottom up to top. If you want your bottom bar color to be white, you have to start your series with the white color data.
Excel source
Same example as 1A only the less colors, thus less series used.
Excel source
You want to show how your profit and loss accounts are related by showing each individual account and use the colors red and green for the contribution amount (cost = red, revenue = green).
Again use the columns for the series (= coloring) and the rows for the labels (= columns in chart) by setting the data range to “Data in Columns”. On the appearance tab set the Marker Gap to 0 and the Marker Overlay to 100. Apply the series coloring accordingly.
Note: Again the order of the data columns determines the coloring in the chart. The white amount is calculated on the basis of the total of the previous column only in case of a cost account, that cost amount is subtracted from the total.
Excel source
This is based on the same principle as the previous chart only it gets more interesting as the total amount gets below zero, thus we have to deal with negative totals with a positive contribution. This can be achieved by creating extra series as the order of the negative positioned bar colors is different than when using positive bars.
Note: The coloring change in the y-axe can be changed by formating in Excel, see this post.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Christmas Lights with Xcelsius
This post shows how to create Christmas lights in Xcelsius by using just a couple components. The two components used in this example are the Push Button and Play Control component. Just five formulas were written in the spreadsheet to alternate the colors and create “blinking lights”. These formulas are all based on the Data cell in the Play Control component.
Adding Hex Codes
In this example, I used five colors for the alternating lights and listed the hex codes in the spreadsheet. These codes were entered and labeled in the spreadsheet. Be sure to add quotes around the hex codes when entering them. See the screenshot below.
Setup the Play Control Component
The next step is to add and setup the Play Control component. Drag and drop the Play Control component onto the canvas then map the Data and Scale property values to values in the spreadsheet.
Setting up Properties
Set the Minimum Limit to 1 and since we’re using five colors, set the Maximum Limit to 5. I included both 1 and 5 in the spreadsheet then mapped to them. Next, set the Data property by selecting a cell in the spreadsheet.
Color Coding
A best-practice is to color-code input cells in the spreadsheet and also include a temporary value. The screenshot below shows the cells that the Play Control component are mapped to (from the General tab of the component).
Play Control Behavior
An important step in the Play Control component is to click the Behavior tab and set the Play Time to 1 second. Also be sure to check the following Play Options:
Auto PlayAuto RewindAuto Reply
These three settings work together to force the Play Control to continually run. The purpose of the Play Control component is to increase the value in the Data cell. The value placed in the cell will be between the minimum and maximum value previously set. The value will increment by 1 and will Auto Rewind and Auto Reply (because of the previous settings).
Changing Hex Codes with Formulas
With the settings we’ve setup so far, cell J1 will continually count from 1 to 5, restart after hitting 5. In the next step we’ll write a formula that changes the Hex color code when the value in J1 changes.
Here’s the syntax for the first formula: =IF(J1=1,A4,IF(J1=2,B4,IF(J1=3,C4,IF(J1=4,D4,IF(J1=5,E4)))))
This code says, if J1 equals 1, then return the first Hex color code. If J1 equals 2, then return the second Hex code. The formula continues on through J1 = 5. By writing this formula, the Hex code in the formula cell will continually change as J1 changes (thanks to the looping action in the Play Control component).
The next thing I did was create four new formulas with slightly different conditions to show five different hex codes at all times. Observe the pattern and differences in the five formulas listed below.
=IF(J1=1,A4,IF(J1=2,B4,IF(J1=3,C4,IF(J1=4,D4,IF(J1=5,E4)))))=IF(J1=1,B4,IF(J1=2,C4,IF(J1=3,D4,IF(J1=4,E4,IF(J1=5,A4)))))=IF(J1=1,C4,IF(J1=2,D4,IF(J1=3,E4,IF(J1=4,A4,IF(J1=5,B4)))))=IF(J1=1,D4,IF(J1=2,E4,IF(J1=3,A4,IF(J1=4,B4,IF(J1=5,C4)))))=IF(J1=1,E4,IF(J1=2,A4,IF(J1=3,B4,IF(J1=4,C4,IF(J1=5,D4)))))The screenshot below shows how the five formula fields used to change the hex codes appear in the spreadsheet.
Note
After setting up the Play Control component, move it to the back layer behind all components so it will not be seen. An easy way of doing this is to select the component and hold down the minus symbol until it’s at the very bottom layer.
Adding Blinking Lights
The final step is to add the blinking lights. Each light is actually and individual Push Button component - mapped to one of the five formulas previously described.
Begin by adding a Push Button component to the canvasAdjust it to the shape you preferSelect the component then remove the word Push from the component’s Label valueNext, click the component’s Appearance tab followed by the Color tabChange the Default color and Pressed color (pictured below)
All that’s left now is to copy and paste the 5 existing Push Button components many times and place them appropriately on the canvas. That’s it! Blinking Christimas lights with Xcelsius!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you!
Jim.Brogden@daugherty.com
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 1 of 3
Before getting started, I want to provide a quick update on the Reportapalooza competition:
Unfortunately, I fell a bit behind while attending 2 SAP Conferences back to back this month. Sorry if I let anyone down but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support. I also want to give a huge CONGRATS to our current leader David Deitch who is an Xcelsius beginner turned Guru in this competition!
Now to Challenge #5. Labeled the ‘Report Remix’ challenge, I am tasked with learning more about Crystal Reports 2008 and sharing it with YOU the community, hence the ‘remix’ which is to take you on the journey with me of learning a new Crystal product 
. Below is my official public statement:
So let’s get started with a few simple questions?
Q. How can you integrate Xcelsius flash files into your Crystal Reports?
A. It’s a 2 step process. You first have to configure the Crystal Reports Data Consumer connection in Xcelsius (seen below) and then use the .swf button in Crystal Reports to embed the Xcelsius flash file. (More details on how to setup each will be provided in the next article)
Q. What are the Pros and Cons?
A. Pros – It is no secret that Xcelsius’ ability to handle large amounts of data is VERY limited. By embedding your Xcelsius flash file into Crystal Reports you get to leverage the power of the Crystal engine while utilizing the beautiful graphics in Xcelsius. It’s like having the best of both worlds. In fact, in my next blog posts I am going to show how to integrate a map in Xcelsius into a Crystal Report.
A. Cons – If your not as familiar with Xcelsius you may have some issues using the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ connection. It could use some fine tuning (note to the Product Team )
One more thing! This is your last week to submit your dashboards to the community Reportapalooza competition. Hope you read this far down, because if you have something worth seeing I am opening the door to review any entries that you send via email to gurus at everythingxcelsius.com and provide feedback if sent by 10/31 @ 12am EST.
Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page.
Tags: Business Objects, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008
Xcelsius Videos!
Tired of following instructions from the User Guides? Trying to find an old video on Xcelsius? MyXcelsius.com has a solution. They recently launched Xcelsius Videos page which has all the Xcelsius Videos that you can find on the web. They all are captured on high resolution and can be viewed on any browser.
Webinar Alert: Distributing Xcelsius Dashboards
More and more, dashboards are playing an increasingly pivotal role in organizations with a growing demand for new ways of delivering and consuming these dashboards. Users are no longer content with having dashboards delivered via a corporate portal or BusinessObjects InfoView. In fact, to use a rather overused BI cliché, users are demanding dashboards that deliver “the right information, at the right time, in the right place”.
This means, that organizations are now looking at ways to make dashboards available offline, delivered by email, or accessible on their users’ mobile devices. They also want to focus the information within the dashboards so that it can be personalized and distributed to users in a simple file format. However, many organizations have concerns about data security, encryption and scalability, and also the work required to customize dashboards. These concerns have prevented them from pursuing what could be a very effective way to extend the use of business intelligence to new users.
Antivia will be hosting a webinar on Thursday, November 18 at 2:00pm EST, demonstrating how you can utilize the power of XWIS and the BusinessObjects Enterprise platform to distribute personalized, offline Xcelsius dashboards, in a secure and scalable way to new users and new devices.
You can register for the webinar here. Space is limited so register today.
For those of you who missed the previous webinar: “Accelerate your Xcelsius Dashboards”, the recording is now available here.
Soo Tang Yuk fosters and evangelizes the ‘Xcelsius Gurus Network” and its communities. To find out more about her, please visit the About Us page. (posted on behalf of Andrew Smith, VP of Antivia, North America)
Tags: Antivia, Business Objects, BusinessObjects, Xcelsius 2008, Xcelsius Webinars
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 2 of 3
As usual, before getting started I want to provide a quick recap of where we are with the Reportapalooza competition. This is the last week of voting before the final winner is announced on Nov 22th!
Challenge #1 (Done) – Winner , Mico Yuk (Check out my Coffee Consumption Calculator)Challenge #2 (Done) – Winner, Mico Yuk (based on traffic sent to Report a Hero Page)Challenge #3 (Done) – Winner, Brian Durning (voted best Crystal Reports Video by Community)Challenge #4 (Done) – Winner, David Deitch (voted best Charity Dashboard by Community)Challenge #5 (In Progress) – What this series of blog post is about.Community Dashboard Challenge (In Progress) – Vote until Nov 12th, 2010 for your favorite community dashboard.In Part 1 of this series I went over some Q&A on what it would take to embed your Xcelsius visualization (in this case a map) into your Crystal Report, as well as some pros and cons. In Part 2 I am going to cover how to set up your map in Xcelsius so that it can be consumed by Crystal Reports. For this example we will be using Google Maps (compliments of Centigon Solutions) as it much more robust than the out of box maps in Xcelsius.
1. Install Google Maps Plug-in for Xcelsius (more details on how to do this here)
2. Add the GMaps Plugin to your Xcelsius dashboard
3. Configure your Excel spreadsheet to hold 2 columns of data for the Google Map: 1) Map Address 2) Map Labels
4. Go to Data Connections in Xcelsius -> Add the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ Connection
5. Configure the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ Connection so that the ‘Row Headers’ are bound to the Excel cell area you created in Step #3
In Part 3 I will focus on the final step: Bringing your Xcelsius Map into Crystal Reports.
One last thing, please don’t forget to cast your votes on the 3 dashboards that were submitted by the community to show your support.
Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page.
Tags: Business Objects, BusinessObjects, Centigon Solutions, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008, Xcelsius 2008 Tips
Xcelsius Will Always Be Xcelsius
So what’s in a name? Some people will tell you “everything” while others will tell you it depends on what you are naming.
Some products have not only become defined by their name but have been so successful they end up defining all products of the same type like “Kleenex” and “Band-Aid” . Others have found out that their product name can end up portraying the wrong image like Chevrolet’s Nova car – “No va” meaning “it doesn’t go” in Spanish! The French company Bull Computers also had a hard time with its “Bull” named products in North America. However, Bull also launched a clever marketing campaign around the ambiguity of its name entitled “Know Bull” which did get some attention.
At this year’s Sapphire, Sir Richard Branson told this great story of how when he went to register the name “Virgin” for his company in the UK, the company registration official turned it down because they deemed the name as rude. So Branson returned the next day with a dictionary showing the definition of “virgin” as being pure and they accepted it.
So I have been somewhat intrigued about recent forum discussions surrounding SAP’s decision to rename Xcelsius – their amazing and very popular dashboard product.
Xcelsius already had some name recognition when Business Objects acquired Infommersion (the original developers) in November 2005 but then proceeded to rename it Crystal Xcelsius. This resulted in a lot of confusion as people started to relate the product to Crystal Reports and thought it was an add-on to this report writer product. So when the next major release was developed, the decision was made to drop the Crystal name and so Xcelsius 2008 came to market.
For the last two years Xcelsius has become one of the most popular and prolifically used BI dashboard products in the marketplace and its name has become synonymous with data visualization and dynamic dashboards.
So why would you take this very well known product with such a cool and catchy name as Xcelsius and rename it SAP Crystal Dashboard Design or SAP Enterprise Dashboard Design?
Well apparently this is because SAP uses a “master brand strategy” where SAP is the master brand and the product brand name takes a back seat.
So why not SAP Xcelsius?
Well this is because SAP also uses “descriptive naming” for all its products so in the case of Xcelsius, the back seat has been completely removed!
Since “SAP Crystal Dashboard Design” is so long, it is bound to become abbreviated. However, I doubt this will be shortened to “SCDD” since a Google search points you to the “California State Council on Development Disabilities” . It is more likely to become “Dashboard Design” since that is the new descriptive product name. A Google search on “Dashboard Design” comes up with about 2.5 million results starting off with Qlikview, followed by Tableau Software then Corda and SAP Crystal Dashboard Design comes in at about number 14. Interestingly, there is little ambiguity when you search on “Xcelsius”.
Translating Dashboard Design into other languages may also prove interesting. Xcelsius will always translate into Xcelsius in all languages and I have a feeling the name will persist. At the end of the day, it is not just the name that counts, it’s the product itself. Xcelsius is as unique as a product as it is as a name. I will never forget that day in 2005 when I first saw it and was totally blown away. Infommersion created something truly amazing and ahead of its time. It remains top of its class and, for me, Xcelsius will always be Xcelsius.
Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology. Comparing Xcelsius 2008 Editions
Business Objects Started off Offering Crystal Xcelsius as a single edition. Later with 4.5 they came up with 2 editions, Designer and Workgroup. Starting 2008, they have significantly increased in terms of various flavors of the software. Now they have 4 editions, allowing the customers to choose whatever they want based on the Price and requirements. The 4 editions are below. Detailed Comparison here.
Xcelsius PresentXcelsius EngageXcelsius Engage ServerBusinessObjects Xcelsius EnterpriseBe the first to like this post.Xcelsius and the Object Browser
In Xcelsius, the Object Browser is your new best friend. It stores and displays all of the components that are on the canvas and allows you to hide them and/or lock them into position. Xcelsius allows you to design a dashboard by placing components on the canvas. It adds exciting visualization to Excel data– trends, what-if, projections and much more.
To add a component to a canvas of the visualization:
Open the spreadsheet that contains the data you want to use.Decide which type of component you need. ( Selectors, Containers, Charts, Gauges.)
Select the component and click on the canvas to insert the object.Use the Object Browser to control the component.Click on the eye to hide temporarily.Click on the padlock to lock the component position on the visualization.Once you have completed the components layout, you save it. The process of saving converts your visualization of the Excel data to an .xlf file. Click on preview and and a .swf file is created. This file then can be placed in a web page, PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Acrobat.
Xcelsius creates a dynamic, interactive and visual presentation of Excel data and a wow factor to your presentations!
Learn more about the Object Browser and other cool Xcelsius features in our 2-day Xcelsius class.
Two Advantages of a Manual Maximum Calculation in Xcelsius
By AmyPublished: August 4, 2010Posted in: Business Intelligence, Tech Tips, Xcelsius, Xcelsius End UserTags: Dashboard design, Xcelsius
Problem A: I have data that could be in the 1000s but sometimes could be 1 or 2. Users do not want to see a division of 1.5 (or any part of a whole) since the data is tracking incidents and there are never “half incidents.” How do I force the values to integers without losing the divisors for the high numbers (i.e. when there is 1000 maximum, I want to still see 250, 500, 750 divisors)?
Solution: Set a manual calculated maximum
{ =IF(MAX(AE15:AE26)<100,100,MAX(AE15:AE26)) } and then set the division number to 1. With the division number to 1, it often also looks better to remove the grid lines (in case the data for the charts sometimes is much higher).
Problem B: I want to display a line chart on top of a stacked bar chart because there is no combination chart with this option. My data for the stacked bar chart, however, is sometimes over 100 and sometimes under 100 and the extra space shifts the chart so that the two do not align. How can I make the layered charts always align?
(Layered line chart does not line up with stacked bar chart when maximum is less than 100)
(Layered line chart lines up with stacked bar chart when the maximum is over 100)
Note: If the charts are less than a magnitude different, the following method is a not-so-elegant-but-perhaps-acceptable workaround. In the example above, I have emphasized the issue of alignment by making the different much greater in which case a more-involved display control of multiple charts may be the only acceptable option.
Solution: Set a manual calculated maximum within an if() statement so that the maximum is always 100 or greater even if the stacked bar chart total is less than 100. (See above note for exception)
This “fix” may not be acceptable for the right visual consumption. What may need to be done when the data is more than a magnitude of 10 different is to work with display properties for two charts with different widths based upon the maximum chart height formula instead.
Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 3 of 3
Thanks to everyone who attended the Reportapalooza “Behind the Reports” webinar yesterday! Below is a quick recap of where we are with the Reportapalooza competition. The final winner will be announced on Nov 22th.
Challenge #1 (Done) – Winner , Mico Yuk (Check out my Coffee Consumption Calculator)Challenge #2 (Done) – Winner, Mico Yuk (based on traffic sent to Report a Hero Page)Challenge #3 (Done) – Winner, Brian Durning (voted best Crystal Reports Video by Community)Challenge #4 (Done) – Winner, David Deitch (voted best Charity Dashboard by Community) Challenge #5 (In Progress) – “Reporting Remix” (What this series of blog post is about).Community Dashboard Challenge (In Progress) – Voting end tomorrow Nov 12th for your favorite community dashboard.Experts Webinar- ”Behind the Reports” (Recording should be available soon) – You don’t want to miss the important tips and answered questions by the experts!Now for a quick recap of the last 2 posts:
Part 1 – I went over some Q&A on what it would take on a high level to embed your Xcelsius charts and maps into a Crystal Report, as well as some pros and cons of both.Part 2 – I went over how to set up your map in Xcelsius so that it can be consumed by Crystal Reports. I used Google Maps (compliments of Centigon Solutions) for this example as it much more robust than the out box maps in Xcelsius.Part 3 (the last one) – I am going to show you the step-by-step process on how to embed your Xcelsius .swf file into your Crystal Reports.6 Simple Steps to embed your Xcelsius .swf file into your Crystal Report!
1. Open Crystal Reports 2008 -> Click on blue icon to Embed Flash file
2. The Google Map should appear in your dashboard
3. Right click on the Google Map -> Click ‘Flash Data Expert’ to bind the Crystal Report Data
4. Drag the Label field, in this case ‘Sheet1_.Label’ into the 2nd row in the ‘Insert Row Labels’ section
5. Drag the Address field, in this case ‘Lat,Long’ into the 1st row in the ‘Insert Row Labels’ section -> Select ‘OK’. (Note: The map is now connected, so you can see the heat map data display in the preview.)
6. Voila! Your data and your map now appears in your Crystal Report.
As a BONUS, I attached the files that I used for the series. Click here to download.
Again, just a quick reminder to cast your final votes by tomorrow (11/12) on the 3 dashboards that were submitted by the community to show your support.
Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page
Tags: Business Objects, BusinessObjects, Centigon Solutions, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008
Life Cycle Manager and Xcelsius Servers
Some of you who love living on the bleeding edge of technology may be bleeding a bit when installing the latest Life Cycle Manager (LCM) and Xcelsius servers. Of course these servers should be installed when you install LCM or BusinessObjects XI 3.1 Service Pack 3. The only problem is that they aren’t.
They aren’t in the CMC, they aren’t in the CCM, and you can’t add them. For some reason you have to go in and run a script that tells Business Objects to go looking for them. From a command prompt you have to run a script that looks something like:
[BOE_install location]\win32_x86\scripts\addnode.bat -name [NODENAME] -siaport [Port Number] -cms [CMS Name] -user [User Name] -password [Password] -authentication [Type] -platform win32_x86 -update
EXAMPLE:
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Business Objects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\scripts\addnode.bat -name BOXISERV -siaport 6400 -cms BOXISERV -user Administrator -password [Administratorpassword] -authentication secEnterprise -platform win32_x86 -update
For better or worse BOTH the new Xcelsius servers and LCM server seem to be troubled by the same problem, with the same fix.
Please let me know how this works for everyone out there!
Thanks to Dallas Marks and Matt Hawkins at Consultancy by Kingfisher for help with the Xcelsius Server information.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Possible Waterfall charts in Xcelsius
Posted on 1 October 2010 10:44 am.Femke
In Xcelsius a waterfall charts is not default available, however with a little imagination you can create one from a stacked bar chart. Below I have published 4 examples.
Waterfall Example 1AExcel source
Use the columns for the series (= coloring) and the rows for the labels (= columns in chart) by setting the data range to “Data in Columns”. On the appearance tab set the Marker Gap to 0 and the Marker Overlay to 100. Apply the series coloring accordingly.
Note: remember how Xcelsius builts up the chart; from bottom up to top. If you want your bottom bar color to be white, you have to start your series with the white color data.
Excel source
Same example as 1A only the less colors, thus less series used.
Excel source
You want to show how your profit and loss accounts are related by showing each individual account and use the colors red and green for the contribution amount (cost = red, revenue = green).
Again use the columns for the series (= coloring) and the rows for the labels (= columns in chart) by setting the data range to “Data in Columns”. On the appearance tab set the Marker Gap to 0 and the Marker Overlay to 100. Apply the series coloring accordingly.
Note: Again the order of the data columns determines the coloring in the chart. The white amount is calculated on the basis of the total of the previous column only in case of a cost account, that cost amount is subtracted from the total.
Excel source
This is based on the same principle as the previous chart only it gets more interesting as the total amount gets below zero, thus we have to deal with negative totals with a positive contribution. This can be achieved by creating extra series as the order of the negative positioned bar colors is different than when using positive bars.
Note: The coloring change in the y-axe can be changed by formating in Excel, see this post.
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