Flash Player Security Options

Posted on September 19, 2008 by

If you run a SWF on your desktop that communicates with data sources on your local PC, you will probably get an error. As I have found with Xcelsius over time, the two most common causes for connectivity errors other than user error is the absence of a cross domain policy file, or the flash player security settings not being set. To access Flash player security settings, go to the following URL:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html

Inside, you will see the following:
Flash Security

If you are concerned with security, you can define a specific directory on your PC or Internet that Flash player can access. As you can see in the screenshot, I define “C:/”, which ensures that I can run SWFs anywhere on my PC that may use local XML files.

After you make changes you can close the browser window… There is no save or execute button. When you re-open your SWF, the new security settings are enabled.

For more information on this topic, you can go to:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html#117164

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

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Posted in Connectivity, Integration, Xcelsius | 25 Comments

Interactive Data Visualization Blog Q&A

Posted on September 16, 2008 by

I have received several questions over the years and finally have taken the time to write a Q&A for this blog.

Q: What is the purpose of the Interactive Data Visualization / Ryan Goodman blog?

A: I started this blog in 2006, one year after the acquisition of Xcelsius, a dashboard development technology for which I was lucky to evangelize and sell working for Informmersion and then Business Objects. The original goal was to write about my personal/professional interests around data visualization, dashboards, Xcelsius, etc. Very quickly I found that most people visited for my tricks, templates, and advisement on dashboard development. Now I have added mobile visualization to the mix as I expand my own business and interests.

Q: Are you paid by BOBJ to write nice things and market Xcelsius?

A: Absolutely not! Though I do make money from consulting and software sales with Centigon Solutions, I write this blog because I truly enjoy sharing my ideas and work for the greater good of the community. If something doesn’t work, I usually suggest how it could be better. I only post articles with hopes that you walk away with a more tools and information to build the best possible solutions for your own customers.

Q: Do you provide consulting services?

A: I do provide consulting services through Centigon Solutions. If you are interested in these services, please contact me

Q: What is your association with Centigon Solutions?

A: I am the founder of Centigon Solutions Inc., a business that I started shortly after leaving Business Objects in 2007. We initially targeted the Xcelsius marketplace and have since expanded our strategic focus to include geographic analysis and rich internet applications. If you are interested in contacting me about business opportunities related to Centigon Solutions. Visit CentigonSolutions.com to learn more about Xcelsius solutions.

Q: Why didn’t you answer my email?

A: If I have not answered your email, I do deeply apologize and hope that you were able to obtain assistance. I get a large volume of emails from the blog, and reply to them when ever I get a free time. If for some reason you do not get a response within 2-3 days of submission, feel free to email me directly at ryan@ryangoodman.net.

Q: What is your take on Stephen Few’s negtive views on Xcelsius?

A: I get this question quite a bit since I have written a few articles specific to dashboard design. Unfortunately, I am somewhere in the middle of the road since my background in UI design/Flash development and early exposure to Tufte’s and Kaplan’s work have both influenced how I design dashboards. I am guilty as charged for building some bad dashboards…though none as bad as the poor examples I have seen on Stephen’s blogs. Stephen Few is an expert in the data visualization field and has poured his passion into a maturing dashboard solution marketplace. His honest, sometimes critical view of the world has made his blog popular. For organizations who want to learn about dashboard development, his books are still at the top of my list.

Q: What is your background?

A: During my under-grad, I studied graphic information technology and business. My early career was spent consulting using early versions of Flash 3. In the early-mid 2000s I worked on a small Information Origination/Research and Development team where I helped design innovative HCI solutions for business analysts using voice recognition, multi-touch, and data visualization techniques. I started using Xcelsius in 2004 to develop desktop widgets and financial dashboards and knew immediately that this technology would be game changing. It was in 2004 that I first met the Xcelsius team and finally joined them them in 2005. 3 years and two acquisitions later, I founded Centigon Solutions Inc. to pursue using these experiences to innovate and release to market solutions that will assist organizations to effectively assimilate information.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

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Posted in Other | 1 Comment

BOBJ User Conference Breakout

Posted on September 9, 2008 by

For those of you who will be at the U.S. Business Objects user conference in Dallas, I will be conducting one of the breakout sessions titled “Next Generation of Dashboards Using Xcelsius 2008.” It will be at 9AM on the first day.

If you are attending, feel free to stop by. I will be talking about similar topics from my blog.

View Schedule

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

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Posted in Xcelsius | 6 Comments

Xcelsius 2008 GMaps Plugin Best Practices

Posted on September 5, 2008 by

UPDATE 6/1/2010- THE BEST PRACTICES PROPOSED ON THIS PAGE HAVE SINCE BEEN REPLACED WITH TUTORIALS AT HTTP://GMAPSPLUGIN.COM/LEARNING.HTML

The availability of a Google Maps mashup for Xcelsius presents an exciting new avenue for using maps as a navigation paradigm for dashboards. While the Centigon Solutions plugin is a nice step in the right direction, this Beta release requires a few steps before dragging and dropping the component onto the canvas. You can obtain a copy from the Centigon Solutions website:
http://www.centigonsolutions.com/components/googlemap.html

Down Source Files

Once you add the component to the canvas, you can use the following best practices for each property.

1. Sign up for a Google Maps API key
You need a Google Map API key to use this component. This means the same Google licensing and terms of use apply even inside of Xcelsius. Once you obtain your API key, paste it into your spreadsheet, then bind it within the properties sheet.

*If you try to paste the API key directly into the properties sheet, the map will not work when you publish the SWF. Make sure to bind the API key property to the spreadsheet.

2. Convert your regions or addresses to Longitude/Latitude.
Unfortunately, the first version of the GMaps Plugin does not include links to a Geocode service, which would usually convert addresses, cities, etc. You will need to use comma separated Longitude and Latitude coordinates in each cell. I have provided a few great resources for manually converting addresses or plotting points on a map to obtain the Long/Lat coordinates.

http://maps.huge.info/reverse.htm – Click on the map to plot points and get the Long,Lat points.

http://www.getlatlon.com/- Type in an address to get the Long,Lat point.

3. Format labels using HTML text.
Currently the GMaps component does not provide any text formatting for labels. The component does accept HTML formatted text, allowing for embedded images, hyperlinks, or multiple lines of text for each data point.

I have provided several examples within my sample file to illustrate the flexibility of using concatenated HTML text.

4. Using zoom coordinates
Zoom coordinates provides a nice method for dynamically panning to a specified location, defined as Longitude, Latitude. Because this is a bindable property, you can dynamically zoom to a specific location. I have used this to zoom into each point as I click on them, or to zoom to regions dictated by another selector.

5. Bind a Destination cell
The map component functions as a selector, but only supports the Position insertion method. That means you will need to couple this plugin with Excel logic or a Source Data component to drive functionality. A nice trick that I use was outlined in a previous article, where I use a hidden selector combined with a map to drive dashboard interactivity. Click here to see that article. http://ryangoodman.net/blog/index.php/2008/04/30/using_a_map_to_drive_insert_filtered_row

There is an akward behavior/bug when dragging the GMaps Plugin onto the canvas. For some reason, the component renders as 0 pixels wide and 0 pixels high. The solution is extremely simple but not obvious…You need to click on the component handler and drag it down and right. From there the component functions without any sizing issues.

After using this component, I think there are several features that would make it much more powerful…

Alert color coding for icons
Bindable zoom
More insertion methods in addition to position

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

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Posted in Connectivity, Xcelsius, Xcelsius Add-Ons | 3 Comments

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