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Ryan Goodman on Twitter
Posted on July 25, 2009 by
A few months ago, I joined the Twitter revolution and do my best to provide updates of what I am up to. From early product release news, to special promotions, I will try to put valuable info up there for you to benefit from that is not available anywhere else.
I recently learned about “RT” re-tweeting so I will do a much better job to do this so you can increase your own Twitter following. Thank you all for your continued interest and enthusiasm for this blog and the work I do with Centigon Solutions!
-Ryan Goodman
Follow me on Twitter
GMaps Plugin 1.1 Sneak Peak
Posted on July 21, 2009 by
I have been talking up version 1.1 for a few weeks with existing customers, and am excited to get it into your hands. Until then, I want to share a sneak peak of GMaps Plugin 1.1. This release focuses on performance, which is illustrated in the following example. This implementation of GMaps Plugin incorporates 2 series with 250 unique data points plotted twice. A new geo-code toggle property allows you to bypass geo-code conversion when using Long,Lat coordinates, resulting in little to no latency…
If you have downloaded version 1.0 you will get notified very soon of GMaps 1.1 availability. Otherwise you can download GMaps Plugin now, test this technology with your own dashboard data.
Xcelsius Color Schemes
Posted on July 20, 2009 by
I recently ran across an article called Obtaining the perfect Custom Color Scheme in Xcelsius from a blog called SAP ABAP4 Technology. I was hoping to elaborate on the actual blog post but was unable to add my comments, so if the author or anyone catches this post, it would be nice to place a link there…
The article addresses only half of the functionality available with custom color schemes. Within the color manager, there is an “Advanced” button that empowers you with more detailed control over specific component colors. If you spend time browsing the advanced section you can quickly modify all components within your dashboard by component category rather than using the basic color scheme adjustments.
The basic color scheme adjustment mode was thoughtfully implemented to affect over 1000 color dependencies using 10 base colors. The problem is that the Xcelsius user interface does not indicate what each of the 10 colors does. You can go to the advanced tab to see the relationships, or I have provided key below:
- Text
- Button color, chart backgrounds, component backgrounds, maps, scrollbars
- Canvas Background, Axis colors
- Background Components, Gridlines, Selector Mouse Over
- Chart Series 1 color
- Chart Series 2 color
- Chart Series 3 color
- Chart Series 4 color
- Chart Series 5 color
- Misc. Colors like selector gridlines and disabled items
In the beginning of the article, the author eludes to design principles aligned with Stephen Few’s book. Unfortunately the example charts, while used to illustrate technical shortcomings, do not accurately portray real life use cases.
Quote: “Unfortunately, there is no way (that I know of) to default colors 6-10 to show up as something else. To modify these, you must go into the properties of the chart and manually adjust the color under the appearance tab.”
The pie chart, specifically in this example would not be an appropriate visualization with 6-10 pie slices. Trying to extract accurate analysis of relative pie slice sizes is extremely difficult and better accomplished with a bar/column chart. From a technical standpoint, Xcelsius can does provide control of up to 12 series colors using the Advanced tab.
There are some very important points here that Xcelsius should address. The most important shortcoming of the custom color scheme window is the inability to export and share color schemes. This is something that the article did cover well.
Hopefully this helps set the record straight with this feature set in Xcelsius.
GMaps Plugin Best Practices
Posted on July 9, 2009 by
Centigon Solutions GMaps Plugin for Xcelsius 2008 couples basic geographic analysis with BI dashboards without a server-side installation or GIS system. Maps have become a critical element of dashboarding by providing multi-dimensional analysis aligned to business KPIs. Using GMaps Plugin, you can drag and drop a Google Map onto your Xcelsius canvas, and have a sophisticated palette of options to align the map to your needs; all without writing a single line of code.
Below is a movie explaining GMaps Plugin for Xcelsius 2008, to provide a high level explanation.
For those looming questions about the technology, licensing, and everything in-between, you can view the GMaps Plugin FAQ
Finally, to see live explanation and demonstration of GMaps Plugin, you can view the following webinar: Introduction to GMaps Plugin for Xcelsius 2008
With a general understanding of the technology, I wanted to provide some best practices, as you start using GMaps Plugin with Xcelsius. If you obtain a GMaps Plugin trial version, the first thing that you will need to do is obtain a API key. This API key will only work for testing purposes with the trial (covered in the FAQ).
1. Sign up for a Google Maps API key
To obtain a Google Maps API key, you will need to enter a URL for the server where you intend to publish your SWF. If you do not intend to upload your Xcelsius generated SWF to a server for testing, any URL will do for testing inside of Xcelsius or on your local file system. If your using a proxy or do not know your URL, open a web page where you intend to access your SWF and enter the following Javascript into your browser window:
javascript:alert(window.location.host)
The resulting popup window will show the URL that you should provide when you obtain your free Google Maps API key.
2. Format labels using HTML text. GMaps Plugin provides basic controls over text formatting via the Appearance tab. GMaps Plugin labels property supports HTML formatting, allowing you to implement any combination of text formatting, images, or URLs. This HTML formatting is displayed when clicking on any icon on the Google Map. The trick to HTML formatting is to concatenate multiple cells together.
**To implement HTML formatting, all text must be nested within the <HTML> </HTML tags.
Excel Formula
="<HTML>"&F19&"<FONT SIZE='11' face='Verdana'><b>"&H19&"</b><br>
"&I13&TEXT(I19,"$#,###")&"<br>
"&J13&TEXT(J19,"$#,###")&"<br>
"&G19&"<br><br><br></FONT><HTML>"
Actual HTML generated from Concatenate
<HTML>
<img src="http://www.centigonsolutions.com/components/images/
icon_background.jpg" />
<FONT SIZE='11' face='Verdana'><b>UK</b><br>
Last Year: $294,829<br>
This Year: $204,101<br>
<a href="http://ryamgoodman.net?Spain">blog link</a><br><br><br>
</FONT>
<HTML>
Result
Download Source File
3. Dynamic Icon Colors
By default, GMaps Plugin provides control over all icons within a series. If you decide to implement alert icons or need to control each icon’s color independently, you can utilize the dynamic color property, located on the General Tab. Color is controlled using basic hexadecimal color coding, with a 0X prefix. The following are example hexadecimal codes that can be utilized to dynamically change icon color:
Red= 0XDD0000
Yellow 0XEEEE44
Green 0X00BB55
Sample alert logic if A1 is the value
=IF(A1>20.01,”0X00BB55”,IF(AND(
A1<20,A1>15),”0XEEEE446”,”0X00BB55”))
4. 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 view article.
I will continue to refine this posting with screen shots and practices to assist you in development. The included documentation actually does a pretty good job of outlining some of theses concepts. If you have any specific challenges, let me know and I will document workarounds and best practices and log enhancement requests for you.
Ryan Goodman’s Take on “Flashy vs. Few”
Posted on July 7, 2009 by
The flashy aesthetics of Xcelsius has always been a debate sparked by data visualization experts and designers who like the “shiny” graphics provided by Xcelsius and other technologies. I disagree with customers or developers who passionately desire Flashy graphics over what Few emphasizes as well executed dashboard design by maximizing every inch of screen real estate. Xcelsius does not derive its value by looking shiny, and customers today don’t buy into flashy graphics over a solid value proposition both for business and/or IT stakeholders. Xcelsius sells because it provides value as a flexible point and click development tool for constructing BI dashboards….
