3. Compiling the Dashboard
Now that all three looks are complete, they need to be combined into a central location so that all 3 queries can be run and viewed simultaneously. This is what dashboards are built to do.
To create a new dashboard:
- Browse to your personal space, if not already there
- Open one of the looks that were just created
- Click the Settings icon in the top right corner of the look
- Click on Add to Dashboard
- Because we are creating a NEW dashboard, click on New Dashboard
*If this look was being added to an existing dashboard, select the desired dashboard from the space by clicking its name, and then click Add
- Type a name for the dashboard and click OK
The new dashboard will now appear highlighted in the dropdown list and the message at the top of the pop-up will reflect the visualization type of the look that was just added.
Another way of adding a look to a dashboard is to refer to the right-hand side of the screen when inside the look:
Add to Dashboard can also be clicked here and the steps are the same as above. - Add the other two looks by using one of the methods above.
- Browse to your personal space and click the new dashboard containing the three looks that you just added
- By default, the looks will be stacked vertically, in the order they were added
Edit the default layout of the dashboard:
- Click Edit in the top right
- Resize looks by hovering your mouse in the bottom right corner of the look, then clicking and dragging it to make the tile larger or smaller
- Change the positioning of looks by hovering your mouse in the top left corner of the look, then clicking and dragging the tile up or down
- While in Edit mode, you can also do the following:
- Looks: view a list of all your individual looks.
Any that are contained within this dashboard will have the Remove option to take them out of the dashboard:
And the rest will display an +Add option:
- Text: Any text added in this pop-up will display in its own tile at the bottom of the dashboard:
- Any text typed into the Body can be formatted using the markdown toolbar. This gives you the option to add:
Bold text
Italicized text
Quoted text
HTML code
Clickable link to another report
Bulleted list
Numbered list
- Click Save to view your formatted text in the dashboard
- Any text typed into the Body can be formatted using the markdown toolbar. This gives you the option to add:
- Filters: Add or Edit any of the filters on the individual looks contained in the dashboard. Any change made here will be reflected on the individual look and vice versa.
- Settings: Modify selected options on the dashboard
- Run on Load: [defaulted ON] The dashboard will perform a database query once at load time
This setting is turned OFF on all LookML dashboards. Doing so provides the user with a Run button on the top left of the dashboard so that they can choose when to perform the database query.
- Dashboard Auto Refresh: when enabled, the user can use the dropdowns to select the timing at which to refresh the data.
- Auto Refresh can also be set on the Dashboard Element Name
- Run on Load: [defaulted ON] The dashboard will perform a database query once at load time
- Looks: view a list of all your individual looks.
- Once you are happy with the arrangement, click Done Editing in the top right
4. Scheduling
Setting a schedule for any report is optional; however, it is the best option if you would like to keep the saved dashboard in your personal space and still share the data with others.
Once you have a list of recipients, and an idea of the settings you would like for the report (when to send, how often, etc) the steps outlined in this article will walk you through the process.