## Inserting components

You can insert library components and report data components as well as labels, images, special fields, filtering tools, third-party objects, and HTML components into dashboards via the Resources panel. To access the panel, click Show Resources on the side bar.

The following shows inserting specific components in detail.

### Inserting library component references

When inserting a library component from component library into a dashboard, you are not copying the component from the library, but instead referencing it from the library, in this sense, the changes to the component in the library will be reflected in all of the dashboards referencing the component. The contents of library references in dashboards cannot be edited since they are referenced resources.

To reference a library component into the dashboard body:

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. Expand the Component Library node, browse to find the library component you want to insert, then drag it to the destination in the dashboard body.

### Inserting report data components

Data components such as tables, crosstabs, charts, and geographic maps in existing page reports or web reports can be directly inserted into dashboards after being converted into library components automatically.

For reports that use business views as data sources, all data components can be converted to library components successfully.

However, page reports may use queries as data sources other than business views, therefore, only when the queries have corresponding business views, can the components be converted to library components and used in dashboards. So if you would like your page report components to be added in dashboards, you need to make sure the components are created on business views or if on queries a business view is created for each of the queries.

Currently library components do not support some features of page report components, after the latter are inserted into dashboards, those features will be removed. This may result in that the data components in dashboards looks different from they are in page reports. For features that are not supported in JDashboard, they will either be ignored, removed, or applied with the default values.

The following table lists how JDashboard deals with the unsupported page report features:

In Page Report Components | In Library Components ``
--- | ---
Display types like Barcode, Check box, and so on | Ignored
Special fields | Removed
Dynamic resources | Changed to constant resources
Master/Detail reports | Ignored
Subreports | Removed
Nested data components that is one contains another | The ownership is removed and the involved data components are regarded as individual components.
Definition properties | Ignored
Formula-controlled properties | Default values are applied.
Other components | Removed

To insert a report data component into the dashboard body:

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. From the Reports node, expand the report that contains the wanted data component and drag the component into the dashboard body.
3. If the report component uses parameters, the default values will be applied. To change the parameter values, after the component is loaded, hover the mouse over its title bar, then click that appears on the title bar and select Edit Setting from the drop-down list to display the configuration panel. Change the parameter values in the panel and then click OK to apply the new values.

The inserted report data component runs with the report's catalog. It will not be able to run if the catalog is removed or updated. The report component does not synchronize with the other library components in the dashboard via messages and is not controlled by the runtime sliders or filters.

### Inserting Visual Analysis components

Visual Analysis components after being saved into the server resource tree can be inserted into dashboards. This feature requires a license for Visual Analysis.

To insert a Visual Analysis component into the dashboard body:

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. From the Reports node, browse to the target Visual Analysis template (.va) and you will find a VCTObject under it. Drag the VCTObject into the dashboard body.

The inserted Visual Analysis component will be wrapped into a runtime library component and its data presentation area and legend area without legend icons will be displayed, just for view. However if no field binds with any legend, the legend area will not be shown. The default title is the server resource name of the parent Visual Analysis template without the suffix .va.

If the Visual Analysis component uses parameters, you can change the parameter values as you want. To do this, hover the mouse over its title bar, then click that appears on the title bar and select Edit Setting from the drop-down menu. In the configuration panel, edit the parameter values.

You can enable the Visual Analysis component to receive the built-in 0001 - Filter messages sent out by other library components in the dashboard. To do this, click on the component title bar and then select Enable Receiving Filter Message from the drop-down menu. For more information about the built-in 0001 - Filter message, see Delivering messages between library components in the JReport Designer User's Guide.

Dashboard filters can work on Visual Analysis components.

Visual Analysis components cannot be exported or printed, therefore when exporting or printing a dashboard, they will not be listed and the cells containing them will be left blank.

### Inserting a label

Labels can be inserted in the dashboard header. To do this, click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel, then from the Toolbox node, drag Label to the destination in the dashboard header. Double-click the label and edit the text as required. If you want to further format the label, hover the cursor on the label and click the button in the appearing dotted rectangle to open the Edit Label dialog, in which you can edit the properties of the label such as font, size, color, and so on.

### Inserting a dashboard title

A dashboard title is a special label. It can be inserted in the dashboard header. To do this, click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel, then from the Toolbox node, drag Dashboard Title to the destination in the dashboard header. Double-click the title and edit the text as required. If you want to further format the title, hover the cursor on the title and click the button in the appearing dotted rectangle to open the Edit Label dialog, in which you can edit the properties of the title such as font, size, color, and so on.

### Inserting an image

Images can be inserted in the dashboard header.

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. From the Toolbox node, drag Image to the destination in the dashboard header. The Insert Image dialog appears. See the dialog.

3. Specify the image you want to insert.
   - To use an image in the local file system, select Local File, then click Browse to find the image.
   - To use an image on a website, select Web URL, then input the image URL or paste the URL in the File URL text field.
   - To use an image in the image library of JDashboard, select Library, then select the image in the My Pictures box.
4. Click OK to insert the image.

Once an image is inserted in the dashboard header, if you want to replace it with another one, hover the cursor on the image and click the button in the appearing dotted rectangle. In the Edit Image dialog, select another image to use.

### Inserting a special field

You can insert these types of special fields in the dashboard header:

- User Name
  The user name with which you log onto JReport Server.
- Modified Date
  The date when the dashboard was last modified.
- Modified Time
  The time when the dashboard was last modified.
- Print Date
  The date to run the dashboard.
- Print Time
  The time to run the dashboard.

To do this:

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. From the Toolbox node, drag Special Field to the destination in the dashboard header. The Insert Special Field dialog appears. See the dialog.

3. Choose the desired special field and click OK to insert it into the header.
4. To further format the special field, hover the cursor on the special field and click the button in the appearing dotted rectangle.
5. In the Edit Special Field dialog, edit the properties of the special field such as font, size, color, and so on.

### Inserting a slider

Sliders can be inserted in the dashboard body. They are used to filter component data. For details, see Using sliders.

### Inserting a filter control

Filter controls can be inserted in the dashboard body. They are used to filter component data. For details, see Using filter controls.

### Inserting a third party gadget via URL

A web page can be inserted in dashboards. All you need to do is give its URL. Note that some websites such as http://www.google.com do not allow Gadgets to load them.

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. From the Toolbox node, drag URL Frame into the dashboard body. The Insert URL Frame dialog appears. See the dialog.

3. In the Title text field, give a title for the frame that will display the contents of the web page.
4. In the URL text box, type in the URL of the web page. If needed, click the Add Parameter button to open the Select Parameter dialog to insert a parameter to the URL to compose a dynamic URL (if no data source is specified, the Select Data Source dialog will be displayed for you to select the data source that contains the parameter you want firstly).

   You should provide a complete URL address. A URL without "http://", for example www.jinfonet.com, will not be automatically added "http://" since it is regarded a relative path, which may lead to that the URL cannot be opened in some browsers.

5. If you would like the specified web page to refresh periodically, select Auto refresh, then specify the time interval at which to refresh it.
6. Click OK. The specified web page will be inserted into the dashboard. You can then view the web page from JDashboard. If parameters are used in the URL, you can click on the side bar to specify the parameter values as you want, then you can get different web pages based on different parameter values.

You can further modify the web page frames inserted into a dashboard if you want. To do this, hover the mouse over the title bar of a web page frame, then click that appears on the title bar and select Edit Setting from the drop-down list. In the Edit URL Frame dialog, edit the setting as required.

### Inserting an HTML component

An HTML component allows for typing text, comments, and messages using a simple-featured text editor. It can be inserted in the dashboard body.

1. Click Show Resources on the side bar to display the Resources panel.
2. From the Toolbox node, drag HTML to the destination in the dashboard body. The Insert HTML dialog appears. See the dialog.

3. Specify a title for the HTML component.
4. In the text box, type text directly. You can make use of the buttons above the text box to format the text such as font face, size, style, color, and alignment, insert images into the HTML component and create hyperlinks on the text and images in the HTML component.
5. Click OK to insert the HTML component.

You can further modify the HTML components inserted into a dashboard if you want. To do this, hover the mouse over the title bar of an HTML component, then click that appears on the title bar and select Edit Setting from the drop-down list. In the Edit HTML dialog, edit the setting as required.