Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Adding actions to a Text object
Another interesting feature of the Text object is that we can assign actions to it,
essentially making it function as a button.
Creating custom-style buttons
By combining a text object with a custom image (or icon) and
assigning an action to it, we can create a custom-style button.
We could use this button-like functionality to allow for quick navigation across the
document. For example, a text object could be used to switch to a detail sheet when a
user clicks on it from a general-level dashboard. In the next example, we will assign an
action that will open the
Analysis
sheet when a user clicks on one of the text objects:
1.
Go to the
Analysis
sheet.
2.
Bring up the
Sheet Properties
window by pressing
Ctrl
+
Alt
+
S
.
3.
On the
General
tab, set the
Sheet ID
to
SH_Analysis
and click on
OK
to
close the dialog.
4.
Go back to the
Dashboard
tab.
5.
Right-click on the
Transported passengers (millions)
text object and select
Properties…
.
6.
Go to the
Actions
tab and click on the
Add
button.
7.
Select the
Layout
option from the
Action Type
section and select the
Activate
Sheet
option from the
Action
section. Then click on
OK
.
8.
From the
Actions
tab, locate the
SheetID
input box and enter
SH_Analysis
. Click on
OK
.
9.
Repeat steps 5 to 8 for each of the three remaining text objects.
Now, whenever the user clicks on one of the text objects, the
Analysis
sheet will be
automatically activated. Note that instead of the sheet's name we used the
Sheet ID
to refer to the
Analysis
sheet. As explained earlier, object IDs are used internally to
reference objects.
Gauges can have actions assigned to them as well, using the
Actions
tab of the
Properties
window. A typical use case for
this is to let the user drill down to a detailed view for a single
KPI or metric. For example, we could create a detailed sheet
specifically for the
Load Factor %
metric to analyze it from
many different angles (over time, by airline, and so on.) and
then reference it from the corresponding gauge chart.
