Switching from design to interactive mode takes time, and during the development phase it can be frustrating to change the view so many times. The editable mode is a fantastic resource for fine-tuning the layout of a document. It also helps configuring the data interaction between one object and the others. Editable mode allows the designer to work in a "What You See Is What You Get" environment, so that every applied change is immediately visible on the screen, with no need to switch back to design mode. You will use the design mode only if you need to add or remove datasets or new objects to the layout.
We are going to modify the previous recipe dashboard resizing and modifying some settings of the grids. You need to have completed the 29 InternetSales Dashboard.
We run the dashboard as usual, and next:
- From the interactive view, click on the Save As… button, rename it
30 InternetSales Dashboard, and click on Run newly saved document. - Now go to the toolbar and click on the Editable Mode button (see the following icon) next to the Interactive Mode button:
- The view doesn't change a lot but the functionality of this screen allows you to select individual elements on the layout and apply settings.
- Hover the mouse cursor on the title of the top-left grid (the one with the
Product Categoryattribute), and notice that a couple of small buttons appear sitting above the upper edge. The first one looks like a cross arrow: it's the handle, click and hold it to move the grid by dragging it around the area of the document. - It takes a little time to get used to it; if you just click and release, the object will be selected and you can tell it by the eight little white squares around its border.
- So, with some clicking and dragging of the two top grids, switch their positions so that the Year attribute grid is now on the left and the Product Category grid is on the right.
- Now try to resize the left grid to 1 inch tall by 5 inches wide, clicking and dragging on the small white squares.
- When you're done right-click on the Year header to bring up a context menu for the attribute and open Move | To Columns to pivot the report.
- Now click on the Sum SalesAmount from FactInternetSales header to bring up the metric context menu and select Rename/Edit….
- In the dialog box that appears, change the second textbox Name to
InternetSalesand click on OK. - The grid looks better now. Hover on its title bar and when the cross-arrow appears, right-click on it to bring up the context menu for the entire grid.
- Depending on the size of the screen you may need to scroll down a bit, search the Properties and Formatting… option and click on it.
- In the Properties | General pane, uncheck Show Title Bar and move on to Properties | Grid. Here, click on the Remove extra column checkbox and next hit OK. The title and the metric cell have disappeared.
- Resize as appropriate, resize the right grid also to about 1 inch tall by 3.5 inches wide.
- Move and resize the third grid so that it occupies almost all the rest of the remaining space. Click on the top-left grid (with the Year attribute) to select it.
- Now go to the toolbar on the top of the Web Interface and click on the last button (see the following icon) to restore Normal Screen Mode and show the menu:
- On the menu, click on Grid and see part of the toolbar changing. Open a dropdown that says Accounting: this is the AutoStyle selector. Apply the second style named Agent then move on to the second grid and set its style to Business Green (it's my favorite: since I'm working in a hospital at the moment… it really gives an "ER" touch).
- Now click on the third big grid to select it, right-click on the cross-arrow icon and choose View mode | Graph View.
- The grid changes to a bar chart. I think we're done for now. Save the work, replacing the existing document, and click on Run newly saved document. Now that looks like a dashboard! Not bad, the best is yet to come:
The editable mode is very handy as it allows you to speed up the long process of having everything straight in place and with the right colors. From here, you have access to the context menu of all objects and the whole menu and toolbar (when you restore the normal screen mode). Of course, it looks scary at the beginning, for the sheer quantity of options and settings. But no problem, you'll rapidly narrow down the 15 or 20 most used options. Feel free to play around with them and see the result on the screen. Save with a different name often, you won't regret it.
In most Internet browsers the F11 key activates the full-screen mode. I often find this feature useful during design to have even more space available.