Best Of

Hi Giles,

We also experienced a similar issue for one of our BOARD deployments (v.10.1.0) which related to the Procedure Launcher (as Federico suggested).

Are you running any BOARD procedures outside of BOARD using scheduled jobs (such as Windows Scheduler) and the BOARD Procedure Launcher?

If you are (and you are currently unable to upgrade to BOARD 10.1.3.41110 at this time) the solution provided to us from BOARD Support was as follows:

1. Download the procedurelauncher from link
2. Unzip the file
3. Change the extension from .ext to .exe
4. Replace the file in the folder C:\Program Files\Board\Board Server\Tools

This resolved the issue for that particular deployment.

If you happen to have a test environment, I would suggest doing it there first. 

Cheers,

Thomas

Hi C Tnu,

Can I ask, were you aware that you can place layouts into labels and control the output, as Dietmar Jeschkeit has suggested?  The reason I ask is that by understanding your level of experience, the community can provide more appropriate responses; you previously informed me that you were learning BOARD 11 and converting your previous models to it.  I have therefore assumed that you are familiar with common BOARD features, functions and modelling techniques and my responses are of a more technical nature.

So, assuming you are familiar with BOARD modelling, what you want to achieve is also easily achievable in BOARD but requrires the correct approach.  From what you've written, I am assuming that you want to display adhoc measures, selected by the user, or influenced by user selections?  If this is the case, My own approach is to create a 'report' layer.  Usually this is a single entity to control the output and a layout containing all relevant measures + the MASTER algorithm which displays the measure relating to the entity member selected.  The method of selection can either be manual from a selector or logically driven.

Image 1 below shows a single chart object.  The measure displayed is controlled by a selector [Chart Selection].  In this way, the x axis can will also be relevant to the measure. Whilst my example below is for a chart, it is easy to adapt for a label measure as you've outlined - I just don'ty have time to create a dedicated example, but also think that the principle is easily understood from the example below.

Using this method, a SORT on the highest to lowest is always active.  The master algorithm in the layout is used to display whatever measure has been selected.  Image 2 shows the makeup of the layout and the MASTER Algorithm used to select thte relevant metric.

IMAGE 1: Single chart object which can show any number of measures.  Note that the x axis is not fixed but is relative to the measure being displayed.  Also note that the SORT order is always High to low (or low to high is preferred).

IMAGE 2: Layout containing all measures and a MASTER algorithm block to display the selected measure.

If, on the other hand, this makes no sense or is irrelevant, I'll move along as these are clearly not the methods you're looking for...

Regards,

Paul 

Hey C Tnu

I'm not sure I fully understand your requirements as you've shown only the measure image and not the screen to put everything into context.  That said, I use several methods to 'reveal' data.  I do appreciate that you will already know and use the under-mentioned techniques individually but I hope I can demonstrate their use in a more'creative' manner to meet your need.  Also, I have an interest in being able to 'pop-out' info in this way, working around some BOARD design issues - I would love to have FLOATING DYNAMIC POP-OUT 'MEASURES' AND 'SPARKLINES' over the top of the screen layout level. 

If any of the below techniques interest you, let me know and we can discuss how to achieve what you're after and we could both learn something.  I do realise that you're trying to display a single fact/measure/kpi value but maybe these methods will include a suitable solution you can use, and I was just leaving for the weekend when I saw your post and wanted to provide you with a response?

The methods I use are:

• MASTER Selection (Image 1) - Used with multiple hierarchies where I might show PROPERTY with several LEASE records so that the user can select any of the LEASE records to reveal details.  A screen containing PROPERTY details is presented and a dataview is used to present all LEASE records; the underlying cube contains the entities PROPERTY and LEASE.  A LABEL is used which 'hides' the underlying LEASE detail dataviews if there is more than one LEASE record.  The label instructs the user to select a lease to reveal the details of it and allowing for another lease to be selected as required.
• Drillthrough (Image 2) - SQL Script pulling data directly from db.  I don't use this much as it has a few limitations.
• Drilldown (Image 3) - Horizontal to Vertical record display. I use this the most as it allows the user to go on a journey and 'tell the story'.

IMAGE 1: MASTER SELECT - Different Hierarchies .  Showing four lease records available to view which are associated to the selected PROPERTY.  FYI: This method is also used to integrate with our external 'Leverton' documents repository for the selected lease - Nice bit of BOARD versatility permitting users to access and upload docs which are not accessible to the developer and allowing for GDPR compliance where required.

IMAGE 2: DRILLTHROUGH - Used to POP-OUT additional information of a selected entity.  Useful for creating simple pop-outs or inistant datadumps.  One drawback is that the data cannot be pivoted vertically (NB: data can be presented vertically but only with a dedicated SQL script to create such a view.  This brings witht it an additional liability to maintenance and data acuracy checking when expanding or amending the bases structures.)

IMAGE 3: DRILLDOWN (multiple) from record > Horizontal > Vertical.  This is my Best Practice Drill and allows for some block formatting.  You must ensure a horizontal and vertical entity is set for this to work - a common developer oversight.

Look forward to discussing.

Regards,

Paul Wyatt

URGENT UPDATE: Be very aware that a number of pop-out menus require expanding to access all options. 

Hi Borja, I was equally intrigued by your mystery so me and the kids went snooping around and here's what we found. 

The dynamic selection indicator functions exactly as it did in BOARD 10 BUT, you will only see all options if you expand the pop-out window.  This is a very interesting situation as the pop-out is correct only if you know to expand it for height and width in order to see the hidden options.

My original response appeared correct as I wrote it on my laptop with a low resolution.  However, whilst working today, I have performed the very action I had stated could not be done, to make a dynamic selection based on a cube from the window selection icon.  This time though, I was working on my 27" UHD screen and now I can show the error in all it's ugly glory.  Image 1 is the screen setup.  I have a data entry dataview to write a value to a cube 1D:Tenure.  Image 2 displays the pop-out as it appears on a 1366x768 resolution screen.  Note the '...' denoting a continuation of the text.  Also note the lack of any ability to select a cube for use as a dynamic selector.  The pop-out is capable of being expanded and, on expanding, Image 3 shows the full options available.  Image 4 is how I saw the options on a 27" UHD screen.

The ramifications for this are very severe.  If users do not check that the pop-out window needs expanding, they risk missing important selections.  this is a point that should be brought to the attention of the BOARD software developers for update in a future release but, more immediately, it should be brought to the attention of all developers moving to or operating on the Board 11 platform (maybe even Board 10.x.x).

I have now raised an idea on this here: https://community.board.com/ideas/1214-board-11-optimised-pop-out-menus-for-low-resolution-displays

Borja, this is an excellent outcome for me as your query has led to the discovered a potential pitfall of the platform which can now be notified to fellow developers.

Image 1: Cube 1 1d:Tenure & Cube 2 2D:Branch, Tenure

Image 2: Dynamic options as seen on a screen of 1366x786 - note the ability to expand the pop-out window and no option to pick a cube to base selection by.

Image 3: Fully expanded pop-out dynamic selection options with drop down to choose cube to base selection by.

Image 4:  Dynamic options as seen on a screen of 2460x1440

Original response

The [...] box in html5 appears to have a less confusing role than it did in desktop.  It now seems to serve as an interactive indicator to show when a dynamic selection has been applied through the capsule designer.  This would suggest that developers previously using it to directly configure screens, as you described, might have to re-think their designs on migration to B11 - this is an especially dangerous point for developers with inherited models and no config notes.

You can test this point for yourself by carrying out the following actions, or any similar process:

Step1.  Opening a screen in design mode - [F4] & selecting a target entity with no selections in place - I've chosen the Entity: Brand as shown below and has no selections against it:

Step 2.  Attach a dynamic SELECT procedure to the OPEN trigger of that screen.

Step 3.  Exit design mode - [F4].

Step 4.  Select theicon and search for the selection you used in the procedure where you should see that it is now ticked - the RED box indicating this:

Incidentally, you will have noticed that a blue tick is applied to the left also.  This is to indicate an active selection on an entity and appears when anything is selected either by the user or through a procedure of any type.

Hope that this clears up the mystery for you Borja. As I'm sure you're aware, BOARD don't always explain their fiendish 'features'.

They'd have gotten away with it this time too if it wasn't for them pesky questions.

 - well done.

BOARD 10 and below do not support concurrent processing, as Bob Gill has said.  Notwithstanding the points stated by Björn Reuber, the issue is not about disparate objects but with the BOARD Server.  With BOARD 11 and the B/eng (or Big Bang Engine), parallel processing and concurrent calculations will be possible as the engine has been configured to make better use of multiple cores and memory.  There is no need to change current system setup either, like adding more ram and cores, as the system will work with all current configurations.  That said, with increased resources, you would see a performance enhancement,  on top of the added versatility.

BOARD 11 is scheduled for release in Nov 2018, with three incremental releases prior to that.

Thank you very much for that Jonathan.  Independent views are so valuable when trying something brand new and to receive positive feedback only motivates me further. 

Regarding the production, I had a very tight turnaround - a day - which included first learning how to use the opensource software - SHOTCUT.  The still I used for the links is very poor and I had not even noticed until I had delivered the film, but I will pay closer attention to detail after your observation. 

From a technical standpoint, whilst the film is very short and simple, getting to grips with the software, overcoming its nuances and handling random crashes added to the pressure, but I had to know that I could amend anything once delivered.

As it is now, I consider myself of intermediate ability with SHOTCUT and look forward to creating content that will help to communicate complex concepts in a relaxing and enjoyable manner and without the need for narration or a physical presence.