Data Dashboard (scene-layer on officecli-xlsx)

A dashboard is not "a spreadsheet with charts". It is a composition: one Dashboard sheet the user lands on with formula-driven KPI cards, cell-range-linked charts, sparklines, and semantic conditional formatting. Everything else (raw data, aggregations) is upstream infrastructure the user should never need to open. This skill teaches the composition pattern. Everything about the xlsx engine — cells, formulas, batch JSON, shell quoting, validate, HTML preview — comes from officecli-xlsx and is not re-taught here.

Setup

If officecli is missing:

• macOS / Linux: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.sh | bash
• Windows (PowerShell): irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.ps1 | iex

Verify with officecli --version (open a new terminal if PATH hasn't picked up). If install fails, download a binary from https://github.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/releases.

⚠️ Help-First Rule

When a prop name, enum value, or alias is uncertain, consult help before guessing.

officecli help xlsx                          # element list
officecli help xlsx chart                    # full schema for charts
officecli help xlsx sparkline                # sparklines
officecli help xlsx conditionalformatting    # all CF rule types

Help reflects the installed CLI version. When this skill and help disagree, help wins. DeferredAddKeys (preset, referenceline, trendline, axisNumFmt, holesize, combosplit) work on add only — see Reference.

Mental Model & Inheritance

This skill inherits every xlsx hard rule from officecli-xlsx — shell quoting, zero formula errors, visual delivery floor, batch JSON shape ({"command":"set"|"add","path":...,"props":{...}} — key is command, NOT action), batch JSON dotted-name rule, chart data-feed forms, batch+resident limits, validate discipline. Read officecli-xlsx first; honour those rules, do not re-teach them here.

Reverse handoff — do NOT use this skill when:

• The ask is a single-sheet CSV-with-formatting tracker (no Dashboard sheet, no KPI cards, ≤ 1 chart) → go back to officecli-xlsx.
• The ask is a 3-statement / DCF / LBO financial model with blue-inputs / black-formulas / cross-sheet drivers → use officecli-financial-model.
• The ask is a weekly status report with one SUMIF summary and one chart over < 10 rows → officecli-xlsx.

This skill only accepts: "a Dashboard sheet the user opens first, multiple KPI cards, multiple charts, some CF / sparklines".

Shell & Execution Discipline

→ see officecli-xlsx §Shell & Execution Discipline for the baseline (quoting, heredoc for !, incremental execution).

Two increments specific to dashboards:

• Long chart add commands exceed 180 chars. Always split across lines with trailing \; never pack a chart command onto a single line. The longer the command, the higher the chance a shell-escape bug hides inside it.
• Multi-instance counts use query --json | jq length, never raw-get | grep -c. Example: officecli query "$FILE" chart --json | jq '.data.results | length' for "how many charts do I have?".

Core Principles

Five non-negotiable principles. If any one is violated the output is not a dashboard, it is a spreadsheet that happens to have a chart.

1. Formula-driven KPIs. Every KPI value on the Dashboard sheet is a formula — SUM, AVERAGE, IFERROR((...-...)/...,0), whatever — referring to cells on the Data / Summary sheet. Never hardcode a computed number. When the underlying data changes tomorrow, KPIs update on open.

2. Cell-range references for charts. Every chart series reads from a cell range: series1.values="Sheet1!B2:B13". Inline data="Revenue:100,200,300" is for a 5-minute demo, not a delivered dashboard. The one exception: data requires an aggregation Excel cannot express (rare) — document the exception in a comment cell.

3. Dashboard-first architecture. KPI label cells, KPI value cells, charts, sparklines all live on the Dashboard sheet — the single sheet a user lands on. Raw imports and SUMIFS rollups live on Data / Summary sheets, upstream of the Dashboard. The user should never need to switch tabs to find the answer.

4. Visible cells only for chart sources. LibreOffice does not evaluate formulas in hidden columns or hidden sheets at render time. A chart whose series1.values points at a hidden-column SUMIFS renders blank. Pattern: aggregate into a visible Summary sheet, point charts at Summary cells, hide only helper columns that are not chart sources.

5. Data-size-aware complexity. A 10-row dataset does not get 5 KPIs and 4 charts. A 200-row dataset does not get 1 KPI and 1 chart. Scale up the composition with the input (table in §Design Ideas). Overbuilding is as wrong as underbuilding.

Requirements

All officecli-xlsx requirements apply (→ see officecli-xlsx §Requirements for Outputs). Dashboards add these:

• Dashboard sheet is the active tab on open. Confirm 0-based sheet index with officecli query "$FILE" sheet BEFORE filling activeTab="N". Never guess the index.
• calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true. Set via officecli set "$FILE" / --prop calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true. Do NOT raw-set <calcPr> — it produces duplicate elements that fail validate.
• Refresh downstream cachedValue after every upstream edit. fullCalcOnLoad=true schedules runtime recalc only; it does NOT refresh build-time cachedValue. After set B=100 → set E==B+D → fix B=150, E is stale until you re-issue E's formula (or close/reopen). Stale cache ships "Net Change = 0" to the board.
• Every chart has a descriptive title and every series has a name. "Series1" in a legend is unfinished work.
• Every KPI value cell has a formula. Verifiable: officecli query "$FILE" 'Dashboard!:has(formula)' --json | jq '.data.results | length' should equal your planned KPI count.
• Header row fill on every data sheet. Data sheet, Summary sheet, and any secondary data sheet need row 1 filled (e.g., fill=1F3864 + font.color=FFFFFF + font.bold=true).
• 10+ rows on Data sheet → ≥ 1 CF rule on a numeric column. A 20-row table with zero visual scanning aid is a quality miss.
• Dashboard value columns sized to the widest expected cachedValue — not a fixed 22. Rule of thumb at 24pt bold + currency numFmt: width ≈ ceil((visible_chars + 2) × 1.3). A KPI holding ¥1,958,414,250 (14 visible chars with currency + commas) needs width ≥ 28; a 4-digit KPI still needs width ≥ 22 as the floor. Hardcoding 22 for a 10+ digit KPI is how ### ships to the user.
• Sparkline row height ≥ 20. A sparkline in a default 15pt row is a flat squiggle — set /Dashboard/row[N] height=22 (or 24 when paired with a 24pt KPI value cell in the same row).
• Print deliverables set _xlnm.Print_Area scoped to Dashboard + hide non-Dashboard sheets + add <pageSetup fitToPage/>. Without all three, the print pipeline emits every sheet and Dashboard lands on page 2+. See §Print-ready delivery for the exact commands.

Quick Start

Minimal viable dashboard: 12-month revenue CSV → 4 KPIs + 1 line chart + activeTab + fullCalcOnLoad. Adapt the numbers, don't copy-paste blind. Broken into phases so a single failed phase is obvious.

Phase 1 — Data sheet: create, import, format.

FILE=my_dashboard.xlsx
officecli create "$FILE"
officecli import "$FILE" /Sheet1 --file sales.csv --header
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/col[A]' --prop width=12
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/col[B]' --prop width=15
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/B2:B13' --prop numFmt='$#,##0'
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/A1:B1' --prop fill=1F3864 --prop font.color=FFFFFF --prop font.bold=true

Phase 2 — Dashboard sheet + one KPI card.

officecli add "$FILE" / --type sheet --prop name=Dashboard
officecli set "$FILE" '/Dashboard/col[A]' --prop width=22
officecli set "$FILE" '/Dashboard/col[B]' --prop width=12
officecli set "$FILE" /Dashboard/A1 --prop value="Total Revenue" --prop font.size=9 --prop font.color=666666 --prop bold=true
officecli set "$FILE" /Dashboard/A2 --prop 'formula==SUM(Sheet1!B2:B13)' --prop numFmt='$#,##0' --prop font.size=24 --prop bold=true --prop font.color=2E7D32

Phase 3 — Sparkline + chart.

officecli add "$FILE" /Dashboard --type sparkline --prop cell=B2 --prop range='Sheet1!B2:B13' --prop type=line --prop color=4472C4 --prop highPoint=true --prop highMarkerColor=FF0000
officecli add "$FILE" /Dashboard --type chart \
  --prop chartType=line \
  --prop title="Revenue Trend" \
  --prop series1.name="Revenue" \
  --prop series1.values='Sheet1!B2:B13' \
  --prop series1.categories='Sheet1!A2:A13' \
  --prop preset=dashboard --prop axisNumFmt='$#,##0' \
  --prop x=0 --prop y=5 --prop width=10 --prop height=15

Phase 4 — fullCalcOnLoad → activeTab (LAST) → close → validate.

officecli set "$FILE" / --prop calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true

# Resolve Dashboard's 0-based index from the actual sheet list — never hardcode.
DASH_IDX=$(officecli query "$FILE" sheet --json \
  | jq '[.data.results[].path] | index("/Dashboard")')
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /workbook --xpath "//x:sheets" --action insertbefore \
  --xml "<bookViews xmlns=\"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main\"><workbookView activeTab=\"$DASH_IDX\" /></bookViews>"
officecli close "$FILE"
officecli validate "$FILE"

Verified end-to-end on a 12-row revenue CSV: validate reports no errors, Dashboard opens first, Dashboard/A2.cachedValue resolves (2,075,000 for the test data), chart renders with values linked.

Design Ideas

Options, not templates. The user's data and audience drive the choices.

Layout patterns (pick one, stay consistent)

Pattern 1 — executive summary (board packs): KPI strip A1:H4, charts stack from row 6.

┌ KPI1 │ KPI2 │ KPI3 │ KPI4 ┐  rows 1-4
├──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┤
│     Chart 1 (wide)        │  rows 6-18
├───────────────┬───────────┤
│   Chart 2     │  Chart 3  │  rows 20-32

Pattern 2 — ops console (live ops): KPIs down A:B, charts fill C:L.

│ KPI1 │                   │
│ KPI2 │    Chart 1        │  rows 1-12
│ KPI3 │                   │
│ KPI4 ├───────────────────┤
│ KPI5 │    Chart 2        │  rows 14-26

Pattern 3 — scorecard (≥ 6 KPIs, no dominant chart): grid of 2×3 cards (label / value / sparkline).

│ KPI1 │ KPI2 │ KPI3 │  rows 1-4
│ KPI4 │ KPI5 │ KPI6 │  rows 5-8

Complexity scaling by data size

Chart type selection

Preset options

--prop preset=<name> on every chart. Options: minimal, dashboard, corporate, magazine, colorful, monochrome, dark. Pick one and stay consistent across all charts on a single Dashboard — mixing presets reads as accidental.

Conditional formatting — semantic colors

Four CF rule types; each uses --type <shorthand> at add time:

Semantic colors to stay consistent within a dashboard:

• good / positive: fill C8E6C9, font 2E7D32
• bad / negative: fill FFCDD2, font C62828
• neutral: fill F5F5F5, font 666666

KPI card anatomy

A card is a label cell + a value cell. The label is small gray (font.size=9, font.color=666666, bold); the value is large bold (font.size=24, bold=true, numFmt, font.color signals tone). One row of light fill (e.g. F0F4FF) across the card area gives the "card" read without building merged-cell scaffolds. Value column width must be sized to the largest cachedValue — never narrower than 22, often 26–32 for 8+ digit currency (see Requirements).

Chart width budget by title length

At the dashboard preset's default title font, the chart plot-box width (in column units) must stay ahead of the title string, or the title clips mid-word. Rule of thumb: chart.width ≥ ceil(title.length × 0.18). A 35-character title ("Department: Year-End Headcount vs Attrition Rate") needs width ≥ 7; be safer and use 10–12. If the anchor cannot be widened, shorten the title to ≤ 25 characters — clipped titles in a board-ready deliverable are indefensible.

officecli get chart[N] does not expose numeric width on 1.0.63 — it returns .data.format.anchor (e.g. "A6:K21"). Derive column span from letters (A→K = 10 cols) for Gate 2.

Print-ready delivery (board-pack / investor-send / one-pager)

Triggers: ask contains "print" / "一页" / "董事会" / "投资人". Four artefacts on the Dashboard sheet; non-Dashboard sheets hidden so the print pipeline emits one page only.

# 1. Print_Area scoped to Dashboard (xlnm convention).
officecli add "$FILE" / --type namedrange --prop name=_xlnm.Print_Area --prop scope=Dashboard --prop 'refersTo=Dashboard!$A$1:$H$36'
# 2. fit-to-page on Dashboard.
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /Dashboard --xpath "//x:worksheet" --action prepend --xml '<sheetPr xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main"><pageSetUpPr fitToPage="1"/></sheetPr>'
# 3. Landscape page setup.
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /Dashboard --xpath "//x:sheetData" --action insertafter --xml '<pageSetup orientation="landscape" paperSize="9" fitToWidth="1" fitToHeight="1"/>'
# 4. Hide non-Dashboard sheets — Print_Area scope alone does NOT stop the print pipeline from emitting every visible sheet.
for S in Sheet1 Summary; do
  officecli raw-set "$FILE" /workbook --xpath "//x:sheet[@name='$S']" --action setattr --xml "state=hidden" || true
done

Delete any Print_Area set on Data / Summary sheets — conflicting scopes emit multi-page output.

QA (REQUIRED — Delivery Gate)

Assume there are problems. Your job is to find them. A chart that was rendered does not mean a chart that was meaningful. "validate pass" is not delivery; "the Dashboard sheet reads like someone who knows the business made it" is delivery.

Minimum cycle before "done"

Inherit the xlsx baseline (view issues, formula error queries, validate, HTML preview scan): → see officecli-xlsx §QA minimum cycle.

Then run the dashboard-specific Delivery Gates. Each gate uses COUNT-then-if pattern with a .data.* wrapper — never chain && echo OK || echo FAIL.

Gate 1 — KPI formula coverage. Every planned KPI cell must carry a formula. Adjust -lt 2 to your plan (4 KPIs → -lt 4).

KPI_FORMULAS=$(officecli query "$FILE" 'Dashboard!:has(formula)' --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$KPI_FORMULAS" -lt 2 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 1: $KPI_FORMULAS formula cells on Dashboard"; exit 1; }

Gate 2 — Chart count matches plan, every chart has data + plausible title width.

CHART_COUNT=$(officecli query "$FILE" chart --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$CHART_COUNT" -lt 1 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 2: zero charts"; exit 1; }
col_num () { local c=$1 n=0; for ((k=0;k<${#c};k++)); do n=$((n*26+$(printf '%d' "'${c:$k:1}")-64)); done; echo "$n"; }
for i in $(seq 1 "$CHART_COUNT"); do
  JSON=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/chart[$i]" --json)
  SC=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.seriesCount // 0')
  TITLE=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.title // ""')
  ANCHOR=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.anchor // ""')
  [ "$SC" = "0" ] || [ -z "$TITLE" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 2: chart[$i] seriesCount=$SC title='$TITLE'"; exit 1; }
  [ -z "$ANCHOR" ] && continue
  LCOL=$(echo "${ANCHOR%%:*}" | sed 's/[0-9]*$//'); RCOL=$(echo "${ANCHOR##*:}" | sed 's/[0-9]*$//')
  SPAN=$(( $(col_num "$RCOL") - $(col_num "$LCOL") + 1 ))
  MIN=$(( (${#TITLE} * 18 + 99) / 100 ))
  [ "$SPAN" -lt "$MIN" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 2: chart[$i] title=${#TITLE} chars needs width ≥ $MIN, anchor spans $SPAN"; exit 1; }
done

Narrower titles at preset minimal / magazine may clip earlier than the 0.18 factor — spot-check.

Gate 3 — Chart series names populated (no "Series1" in legend).

for i in $(seq 1 "$CHART_COUNT"); do
  BAD=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/chart[$i]" --json | jq '[.data.children[]? | select(.type == "series") | select((.format.name // "") | test("^Series[0-9]+$"; "i"))] | length')
  [ "$BAD" -gt 0 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 3: chart[$i] has $BAD auto-named series"; exit 1; }
done

Gate 4 — CF rules on Data sheet (10+ rows).

CF_COUNT=$(officecli query "$FILE" conditionalformatting --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$CF_COUNT" -lt 1 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 4: zero CF rules on 10+ row data sheet"; exit 1; }

Note: query conditionalformatting is the canonical element name; query cf returns 0 (not an alias).

Gate 5 — activeTab and fullCalcOnLoad set. Compare against real Dashboard index (Dashboard-at-index-0 is a true pass).

DASH_IDX=$(officecli query "$FILE" sheet --json | jq '[.data.results[].path] | index("/Dashboard")')
ACTIVE=$(officecli get "$FILE" /workbook --json | jq '.data.format.activeTab // -1')
FULLCALC=$(officecli get "$FILE" /workbook --json | jq -r '.data.format["calc.fullCalcOnLoad"] // false')
[ "$ACTIVE" != "$DASH_IDX" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 5: activeTab=$ACTIVE Dashboard=$DASH_IDX"; exit 1; }
[ "$FULLCALC" != "true" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 5: calc.fullCalcOnLoad=$FULLCALC — stale caches will ship"; exit 1; }

Gate 6 — Placeholder sweep. No build-time tokens in rendered output.

LEAKS=$(officecli view "$FILE" text 2>/dev/null | grep -niE '\{\{|\$fy\$|<TODO>|xxxx|TBD' | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
[ "$LEAKS" -gt 0 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 6: $LEAKS placeholder tokens"; exit 1; }

Gate 7 — Visual delivery floor (ported from xlsx). Run officecli view "$FILE" html and Read the returned HTML path. Confirm:

• No ### in any Dashboard or Data cell (columns too narrow).
• No truncated KPI labels, sheet tab names, or chart titles.
• No placeholder tokens rendered as text ($fy$24, {var}, <TODO>, xxxx).
• Pie / doughnut slices render with distinct fill colors (if collapsed in LibreOffice, verify in the user's target viewer before declaring broken — → see officecli-xlsx §Known Issues/Renderer caveats).
• No empty chart anchors — every chart has a visible, plausible plot.
• Dashboard sheet opens first (tab highlighted, active area scrolled to top).

If view html is blocked (renderer conflict, headless, port busy), Gate 7 is still mandatory — run ALL fallback checks:

# a) Token / ### sweep.
officecli view "$FILE" text 2>/dev/null | grep -nE '###|\{\{|<TODO>|\$fy\$|xxxx' && { echo "REJECT Gate 7: tokens or ### present"; exit 1; }
# b) Per-KPI: cachedValue length × coef must fit col width. coef=0.55 fit-to-page, 0.85 otherwise.
for CELL in A2 C2 E2 G2; do
  CV=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/$CELL" --json | jq -r '.data.format.cachedValue // .data.text // ""')
  W=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/col[${CELL%%[0-9]*}]" --json | jq -r '.data.format.width // 0')
  CAP=$(echo "$W * 0.55" | bc -l | awk '{print int($1)}')
  [ "${#CV}" -gt "$CAP" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 7: $CELL '$CV' (${#CV} chars) > cap $CAP"; exit 1; }
done
# c) Rerun Gate 2 title × 0.18 ≤ anchor span.  d) Log which fallback was used and why.

Gate 7 must NEVER be skipped — skipping ships ### to the user.

If scene keywords include print / 一页 / board / 投资人 / 董事会, extend Gate 7 with a structural print-scope check:

if echo "$USER_REQ" | grep -qiE 'print|一页|投资人|董事会|board'; then
  # Every non-Dashboard sheet must be hidden or veryHidden.
  LEAKING=$(officecli query "$FILE" 'sheet' --json | jq -r '.data.results[] | select(.name != "Dashboard" and (.state // "visible") == "visible") | .name')
  [ -n "$LEAKING" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 7 print-scope: visible non-Dashboard sheet(s): $LEAKING — hide before delivery"; exit 1; }
  # Dashboard must carry an explicit Print_Area named range.
  PA=$(officecli query "$FILE" 'namedrange[name="_xlnm.Print_Area"]' --json | jq '.data.results | length')
  [ "$PA" -ge 1 ] || { echo "REJECT Gate 7 print-scope: no _xlnm.Print_Area set"; exit 1; }
fi

The user opens the file in their target viewer (Office / WPS / Numbers) for the final print preview — the skill does not render export artefacts.

Gate 8 — Formula sanity (cachedValue real, not stale/error). fullCalcOnLoad=true refreshes at runtime, NOT build-time cache — so every formula cell must carry a non-empty, non-zero, non-error cachedValue now.

for CELL in A2 C2 E2 G2; do
  JSON=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/$CELL" --json)
  [ -z "$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.formula // ""')" ] && continue
  CV=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.cachedValue // ""')
  case "$CV" in
    "" | "0" | "#DIV/0!" | "#REF!" | "#N/A" | "#VALUE!" | "#NAME?" | "null")
      echo "REJECT Gate 8: $CELL cachedValue='$CV' — re-issue formula or close+reopen"; exit 1 ;;
  esac
done

If a KPI is genuinely zero (e.g. "terminations this quarter" = 0), whitelist it in the loop and document — default assumption is "zero is broken".

If anything fails, fix at source, re-run the full cycle.

Honest limits

Scatter's series1.xValues is not exposed in get --json (series values="") — use chart-level seriesCount. LibreOffice chart color drift / pie-slice collapse / checkbox double-box are viewer artifacts — spot-check in Office / WPS / Numbers first.

Reference

• Shorthand --type at add: chart, sparkline, databar, colorscale, iconset, formulacf. CF rules map to help xlsx conditionalformatting; path suffix /Sheet/cf[N].
• Full schemas live in help: officecli help xlsx chart / sparkline / conditionalformatting. This skill does not mirror them.
• DeferredAddKeys (add-only, ignored on set): preset, trendline, referenceline, axisNumFmt, combosplit, holesize. See D-1.
• Build order: charts + sparklines + CF + tabColors first → calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true via high-level set → raw-set activeTab LAST (after all sheets exist).

Known Issues & Pitfalls

Dashboard-specific

Inherited (pointer only)

Cross-sheet ! trap, batch + resident for formulas, labelRotation on axis-by-role, chartType=pareto, validate while resident, data bar without explicit min/max, chart anchor / series immutability after create → see officecli-xlsx §Known Issues.