Providing Data

Jul 09, 2021
2 minutes to read

This document describes how to bind a dashboard displayed within the DashboardViewer to data. If you created the dashboard in the WinForms Dashboard Designer or using the Dashboard Designer available at Visual Studio design-time, use one of the following approaches to supply the dashboard displayed within the DashboardViewer with data.

Used Data Source

Description

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SQL Data Source

The dashboard definition contains connection settings such as server names, database names or the entire connection strings. This information is used by the DashboardViewer to establish a connection to data. You can customize connection settings before connecting to a database using the DashboardViewer.ConfigureDataConnection/Dashboard.ConfigureDataConnection events. To include WHERE clauses in SQL queries at runtime, handle the DashboardViewer.CustomFilterExpression/Dashboard.CustomFilterExpression events.

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OLAP Data Source

The dashboard definition contains the OLAP connection string. This information is used by the DashboardViewer to establish a connection to data. You can customize connection settings before connecting to an OLAP cube using the DashboardViewer.ConfigureDataConnection/Dashboard.ConfigureDataConnection events.

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Excel Data Source

The dashboard definition contains the path to the Excel workbook/CSV file. This information is used by the DashboardViewer to establish a connection to data. You can customize connection settings before connecting to an Excel Data Source using the DashboardViewer.ConfigureDataConnection/Dashboard.ConfigureDataConnection events.

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Entity Framework Data Source

In this case, the dashboard definition can contain the following settings.

The dashboard definition contains the context name and the connection string name. In this case, the DashboardViewer‘s project should include the corresponding context class and the connection string in the application configuration file.
The dashboard definition contains the context name, the path to the external assembly and the custom connection string. In this case, the DashboardViewer uses these settings to establish a connection to data.

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Object Data Source

The dashboard definition contains the name of the class used to provide data and optionally - the data member. You need to supply the dashboard with actual data at runtime using the DashboardViewer.DataLoading/Dashboard.DataLoading event.

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Extract Data Source

The dashboard definition contains the path to the data extract. This information is used by the DashboardViewer to establish a connection to data. You can customize connection settings before connecting to an Extract Data Source using the DashboardViewer.ConfigureDataConnection/Dashboard.ConfigureDataConnection events.

Use the DashboardViewer.ReloadData method to reload data in all dashboard data sources.