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Providing Data

  • 3 minutes to read

This document describes how to bind a dashboard displayed within the DashboardControl 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 DashboardControl with data.

Tip

Handle the DashboardControl.DashboardLoaded event to modify the dashboard’s data source.

Used Data Source

Description

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 DashboardControl to establish a connection to data. You can customize connection settings before connecting to a database using the DashboardControl.ConfigureDataConnection/Dashboard.ConfigureDataConnection events. To include WHERE clauses in SQL queries at runtime, handle the DashboardControl.CustomFilterExpression/Dashboard.CustomFilterExpression events.

Review the How to: Bind a WPF Dashboard to a Microsoft SQL Server Database File example for more information.

OLAP Data Source

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

Review the How to: Bind a WPF Dashboard to an OLAP Cube using DashboardOlapDataSource example for more information.

Excel Data Source

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

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 DashboardControl‘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 DashboardControl uses these settings to establish a connection to data.

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 DashboardControl.AsyncDataLoading/Dashboard.DataLoading event.

Review the How to: Bind a WPF Dashboard to an Object Data Source (List<Data>) example for more information.

Extract Data Source

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

This data source type allows you to share a dashboard with its data between applications. The data source is lightweight and can be readily used in examples (Review the How to: Update the Extract Data File at Runtime example).