Inserting and defining panels

Before you begin

The panel stack is the holder for a group of panels. You must add a panel stack before you can insert more panels (a new panel stack already contains one panel). The panels contain the controls (Grid/Graphs, text fields, and so on) that actually display the data, such as metrics and graphs, that a user sees. For a more detailed description of panels and panel stacks, see Layering data in interactive documents: Panels and panel stacks. Before creating panels and panel stacks, you should be familiar with the different parts of a panel stack. See Defining the parts of a panel stack for detailed descriptions.

To insert and define panels, follow the high-level steps below:

1. Insert a panel stack (the holder for the panels). A single panel is automatically added to the panel stack. For instructions, see Adding panel stacks to documents.

2. By default, the title bar, which displays either the panel stack title or the panel name to help identify the panel stack, is displayed. The title bar also displays, by default, arrows to allow users to flip through the panels. For instructions to hide the arrows, see Hiding panel selector arrows on the title bar. For instructions to hide the title bar, see Hiding title bars of panel stacks. (If you hide the arrows or the title bar, you should add a selector to allow users to switch between panels, as described below.)

3. Insert as many additional panels as you need to hold the layers of data. For instructions, see Adding panels to a panel stack.

4. Add controls to each panel, to display the data. You can add Grid/Graphs, text fields, shapes, images, and panel stacks, just as you can to a document. For more information, see Designing documents.

5. Panels are displayed in the order in which they were added. If you want to display them in a different order, move the panels to reorder them. For an example and instructions, see Changing the display order of panels.

6. Ensure that the correct panel will be displayed when the user initially views the document. For instructions, see Choosing the panel to display initially: the current panel.

7. Determine how to load panels in panel stacks when the document is viewed in MicroStrategy Web. All the panels can be pre-loaded, or only the first panel. For instructions, see Loading panels on demand in MicroStrategy Web.

   • When all the panels are pre-loaded, they display immediately when the user selects a different panel.

   • However, if the user is unlikely to access all the panels in a panel stack, or if you want to optimize the initial load time of the document, you can specify that the panels load only when a user changes to a different panel. Note that this on-demand panel loading only occurs when the document is executed in MicroStrategy Web with DHTML enabled.

8. Format the panel stack, panels, and title bar (if displayed). For examples and procedures, see Formatting panels and panel stacks.

9. (Optional) Add a selector to allow the user to switch between panels. See Providing interactivity to users: Selectors.

   By default, the title bar displays arrows that allow users to move through the panels. If you choose to hide the arrows or hide the title bar, add a selector, such as a radio button or pull-down list, to allow users to switch between the different panels of a panel stack. A selector can also display the names of the different panels, so that a user can tell at a glance which panel he wants to view. The arrow selectors on the title bar do not display the panel names.