An Introduction to Creating Argos Dashboards
Chris Tingle, Senior Research Analyst
Tennessee Board of Regents
SUMMIT 2013

Creating Forms:

  1. In DataBlock, click “Form Design” and then “Forms” tab.
  2. Below “Forms” tab, click green plus sign to add new form.
  3. Click on the new form to name the form.

Creating Static Text Box:

  1. While in “Form Design,” click on blue ‘A’ at top of window, and then click in form.
  2. Under “Properties Tab”
  3. Name the text box by using “Variable Name” field on left side of window.
  4. Enter text by using “Text” field on left side, or by double clicking text box.
  5. Adjust position of text box using “Top” and “Left” fields.
  6. Adjust “Font Size”, “Font Color”, etc. using various boxes on left of window.

Creating Data Aware Text Box:

  1. While in “Form Design,” click on blue ‘A’ at top of window, and then click in form.
  2. Under “Properties Tab”
  3. Name the text box as above.
  4. Using the “Data Aware” field, 5th down on the left, change to ‘Yes’.
  5. Click on “Text” field. Select data field that is desired.
  6. Usually this is a parameter that you have created earlier.
  7. Adjust position of text box using “Top” and “Left” fields.
  8. Adjust “Font Size”, “Font Color”, etc. using various boxes on left of window.

Creating Drop Down List:

  1. While in “Form Design,” click on drop down list icon at top of window, and then click in form.
  2. Icon is selected above for reference.
  3. Name the drop down list something easy using the “Variable Name” field. The selection from the drop down box will likely be used later on, and is identified by the name.
  4. To create contents of drop down list, under the “Properties” tab, double click on “Choices” field located in left window.
  5. Choose to either manually type choices or populate by .sql statement.
  6. To populate by .sql statement use example below:
  7. Select Distinct Reporting_Year from TBRCREMGR.MV_ROG_CREDENTIAL order by 1
  8. Reporting_Year = Data Element
  9. TBRCREMGR.MV_ROG_CREDENTIAL = Table Name
  10. Drop down List can be moved, resized, etc. using same methods as text boxes.

Creating Button:

  1. While in “Form Design,” click on button icon at top of window, and then click in form.
  2. Button icon is selected above for reference, and is a box with ‘OK’ in it.
  3. Name the text box by using “Variable Name” field on left side of window.
  4. Enter text by using “Text” field on left side, or by double clicking text box.
  5. To use button to navigate, double click on “On Click” field on left side of window.
  6. This gives you a list of events.
  7. Select ‘Activate Form’, and move to Event List.
  8. Select ‘Activate Form’ from event list, and then select appropriate form that button should point to from drop down list below.
  9. Click ‘OK’.

Creating Variables:

  1. In DataBlock, click “Form Design” and then “Variables” tab.
  2. Click on green plus sign to add a variable.
  3. A box will pop up. To create variable from .sql, click circle next to ‘SQL statement’ and then click ok.
  4. To build variable using the visual designer, click the furthest left icon (resembling a hand and hammer). SQL can also be entered by free type if desired.
  5. Once in the visual designer, variables are constructed in the same way a datablock is built in Argos.
  6. Argos will validate variables prior to allowing them to be used.
  7. Data parameters can be used in variables as ‘Conditional Fields’.
  8. To use drop down box selection as condition:
  9. Click on ‘Conditional Fields’ tab in visual designer.
  10. Drop in data element which corresponds with parameter from drop down box.
  11. In example, Reporting_Year.
  12. Enter colon + drop down box name as the condition. Example:
  13. Drop down box name = Pram_Year
  14. Condition in variable = :Pram_Year

Creating Chart:

  1. While in “Form Design,” click on chart icon at top of window, and then click in form.
  2. Button icon is selected above for reference, and is a pie chart
  3. This will place empty chart in form. To edit chart, double click on it, which brings up the chart wizard. Enter the chart wizard by clicking next on first screen that appears.

The Chart Wizard:

  1. To place data in chart, add series using green plus sign at top.
  2. Name the series below.
  3. In the “Dataset” field, select the variable that you wish to use in the chart.
  4. In the “Value” field, select the data that you wish to display.
  5. Example: Count of Awards
  6. In the “Label” field, select the label that will sort data into columns in graph.
  7. Example: Award Year
  8. One this is complete, use remaining tabs on this screen (Type, Labels, Bar Options) to create the basic look of the chart. The default is standard bar chart.
  9. Click ‘next’ at bottom of window to access more formatting options, or ‘finish’ to complete chart making process.
  10. Note: Upon returning to form in design mode, the chart will almost certainly look bad. To see what the chart will actually look like, you will need to test dashboard.