{"id":12139,"date":"2010-07-19T21:04:38","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T20:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2021-08-17T08:57:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T06:57:34","slug":"xcelsius-dashboards-on-your-android-mobile-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/xcelsius-dashboards-on-your-android-mobile-phone.html","title":{"rendered":"Xcelsius Dashboards on Your Android Mobile Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"android_demo_screen4\"<\/p>\n

The latest release of Android, v2.2 (\u201cFroyo\u201d)<\/a> supports the Adobe flash technology used by Xcelsius (now called Dashboard Design)<\/a> and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer<\/a>. So now you can access your dashboards, reports, and exploration spaces directly from your mobile device without requiring a separate application (e.g. as you do for the iPhone and iPad).<\/a><\/p>\n

It also means you can reuse all the effort you\u2019ve put into developing Xcelsius dashboards and make them into slick, use-them-on-the-fly interfaces for your road warriors. Here\u2019s a quick video demonstration of my Google Nexus One phone running Xcelsius, WebIntelligence, and Explorer, based on a Formula One data set (SAP is a sponsor of the Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes racing team<\/a>, and the McLaren team use SAP\u2019s PLM software<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a step-by-step picture view of the same demo:<\/p>\n

1: open the xcelsius dashboard<\/p>\n

(Note: the Xcelsius icon below is NOT an application that you have to install, just a shortcut to the URL, which opens in a browser)<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen1\"<\/p>\n

The flash file will open up in the browser:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen2\"<\/p>\n

To make it full screen, press and hold your finger on the flash file until the bar below appears<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen3\"<\/p>\n

Then click on the left-hand icon to make the flash file full screen:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen4\"<\/p>\n

From here, you can explore the dashboard, for example, press the \u201cDriver\u201d button:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen5\"<\/p>\n

Or the \u201cEngine\u201d button:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen6\"<\/p>\n

You can also \u201cdrill through\u201d to information using the other SAP BusinessObjects products. For example, touching the \u201cReport\u201d button can take you directly to a Web Intelligence report (this won\u2019t work with the link above, because it\u2019s a report only available to my account \u2013 the link takes you to the generic bi.ondemand.com page, and if you\u2019re previously logged on \u2013 you can sign up for a free account \u2013 it will take you directly to your data sets, reports, etc.)<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen7\"<\/p>\n

This report is rendered in HTML, and full interactable \u2013 all drill-downs, etc. will work, and you can use the standard \u201cpinch\u201d gestures to zoom into part of the report, scroll around, etc.:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen8\"<\/p>\n

Click on the \u201cback\u201d arrow on the phone (left-most icon on the bottom row of buttons on the phone) to get back to the previous dashboard (note, I occasionally came across a flash bug here, where the top bar would still appear, throwing off the tracking location of your finger. If this happens, hold your finger until the full screen icon appears, then click below<\/em> it to get back to full screen)<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen6\"<\/p>\n

Next, click on the \u201cExplore button\u201d to open a new pop-up window (you need to have enabled pop-ups in your browser options, or nothing will happen), and it will load an Explorer session with Formula One data (why do this via a pop-up? to make sure that the screen proportions are correct for the next step):<\/p>\n

(Note: this data is stored on a corporate SAP server, but you can do the same thing using data you’ve uploaded to your free bi.ondemand.com account)<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen10\"<\/p>\n

As before, hold down your finger and make the flash full screen:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen11\"<\/p>\n

This interface requires precision to use, but with a bit of practice, it\u2019s feasible. Here, for example, I click on the pie chart icon to change the chart type:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen12\"<\/p>\n

Next, I click on the \u201cAdvanced\u201d section under \u201cNationality\u201d to get this window, and I chose \u201cBritish\u201d:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen13\"<\/p>\n

And by clicking on the little arrows to the left of the \u201cItems to Select\u201d section, you can expand it:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen14\"<\/p>\n

Or you can click on the little arrow to the left of \u201cVisualize the data\u201d to expand that part:<\/p>\n

\"android_demo_screen15\"<\/p>\n

A few best-practice tips if you\u2019re interested in recreating a demo like this:<\/p>\n