What are Dashboards?

Dashboards collect information about a record and summarize and display the collection in a single location. Dashboards are used on the constituent record's dashboard tab, on the giving tab, on dataset records (such as funds, companies, and appeals), and on the Consolidate Record tool.

For example, a constituent record can include event information on the Timeline tab, gift information on the Giving tab, and custom fields like a class year on a custom tab. A dashboard can bring this information together on the constituent's Dashboard tab.

Creating a Custom Dashboard 

Dashboards are created using the Dashboard tool in the database. They include two primary components: the query that collates the data and the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor.

Query Component 

Dashboard content is collected through a query. The query exports provide the merge fields used in the WYSIWYG editor to display information on the dashboard. Since the exports are used as merge fields, the names of the exports must be Liquid markup friendly (lowercase, with no spaces or special characters other than an underscore or hyphen).

The filter section of the query is used to determine the record displayed in the dashboard. The filters can also be used to determine which dashboard a user in the database should be able to see based on a specific user, role, or permission.

HTML WYSIWYG

The dashboard WYSIWYG editor is HTML editing software that enables you to see and edit content as it appears in a webpage interface. The editor can create the content for the dashboard with the standard tools and with HTML. If using the standard tools, no HTML knowledge is required. The editor's toolbar includes standard text, table, and image tools.  

Merge fields are used to display the exports created in the dashboard query. To display the export information in the WYSIWYG editor, enter the name of the export exactly as it appears in the dashboard query and enclose the name in double curly braces. For example, an export named type would be {{type}}.

Selecting the Source tool on the toolbar enables editing the dashboard's HTML content if desired. Advanced HTML coding can be used in the Source section of the editor if the standard tools do not provide the necessary advanced code.  

The WYSIWYG editor supports Liquid markup. Liquid markup can be used to display content dynamically on the dashboard. For more information on using Liquid markup, see the Fundamental Liquid Markup and Conditional Logic Knowledge Base article.