Building Virtual Interfaces: How the Tools Connect
An interface is a screen that brings data together for the users it is shared with: grids, charts, action panels and filters. The Portal also calls it a virtual interface. Users open an interface from the Dataviews tab of Explorer, from the sidebar or from the homepage.
Building one takes three tools, used in order.
What you can do with virtual interfaces
- Turn a query into a saved view, a saved view into a chart, and charts and grids into an interface
- Choose who can open each interface
- List an interface under an Interface Group in Explorer, show it as an app, or pin it to a homepage
The three-step pipeline
Each tool makes what the next one uses:
| Step | Tool | What you do | What it makes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Query Builder | Build the query that the rows come from | A saved view |
| 2 | Chart Builder | Choose a saved view and a chart type, and drop fields on the shelves | A chart |
| 3 | Interface Builder | Place grids, charts and action panels on a canvas | An interface that users open |
A grid shows a saved view and a chart reads one too, so make the saved view first. The Chart Builder cannot draw a chart until a saved view is chosen, and a chart panel of an interface uses a saved chart.
Where to find the tools
The Query Builder, the Interface Builder and the Chart Builder are tiles of New > Custom Fields & Configuration. The section is shown to users who hold Manage Document Custom Fields, and the Interface Builder and Chart Builder tiles to users who hold Manage Interfaces.
New > Custom Fields & Configuration
Step 1: Query Builder
The Query Builder makes saved views: queries that define a set of rows. A saved view is what charts and grids read.
See Query Builder Interface for the details.
Step 2: Chart Builder
The Chart Builder turns a saved view into a chart. Choose the saved view, drop a dimension and a measure on the shelves, and the preview is drawn from the real rows. SHOW ME changes the chart type, and an interaction makes a click on the chart open a record, an interface or another chart.
The Chart Builder
See Chart Builder for the details.
Step 3: Interface Builder
The Interface Builder places grids, charts and action panels on a canvas. Save asks for a name, the users and groups who can open the interface, and the Interface Group it is listed under.
The Interface Builder
See Interface Builder for the details.
Who sees an interface
Access is set when the interface is saved, with Allowed Users and Allowed Groups. Whoever saves an interface is always one of its allowed users. A person who is not listed, directly or through a group, does not see the interface, and administrators are not an exception.
People who may see an interface find it on the Dataviews tab of Explorer, under its Interface Group, if they hold the View Interfaces permission. An interface can also be shown as an app, in the sidebar and on the homepage, or pinned to a homepage.
Related configuration
- Query Builder: makes the saved views this pipeline starts from
- Chart Builder: the chart reference
- Interface Builder: the canvas, filters, appearance, saving and publishing
- Interfaces: how users open and use an interface
- Custom Fields: the data a saved view can be built from