The Widget Communication dialog box

By default, parameters that are common to multiple widgets on a dashboard are detected and parameter connections are automatically created. You can use the Widget Communication dialog box to edit the connections, or to dissolve all the automatic connections and create other connections manually.

The Widget Communication dialog box has two panes: Parameter Connections and Widgets and Parameters. The Parameter Connections pane lists existing parameter connections. You can expand a connection to see the widgets that are connected by it.

In the Widgets and Parameters pane you can expand a widget to see its parameters. Optionally you can hide parameters that are already part of a parameter connection.

To create a parameter connection, you drag a parameter from the Widgets and Parameters pane and drop it into the Parameter Connections pane. You can then drag further parameters into the connection.

For example, you have three widgets, each of which has a Date parameter. To connect these widgets you might create a Current Date connection that contains the Date parameter from each of the three widgets. You might then create another connection that links the three widget by some other shared parameter, such as country or currency.

If you click a parameter in the Parameter Connections pane, the corresponding parameter is highlighted, and its value displayed, in the Widgets and Parameters pane.

You cannot add multiple parameters of a widget to a parameter connection.

You can turn individual parameter connections on and off as required, and you can remove individual parameters from a connection.

By default, the initial value that is displayed when you access the dashboard is stored in the dashboard. You can specify that the initial value depends on a parameter of one of the widgets in the connection. The parameter on which the initial value depends is indicated by a yellow marker in the Parameter Connections dialog box.