Dashboard designer
Category: Designer tools
Version: 1.0
Last Updated: July 9, 2026
Author: Any2Info
Description
The Dashboard Designer provides a visual interface for creating, editing, and organizing dashboards within the platform.
The designer consists of multiple integrated areas that work together to simplify dashboard configuration and layout management:
Menu
Dashboards
Toolbox
Structure
Toolstrip
Interactive Designer
Editing Menu
The designer allows users to visually position controls, configure their properties, organize dashboards into folders, and manage dashboard layouts interactively.
Dashboards support multiple layouts, allowing dashboards to adapt to different screen sizes and display types.
Main Components
Menu
The menu section is located on the left side of the designer and contains multiple tabs used for dashboard management and control selection.
Dashboards
The Dashboards tab shows all saved dashboard objects available to the user.
Features include:
Viewing all existing dashboards
Organizing dashboards using folder structures
Creating new dashboards
Selecting existing dashboards for editing
Moving dashboards between folders
Creating new folders for organization
This section is intended for dashboard management and navigation.
Layout Selection
Besides dashboards, this section also shows all layouts belonging to the currently active dashboard.
Features include:
Viewing available layouts
Selecting layouts for editing
Switching between layouts
Managing layout-specific dashboard arrangements
When a layout is selected:
The Interactive Designer updates to show the selected layout
The Structure tab reflects the controls available in the layout
The Editing Menu updates to show layout-specific settings
Toolbox
The Toolbox tab shows all available controls that can be added to the dashboard designer area.
Features include:
Displaying all available dashboard controls
Grouping controls into categories
Selecting controls for placement inside the designer
Information and configuration details for individual controls can be found in their dedicated documentation sections.
Typical examples of controls include:
Charts
Tables
Text controls
Input controls
Layout containers
Visualization controls
Layout Editing Behavior
When editing a layout, the Toolbox section changes behavior.
Instead of showing all available controls, the Toolbox shows a summarized list of all controls available in the root layout.
This allows controls from the root layout to be added to the currently active layout.
This functionality ensures:
Layouts reuse controls from the root layout
Controls remain consistent across layouts
Layout-specific arrangements can be created efficiently
Structure
The Structure tab shows a flat tree representation of the dashboard and all controls currently placed on it.
Features include:
Viewing all controls in a structured hierarchy
Quickly locating specific controls
Selecting controls directly from the tree
Activating controls inside the designer area
Searching controls using:
Control name
Control ID
Additional indicators shown in the structure tree:
Lightning icon
The control contains one or more configured events/actions
Link icon
The control is linked to another control
Additional functionality:
Controls can be temporarily hidden
Useful when multiple controls overlap each other in the designer area
The Structure tab works together with the Interactive Designer:
Structure Tab
Logical/searchable overview
Interactive Designer
Visual dashboard representation
Toolstrip
The toolstrip is positioned above the designer and contains quick-access actions for dashboard editing and layout management.
General Actions
Save
Saves the dashboard
Help
Shows available designer shortcuts
Changes
Opens an overview of historical dashboard changes
Undo
Reverts the last change
Redo
Reapplies the reverted change
Settings
Opens designer settings
Copy
Copies selected controls
Paste
Pastes copied controls
Layer Management
The next four buttons are used for changing the visual order of controls inside the designer area.
Move Forward
Moves selected controls one layer forward
Move Backward
Moves selected controls one layer backward
Move To Front
Moves selected controls to the top layer
Move To Back
Moves selected controls to the bottom layer
These actions are useful when controls overlap each other.
Alignment Tools
The final six buttons are used for aligning multiple selected controls.
Supported alignment actions:
Align Left
Aligns controls to the left
Align Right
Aligns controls to the right
Align Top
Aligns controls to the top
Align Bottom
Aligns controls to the bottom
Vertical Center
Aligns controls vertically centered
Horizontal Center
Aligns controls horizontally centered
Interactive Designer
The Interactive Designer displays a visual representation of the dashboard and all controls placed on it.
Features include:
Visual placement of controls
Displaying control positions on the dashboard
Showing selected controls visually
Reflecting currently edited controls
Allowing direct interaction with dashboard elements
The designer area represents the actual dashboard layout visually inside a rectangular dashboard workspace.
Additional functionality:
Clicking a control automatically activates property editing
Selected controls are visually highlighted
The designer synchronizes with the Structure tab
Changes made inside the designer are reflected immediately
The Interactive Designer and Structure tab complement each other:
Structure Tab
Logical/searchable overview
Interactive Designer
Visual dashboard representation
Editing Menu
The Editing Menu contains all editable configuration sections for the active dashboard or selected control.
The menu is context-sensitive:
The available configuration options depend on the selected dashboard or control
Different controls expose different editable settings
The Editing Menu contains the following shortcut sections:
Layout
Dashboard layout configuration
Properties
General control or dashboard properties
Messaging
User-facing messages and notifications
Events
Event configuration and actions
Action Flow
Action flow configuration
Parameters
Parameter configuration
Plugins
Plugin configuration and extensions
Layout
The Layout section is only applicable for dashboards.
This section contains properties related to the dashboard layout currently being edited.
The layout configuration controls the arrangement and positioning of controls shown in the Interactive Designer area.
Properties
The Properties section shows all editable properties for the currently active dashboard or selected control.
Important notes:
The available properties differ per control
Each control exposes its own configurable settings
Dashboard-level properties differ from control-level properties
For detailed information about available properties for each control, refer to the individual control documentation.
Messaging
The Messaging section contains configuration related to messages shown for the active dashboard or control.
Typical usage includes:
Success messages
Error messages
Warning messages
Status notifications
These messages are generally displayed when:
An action succeeds
An action fails
A process changes state
Validation issues occur
Events
The Events section shows all available events for the active dashboard or selected control.
Features include:
Viewing supported events
Adding actions to events
Configuring event behavior
Managing multiple actions per event
Each event can contain multiple configured actions.
Typical examples may include:
Click events
Load events
Change events
Action Flow
The Action Flow section is only applicable for dashboards.
This section allows the creation and editing of action flows.
Action flows are used to configure dashboard logic and action execution behavior.
For more information, see the Action Flow Designer documentation set.
Parameters
The Parameters section is only applicable for dashboards.
This section contains two types of parameter objects:
Incoming filters
Fixed filters
These parameters are used to configure dashboard filtering behavior and parameterized dashboard interactions.
For more information, see the dedicated Parameters documentation section.
Plugins
The Plugins section is only applicable for dashboards.
This section shows all plugins that are currently enabled or added to the dashboard.
Plugins can be used to extend dashboard functionality with additional integrations, behaviors, or custom features.
Features include:
Viewing enabled dashboard plugins
Managing plugin configuration
Enabling or disabling dashboard plugins
Viewing plugin-related settings
For more information, see the Tools > Plugins documentation section.
Dashboard Layouts
Dashboard layouts allow a dashboard to support multiple screen sizes and alternative control arrangements.
A dashboard itself consists of a rectangular design area containing positioned controls.
A layout represents a variation of that dashboard where controls can be rearranged and resized for a different display size or device type.
Layouts make it possible to optimize dashboards for:
Desktop screens
Tablets
Mobile devices
Embedded displays
Custom screen resolutions
Layout Behavior
A layout is essentially a relayouted version of the dashboard.
Characteristics of a layout:
Uses the same dashboard concept and control system
Can contain any control from the root layout
Does not require all controls from the root layout
Allows controls to be repositioned and resized independently
Supports screen-specific optimization
This allows dashboards to behave differently depending on available screen space.
Root Layout
The root layout is considered the primary dashboard layout.
Best practice is configuring the root layout as the version containing all controls.
In most scenarios:
The root layout represents the desktop version
Additional layouts are optimized for smaller screens
Typical layout structure example:
Root Layout
Desktop/full dashboard
Tablet Layout
Medium-sized screens
Mobile Layout
Compact/mobile version
Layout Sizing
Layout sizing can be configured through the Properties section in the Editing Menu while the dashboard is active.
Two groups of properties are important for layout behavior.
General Section
The General section contains:
Width Bound
Maximum supported screen width
Height Bound
Maximum supported screen height
These properties define the upper screen-size limits for which the layout should be used.
Together, these bounds determine:
Which layout becomes active
Which screen sizes match the layout
Responsive layout behavior
Page Section
The Page section contains properties defining the actual design area size.
These properties determine:
The size of the Interactive Designer workspace
The available placement area for controls
The visual layout dimensions during editing
The page size represents the actual editable rectangle on which controls are positioned.
Layout Design Strategy
Recommended layout design workflow:
Create the root layout first
Add all required controls to the root layout
Configure the desktop/full-size version
Create additional layouts for smaller screens
Reposition or resize controls where necessary
Remove unnecessary controls from smaller layouts if required
Usage
Typical use cases for the Dashboard Designer include:
Building KPI dashboards
Creating monitoring dashboards
Designing operational dashboards
Creating management overviews
Configuring interactive visualizations
Organizing reusable dashboard structures
Tips & Best Practices
Use folders to organize dashboards logically
Use the Structure tab to quickly locate controls in large dashboards
Temporarily hide overlapping controls while editing
Use alignment tools for consistent dashboard layouts
Use layer ordering tools when controls overlap visually
Use the root layout as the complete desktop version
Keep mobile layouts simplified
Avoid overcrowding smaller layouts
Use consistent control positioning between layouts where possible
Remove non-essential controls from compact layouts
Configure proper width and height bounds for predictable layout switching
Notes
Layouts are dashboard-specific
Layouts only affect positioning and arrangement
Controls can exist in some layouts but not others
Layout switching is based on configured bounds
Layouts work together with the Interactive Designer and Structure tab
Changelog
1.0
Initial version
Dashboard Designer documentation created
Last updated
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