Create a Dashboard

A Dashboard is a good way to present synthetic data to the user, with graphs, stats, or personalized reminders for instance.

Generator

php artisan sharp:make:dashboard <class_name>

Write the class

The first step is to create a new class extending Code16\Sharp\Dashboard\SharpDashboard which leads us to implement three functions:

• buildWidgets(WidgetsContainer $widgetsContainer),
• buildDashboardLayout(DashboardLayout $dashboardLayout),
• and buildWidgetsData(DashboardQueryParams $params), for the actual Dashboard data

buildWidgets(WidgetsContainer $widgetsContainer): void

This method is meant to host the code responsible for the declaration and configuration of each widget. This must be done by calling $widgetsContainer->addWidget():

function buildWidgets(WidgetsContainer $widgetsContainer): void
{
    $widgetsContainer
        ->addWidget(
            SharpLineGraphWidget::make("capacities")
                ->setTitle("Spaceships by capacity")
        )
        ->addWidget(
            SharpPanelWidget::make("activeSpaceships")
                ->setInlineTemplate("<h1>{{count}}</h1> spaceships in activity")
                ->setLink('spaceship')
        );
}

As we can see in this example, we defined two widgets giving them a mandatory key and some optional properties.

Every widget has the optional following setters:

• setTitle(string $title) for the widget title displayed above it
• setLink(SharpLinkTo $sharpLinkTo) to make the whole widget linked to a specific page ( see dedicated SharpLinkTo documentation)

And here's the full list and documentation of each widget available, for the specifics:

• Graph
• Panel
• OrderedList

buildDashboardLayout(DashboardLayout $dashboardLayout): void

The layout API is a bit different from Forms or Show Pages here, because we think in terms of rows and not columns. So for instance:

function buildDashboardLayout(DashboardLayout $dashboardLayout): void
{
    $dashboardLayout
        ->addFullWidthWidget("capacities")
        ->addRow(function(DashboardLayoutRow $row) {
            $row->addWidget(6, "activeSpaceships")
                ->addWidget(6, "inactiveSpaceships");
        });
}

We can only add rows and "full width widgets" (which are a shortcut for a single widget row). A row groups widgets in a 12-based grid.

buildWidgetsData(): void

Widget data is set with specific methods depending on their type. The documentation is therefore split:

• Graph
• Panel
• OrderedList

Configure the Dashboard

A Dashboard must have his own Entity class, as documented here.

Once this class (CompanyDashboardEntity for instance) written, we have to declare it the sharp config file:

// config/sharp.php

return [
    "entities" => [
        // ...
    ],
    "dashboards" => [
        "company_dashboard" => \App\Sharp\CompanyDashboardEntity::class
    ],
    // ...
    "menu" => [
        [
            "label" => "Company",
            "entities" => [
                [
                    "label" => "Dashboard",
                    "icon" => "fa-dashboard",
                    "dashboard" => "company_dashboard"
                ],
                [...]
            ]
        ]
    ]
];

In the menu, like an Entity, a Dashboard can be displayed anywhere.

Dashboard filters

Just like EntityLists, Dashboard can display filters, as documented on the Filter page.

Dashboard commands

Like again EntityLists, Commands can be attached to a Dashboard with getDashboardCommands() : see the Command documentation.

Dashboard policy

You can define a Policy for a Dashboard; see the authorization documentation.