Action

CDP Data Visualization enables you to include interactive, actionable elements in your dashboards and applications. You can use the Action visual to provide access to external sources of information or to internal search within your dataset.

The three main use cases of the Action visual are:

  • Linking
    You can use Action to navigate to an external website or another application, and to move between different parts of your dashboard.
  • Search
    You can provide a shortcut to the search pane of your current dataset(s).
  • Email
    You can share your visuals through email by sending out your dashboard in an email.

The following steps demonstrate how to create an Action visual based on the Restaurant Inspection SF dataset.

  1. Start a new visual based on the Restaurant Inspection SF dataset.
    For instructions, see Creating a visual.

    By default, a table visual is displayed that shows all fields in the dataset.

  2. In the VISUALS menu, find and click the Action icon.
    The shelves of the visual change.
  3. From the Type drop-down list, choose the action element you want to add to your dashboard.
    You can select Button or Image.
    • If you choose Button, the remaining shelves are the following:
      Label
      Add the text you want to show on the button. The default value is ‘Click me!’.
      Action
      Select the action you want to invoke with the button. The options available in the drop-down list are Open URL, Search Dataset, and Send email.
      • If you choose Open URL, you can add the address of the webpage in the URL to open field.
      • If you choose Search Dataset, you can select an additional checkbox whether you want to include all datasets on the sheet.
      • If you choose Send email, you do not have to fill in additional fields.
      Button Type
      Select the button type that you want to add. The options available in the drop-down list have different designs. The default value is ‘Primary’.
      Button Size
      Select the size of the button from the drop-down list. The default value is ‘Normal’.
    • If you choose Image, the remaining shelves are the following:
      Image URL
      Add the URL of the image file that you want to add to your Action visual.
      Action
      Select the action you want to invoke with the button. The options available in the drop-down list are Open URL, Search Dataset, and Send email.
      • If you choose Open URL, you can add the address of the webpage in the URL to open field.
      • If you choose Search Dataset, you can select an additional checkbox whether you want to include all datasets on the sheet.
      • If you choose Send email, you do not have to fill in additional fields.
  4. Click REFRESH VISUAL.
    The updated Action visual appears.
  5. At the top left corner of the Dashboard Designer, click SAVE.
In this example, you can see a dashboard with three action visuals and a table visual:
  1. Action button for email

    The blue Action button is a large Primary button that you can use for sending the dashboard to an email address:

  2. Action button for search

    The green Action button is a large Info button that you can use for searching the dataset:

  3. Action clickable image with link

    The Action image is clickable and it points to a Wikipedia page about food safety in the US: