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Defining and Using Themes

The easiest way to systematically alter the appearance of Business Intelligence dashboards is to define and use themes. This page describes how to do this.

Overview of Themes

To customize the appearance of your dashboards systematically, you can either specify a set of options for each widget in each dashboard or you can simply specify the theme that each widget uses. In the latter case, it is necessary only to specify the style options once, when you define the theme.

A single theme can specify the size of pivot table cells, the color and size of plot lines, background color and border, and more. The following table summarizes how themes work:

Widget type Options determined by the applied theme, if any
Pivot table widget in table format All options in Table Settings; see Customizing the Appearance of a Pivot Table.
Pivot table widget in chart format Most options* in Chart Settings > Titles & Labels, Chart Settings > Colors & Style, and Chart Settings > Series Details; see Customizing the Appearance of a Chart Widget.
Speedometer Most options* applicable to speedometers; see Customizing Speedometers.
Text meter Most options* applicable to text meters; see Customizing Text Meters.
Fuel gauge Most options* applicable to fuel gauges; see Customizing Fuel Gauges.
Traffic light Most options* applicable to traffic lights; see Customizing Traffic Lights.
Light bar Most options* applicable to light bars; see Customizing Light Bars.
Smiley face Most options* applicable to smiley faces; see Customizing Smileys.
Scorecard Most options* in the Scorecard section; see Customizing the Appearance of a Scorecard Widget.
Other types Theme has no effect

*In general, the exceptions are options that specify numeric values (such as the Upper Range and Lower Range options for a meter) and titles.

Creating a New Theme Definition

To create a new theme definition, possibly empty:

  1. Access the Dashboard Editor and select a widget as described in Reconfiguring a Widget.

    If the dashboard contains a widget with styles that you would like to use in the theme, select that widget. Or if no widgets have any styles (yet) that you would like to use, select any widget.

  2. Select Menu > Save Widget to Theme ....

  3. For New Theme, type the name of the theme.

  4. Click OK.

The system creates and saves the theme. The theme contains style settings, if any, copied from the widget. It also updates the widget to remove the local style settings and to use the theme instead, and it saves the dashboard. The system then redisplays the dashboard.

Adding Style Information to a Theme

To add style information to a theme:

  1. Access the Dashboard Editor and select the widget that includes the styles that you want to use.

  2. Select Menu > Save Widget to Theme ....

  3. For Existing Theme, select the theme.

  4. Click OK.

The system copies style settings, if any, from the widget to the theme and saves the theme. It also updates the widget to remove the local style settings and to use the theme instead, and it saves the dashboard. The system then redisplays the dashboard.

Applying a Theme

To apply a theme to a different widget:

  1. Access the Dashboard Editor and select the widget as described in Reconfiguring a Widget.

  2. Click Type and Data Source.

  3. Click Widget Theme.

  4. Click the name of the theme.

The system immediately updates the widget, saves the dashboard, and redisplays the dashboard.

Deleting a Theme

To delete a theme:

  1. Access the Dashboard Editor and select any widget as described in Reconfiguring a Widget.

  2. Click Type and Data Source.

  3. Click Widget Theme.

  4. Click the X next to the name of the theme.

  5. Click OK to confirm this change.

The system deletes the theme but does not change any dashboards. Any dashboards that use this theme now revert to their default appearance.

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