Widgets Overview

“Widgets” is an umbrella term for a set of features that enable you to overlay images, navigation buttons, text, and embedded content, such as views from the same or other stories, or visualisations from external platforms like Tableau or JIRA. They enhance both the visual impact and overall user experience of your stories.

The navigation dashboard below has been created using text and image widgets, including a full-view background image embedded within a widget.

Widgets can be created and managed through the Widgets  button in the right-hand toolbar.

You can create 4 main types of objects and position them on any view:

1. Text objects – format and position text objects to provide instructions, explanations, and other contextual help.
2. Image objects – position images such as brand logos, impactful iconography, and large background canvases on any view.
3. Navigation objects – by adding click-events to your text or image objects, you can create a whole new way of navigating both within your current story, across other stories and to external URL locations.
4. Embedded web documents (iFrames) – widget objects can be used to embed SharpCloud views, O365 Excel, PPT or word documents, or charts, tables and views from other web-based business systems, such as tableau, Jira or MS project.

Text and image widgets can be positioned:

1. in the foreground (in front of the data item layer)
2. in the background (behind the data layer).

Unlike view background images configured in View Setup, widget-based images and text do not automatically stretch to fit different screen sizes. Instead, they maintain their aspect ratio, enabling consistent presentation of text, logos, and full-size images to enhance the overall user experience.

By combining these capabilities, you can quickly create engaging portals, dashboards, and data-driven presentations.

Note: References to widgets on a view also apply to presentation slides. Any differences will be explicitly highlighted where relevant.

What can Widgets be used for?

Widgets are highly versatile and can be used to:

• Provide guidance on how to interpret a view

• Offer instructions on how to interact with the view or its items

• Display logos or other static images within a view

• Embed SharpCloud views, presentations, items, or external web content via iFrame

• Create navigation using click events (e.g., linking to views, presentations, items, other stories, or external URLs)

Key Operations, Behaviors and Constraints

A widget is created for a single view but can be copied and pasted within that view or across other views using the clipboard. For example, you can create a single “home” button and reuse it in the same position across multiple views.

Each pasted widget is an independent object. However, any assigned click event (such as a URL) is retained, so it does not need to be reconfigured after copying.

Deleting a view will also remove all widgets associated with that view. If the deletion is undone, the widgets are restored along with the view.

When the Widgets side-panel is open, interaction with items in the view is disabled.

Widgets can only be added to Panel Views or Relationship Radial Views when working within a presentation slide accessed via the presentation toolbar. In these transient views, the New Widget option is disabled during normal interaction.