If you are working on Large XLF files, your SWF load time might drastically increase due the number of components used and the Excel Logic that you have implemented. In order to reduce the size of your XLF file and eventually the generated SWF file, you can follow the below mentioned steps. Please note that these steps might not work always.
Many of you must have noticed the unusual increase in size of the XLF file when you save the file multiple times. This is not an issue with Xcelsius; however it is an issue with Excel. Follow the below steps to make your Xcelsius Model light.
Note: Make sure that you perform these steps within the Embedded Excel sheet in design mode. Also note that we take no responsibility of any data loss, hence after each step save different versions of the file.
After each step check the file size by right clicking and selecting the Properties option.
Do the following to ALL Worksheets.
Select any single cell then push F5, click Special and check the “Blanks” option and click Ok.
Now go to Edit>Clear>All.
Manually go to the last used row in the Worksheet (do not use Edit>Go to-Special “Last Cell”).
Select the entire row beneath, then holding down the Ctrl+Shift key push the Down Arrow.
This should select all unused rows. Now go to Edit>Clear>All. Do the same for the Columns.
Click SAVE twice.
Hope this helps reduce the file Size by few KBs and reduce the Load time by few Seconds.
As many of you know, by using Xcelsius SDK and Adobe Flex you can build your own custom components for Xcelsius 2008. Rich Heilman of Enterprisegeeks.com recently wrote a post on his encounter with Xcelsius SDK and Adobe flex. In the process he managed to build an enhanced list view component. Many of you might be wondering “Why do you need another List View component, if it is a part of the out of box repository of Xcelsius 2008″? Well, the question is if it does everything you like it to do?
In this post, Mark Hudson from Antivia, introduces us to the new Xcelsius Add-On: “ Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite”
As David Lai mentioned in his recent comparison of Xcelsius with QlikView, one of the issues with Xcelsius is how difficult it is to get enterprise data into it. As a long-standing Business Objects Technology Partner we saw an opportunity to fix this very problem with the power of the add-on component SDK released with Xcelsius 2008. The result is the Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite (XWIS) which offers a new, simpler, interactive approach.
XWIS provides Xcelsius components which know how to connect to Web Intelligence and allows you to deliver drillable data grids in Xcelsius that work directly with your existing Web Intelligence reports and drill paths, providing a true Web Intelligence experience (drill-down and slice-and-dice) but inside Xcelsius and without having to write a single formula in your Xcelsius spreadsheet.
The XWIS components allow dashboard users to decide for themselves how much information they wish to view and also how they want to view it—cross-tab, tabular, tree view—all are fully drillable on any of the dimensions the user selects (see screenshot below).
Slice and Dice Panel in Design & Cross TabSlice and Dice Panel in Design & Cross Tab
In this Post, Greg Wayne, showcases one of his utilities built using Xcelsius 4.5.
This is a basic utility to estimate sample size for continuous data, e.g., cycle time, pressures, weights, and their continuous measures. Enter in your population size and estimated standard deviation and press calculate.
Click on the image for the Interactive SWF (Scroll down to the bottom of the post to download the source files)
In this Post, Greg Wayne, an IT Measurement Analyst at Sallie Mae and an Xcelsius 4.5 Expert, shows us how to Simulate Web Search Functionality in Xcelsius Pro 4.5.
In this example I will show how we can use simple components in Xcelsius to simulate Web Search Functionality. This is actually extremely easy to do, but a little tricky to explain. If you have any trouble following the instructions feel free to email me.
It’s Interactive (Scroll down to the bottom of the post to download the source files)
