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Create a widget

Make a new widget from scratch: a chart, KPI, default or lookthrough table, tasks or files widget. Pick its kind, set its data in the widget editor, and save it with the canvas.

A widget is made once and then linked wherever it is used: the same chart can sit on several canvases, in a Space and on a task, and a change to it shows everywhere. This page makes a new one from scratch, on a canvas you are editing. To put a widget that already exists on a canvas, pick it from the widget library instead.

Open the widget library

  1. Open the Ecosystem tab (⌘⇧E), choose Canvas, then open the canvas. To start a new one, click New on the Canvas page: it opens in edit mode with the library already open. See Build a canvas.
  2. Open the canvas's ⋯ and choose Edit canvas & context, or press ⌘E (Ctrl+E on Windows). Edit mode starts with the Widgets library open beside the canvas.
  3. If you closed the library, click Add widget in the edit bar to open it again.

At the top of the library, New widget makes a widget and Add text adds a text box. Under them, Search widgets... finds the workspace's widgets by title, grouped by type.

Save and closeAdd widgetWidgets libraryNew widgetAdd textSearch widgets...ChartNAV by asset classOn this canvasNAV per share by classUsed in: Fee checksKPITotal NAV (EUR)On this canvasOpen NAV breaksNot on any canvasTableShare ClassesUsed in: Fee checks, Fund overview
Edit mode opens the Widgets library beside the canvas. New widget starts a widget from scratch.

Pick what kind of widget to make

Click New widget. The New widget dialog asks you to Pick what kind of widget to make:

KindWhat it showsMore
ChartRecords plotted as lines, bars or a pie.Chart
KPIOne number, counted or summed.KPI
Default tableRecords in rows and columns.Table
Lookthrough tableRecords in levels, each row opening the ones under it.Lookthrough table
TasksThe workspace's tasks, with their status.Tasks
FilesThe workspace's files.Files

A heading or a note is not a widget kind: add it with Add text in the library. See Text.

CancelNew widgetPick what kind of widget to make.ChartRecords plotted as lines, bars or a pie.KPIOne number, counted or summed.Default tableRecords in rows and columns.Lookthrough tableRecords in levels, each row opening theones under it.TasksThe workspace’s tasks, with their status.FilesThe workspace’s files.
New widget: the six kinds a widget can be.

Set its data and how it shows

Pick a kind and the dialog becomes the widget editor: Pick its data and how it shows. Changes save with the canvas. The preview on the left draws the widget as the canvas will. The settings on the right start with a dropdown of the widget's type, which turns it into another type without starting over, and then the type's sections:

  • Chart: Data (Data source, Labels, Series, Series by and Function), Filters & sorting and Appearance.
  • KPI: Data (Data source, Metric, Filters and Function) and Appearance, where KPI color tints it.
  • Default table: Data (Data source, Load from a view, Columns, Column order and Column calculation), Filters, sorting & selection and Display.
  • Lookthrough table: Hierarchy, its levels one under the other, then KPIs and Display.
  • Tasks and Files: Columns, Filters & sorting and Display. They read the workspace's tasks or files, so there is no data source to pick.

Data source lists the workspace's data objects under Data Objects, and the other sources under Other Sources. Each type's page explains its settings.

Until you name it, the widget is named after what it shows: a chart after its source, its first series and its function, such as NAV History NAV (EUR) Sum. Click the name in the bar above the preview to give it a title of your own, and No description to describe it. A dot beside the name marks changes not saved yet.

1 / 1CloseSaveNew widgetPick its data and how it shows. Changes save with the canvas.NAV History NAV (EUR) SumNo description1.5B1B500M0.001.3BEquity862MBonds645MMulti-asset210MCashChartDataData sourceNAV HistoryLabelsAsset ClassSeriesNAV (EUR)Series byNo splitFunctionSumFilters & sortingAppearance
The widget editor: the preview on the left, the type's settings on the right.

Save it

Click Save in the dialog's footer. It saves the widget together with the canvas, so the widget is in the library from then on. The arrow beside Save lists the widgets with unsaved changes, to step to one or discard it.

Click Close to go back to the canvas. With changes still unsaved, SPARK asks first: Save and close keeps them, Discard and close drops them, and Cancel goes back to the editor.

The new widget sits beside the cards of the canvas's last row when it fits there, and under them otherwise. Drag it where you want it and resize it (see Layout), then click Save and close in the edit bar to leave edit mode.

Use it elsewhere

The widget is now in the workspace's library, and it can be linked wherever it is used:

  • On another canvas: edit that canvas, then click the widget in the library, or drag it onto the grid to a place of its own.
  • In a Space or on a task: both keep widgets of their own, from the same library. On a Space, Add item › Widget opens the library beside the Space's widgets; on a task, Add widget does.

Editing a linked widget changes it everywhere it shows, and the editor says so: Used in 3 canvases; changes show everywhere. Remove from canvas takes a widget off one canvas and leaves it in the library; Delete widget, in the library, deletes it from every canvas. See Widget library.

An agent with the canvas tools can make widgets for you too. See Let an agent build or edit a canvas.

Where to go next