Adding custom objects

Custom objects are objects that you create based on one of the existing objects from the Palette view.

About this task

To create a custom object, you select one of the objects from the Palette view and modify its properties to meet your needs. You can then store the custom object that you created on the Custom palette where it becomes available for repeatable use.

The Custom palette is particularly useful for storing objects that are used in every scene in your dashboard or on every page of your report. For example, reusing a title object that has the font, size, frame, color, and fill that you want. This saves you time and provides consistency throughout your project.

The Custom palette is a convenient place to store your company logo as a picture object. To do so, you would create a picture object, specify your logo image as the ImageSource property for the Picture object, and then store the customized Picture object to the Custom palette.

Note: You can only store object properties with a custom object. Events and parameters associated with an object are not stored and cannot be reused from instance to instance. You must manually re-assign event actions and parameterized properties to objects if you want to duplicate those attributes.

To create a custom object and add it to the Custom palette:

Procedure

  1. In the Palette view, select the object that you want to customize. For example, to create a custom text object, locate the default Label object in the palette and insert it in the editor window.
  2. From the Properties view, modify the properties of the object as you want.
  3. When you are finished, return to the editor window, right-click the object and select Add to Custom Palette from the pop-up menu. The object retains the properties that you set and is placed on the Custom palette.

Results

Note:
  • You can rename the objects on the Custom palette. To do so, right-click an object on the Custom palette and select Customize. The Customize Palette window opens. Enter the new name in the Name field and click OK.
  • You can always change the default properties assigned to any customized object.
  • The Custom palette can provide a single source for all the objects that you will use in your visual project. You can create several custom objects and place them on the Custom palette. In addition, you can place objects from any of the palettes in the Palette view on the Custom palette. That way all the objects that you will use in your project are located in one palette.

For example, if you use a Text object often in a dashboard but want the size to be 9 point rather than 12 point, and the font to be Palatino rather than Arial, you can save your customized Text object to the Custom palette. Perhaps you want to reuse a Marker object that is defined as a solid triangle shape, red color, and 9 point size; you can save the customized Marker object to the Custom palette.