Javascript API

Overview

Using the Javascript API, Yellowfin Reports and Dashboards can be embedded into external webpages, which can be hosted on a seperate web server to Yellowfin. The only requirement is that the end user's browser can access the Yellowfin server.

The HTML page can include multiple reports, however each separate report may only be displayed once on each page. Note: multiple dashboards on a single page are not currently supported.

Interactive elements such as Drill Through, Drill Down, User Prompt Filters, Series Selection, and Export to PDF are available.

Display

Report

The embedded report contains a Title Bar and the Report itself. The Title Bar contains the name of the report, as well as buttons to control any interactive elements used on the report. The interactive features include:

Dashboard

The embedded dashboard contains a Title Bar for the entire dashboard, and then each of the dashboard reports (displayed the same as embedded reports), laid out the same way as they are when viewed through the Yellowfin front end.
Note: dashboard filters and KPI dashboards are supported.

Example Usage

Embedding a Report

Using the Share menu, copy the Embed Javascript, which identifies the report to load, for use in your HTML page, wiki, or blog. It will take a form similar to this:

<script src="http://reporting.example.com/JsAPI?reportUUID=e5e5aaf3-c3b8-4f9b-8280-e21e4d848e63&width=500&height=500" type="text/javascript"></script>

See the Basic Use for more information.

Embedding a Dashboard

Using the Distribute menu, copy the Embed Javascript, which identifies the dashboard to load, for use in your HTML page, wiki, or blog. It will take a form similar to this:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://reporting.example.com/JsAPI?dashUUID=3b0b6c9a-9dfb-41f0-b85a-eb17bb8aeeb9"></script>

See the Basic Use for more information.

User Access

Users are authenticated when accessing a report or dashboard through the Javascript API. If a user has not yet logged in, they may be able to view the content as a Guest user. There are a number of factors used to determine whether a report or dashboard can be run as a Guest user, or whether unauthenticated users are required to log in.

Authentication details can be passed to the API when the dashboard or report is loaded, either by passing a username and password, or authenticating via web services and passing the login token to the API. This allows you to use a specific user to load content rather than requiring the user to enter their details.

See the Basic Use for more information.

When a report or dashboard is requested through the Javascript API, the following process is used to authenticate the user:

• if user authentication details are passed to the API when a dashboard or report is loaded, they will be used to log the user in
• if the user is already logged in to the Javascript API on the page, the existing login session is used
• if the user has previously logged in to the Javascript API, they are automatically logged in with the same account (see below)
• if a multicast licence is installed, and a Guest role is available, the user will be logged in as a Guest

When the above process is complete, there are several cases that will not result in the user immediately loading the requested content:

• if none of the conditions above are met, the user cannot be logged in, and they will be prompted to enter their Yellowfin username and password manually.
• if the process above results in the user logging in with the Guest account, but the requested report or dashboard is not available to guest users, they will be prompted to enter their Yellowfin username and password.
• if the process above results in the user being authenticated with a non-guest account, but the account does not have access to the requested content, an appropriate error message will be displayed.

When a user enters their Yellowfin username and password to log in to the Javascript API, a cookie is stored in their browser to remember the user they logged in with. The next time they visit a page that includes a report or dashboard embedded using the Javascript API, they will automatically be logged in again using the same user. This prevents users from needing to enter their details every time they request a report or dashboard. By default, the cookie is valid for seven days from the last time the user logs in. This period can be changed by setting the External API cookie timeout value in Administration > Configuration > Email. To disable the cookie altogether, set the value to 0.

Note: the cookie value is stored in the browser is encrypted. The cookie will not work across a restart of Yellowfin (i.e. when Yellowfin is restarted, all users will be required to log in again).

Limitations

The current limitations of the Javascript API include:

• Reports at the Client Org level are not supported
• Multiple reports may be added to a single HTML page, but each report may only be included once per page
• Only one dashboard is supported per HTML page
• The calendar selector for date filters is not available
• Drill Anywhere is not available
• Saved Filter Sets are not available
• Chart Animation is not available