You can define your own scripts in TIBCO Spotfire by adding
action controls in a text area. The scripts are written in IronPython
and they allow you to incorporate simple actions or tools into your analysis
without having to deploy complete AddIns to the server. The scripts have
full access to the Spotfire API.
To be able to create analyses containing IronPython scripts,
you need to belong to the group "Script Author" and have the
license function “Author Scripts” under “TIBCO Spotfire Extensions” enabled.
Select Tools > Administration Manager to
make the necessary changes, or contact your Spotfire Administrator to
do it for you.
Click on the Toggle Edit Mode
button, 
,
in the Text Area title bar.
Click on the Insert Action
Control button, 
.
Response: The Action
Control dialog is displayed.
Click on Script
in the left-hand panel.
Type a Display
text to be shown in the text area.
Select a Control
type: Link or Button.
In the Available
scripts list, click on the script of interest.
Comment: To define a new script, see Example scripts
below.
Click on each parameter (if
there are any) in the Necessary input for the
selected script field and specify the Input
for the selected parameter.
Comment: If the script needs some kind of input
values, then these must be specified before the script can be executed.
Examples of input could be a text value or a specification of a visualization
or a page to work with.
When all script parameters
have been defined, click OK.
Response: The action control is added to the text
area.
Click on the Toggle Edit Mode
button, ,
in the text area title bar to turn off the Edit mode.
Below are more details about how to create and use a few
example scripts in TIBCO Spotfire. These steps can also serve as instructions
for how you should work when creating your own scripts.
In a text area in Edit mode,
click on the Insert Action Control button, .
Response: The Action
Control dialog is displayed.
Click on Script
in the left-hand panel.
Click New....
Response: The New
Script dialog is displayed.
Type the Script
name: Change visualization title.
In the Script
field, type or paste your script:
visual.Title = title
Click Add....
Comment: You need to specify the type of the parameters
used in the script.
Response: The Add
Script Parameter dialog is displayed.
In the Name
field, type title.
Comment: This is the string parameter containing
the visualization title.
From the Type
drop-down list, select String.
Comment: The title must be a string which can be
defined either by a simple text value, a string property or an expression.
If desired, add a Debug
value which can be used for testing the script.
Click OK.
Response: The "title" parameter is added
to the Script parameters list.
Click Add...
again, to define the second parameter.
Response: The Add Script Parameter dialog is displayed.
In the Name
field, type visual and select Visualization
as the Type.
Comment: This parameter is used to point out which
visualization to change the title on.
Select a Debug
value visualization to use when testing the script.
Click OK.
Response: The "visual" parameter is added
to the Script parameters list.
If desired, test the script
by clicking Run Script.
Response: The selected visualization title is updated
with the Debug value provided in the Add Script Parameter dialog.
Click Undo in the New Script dialog to revert to the old title.
Click OK
to close the New Script dialog.
Response: The script is added to the Available
scripts list in the Action Control dialog and the defined parameters
are shown in the Necessary input for the selected script list (as
long as the script is selected in the Available scripts list).
Continue with To use the "Change
visualization title" script below.
Define a display text and
a control type as described in "To add a script action link or
button to the text area".
Make sure that the "Change
visualization title" script is selected.
Click on the first parameter,
title, in the Necessary input for the
selected script list.
Response: The Input for the selected parameter
settings for title become available.
Determine whether to define
the title using a predefined Value, a
Property or an Expression.
Comment: In this example, we will assume that the
title is specified using a Property.
Click Select
Property....
Response: The Select
Property dialog is displayed.
On the Document Property tab,
click New....
Comment: If a suitable property is already available,
you can select it in the list and go to step 10.
Response: The New Property dialog is displayed.
Type a suitable Property
name, for example, visualization.title.
From the Data
type drop-down list, select String.
Comment: The title must be a string.
Type a Value
to be the first (default) value of the property. For example, My Visualization
Title.
Click OK.
Response: The new property is selected in the Select
Property dialog.
Click OK.
Response: The Property field in the Action Control
dialog is updated to show the expression syntax for the property you
just defined.
Click OK.
Response: The action control is added to the text
area.
Click on the Toggle Edit Mode
button, ,
in the text area title bar, to turn off the Edit mode.
Test the action control by
clicking on it in the text area.
The property controlling the visualization title could
in turn be modified using a property control (for example, an input field)
in the text area. See Using
Properties in the Analysis for examples of how you can add property
controls.
In a text area, click on the
Insert Action Control button.
Response: The Action
Control dialog is displayed.
Click on Script
in the left-hand panel.
Click New....
Response: The New Script dialog is displayed.
Type the Script
name: Change filtering scheme.
In the Script
field, type or paste your script:
from Spotfire.Dxp.Application.Filters import FilterPanel
# Get hold of the filters panel for the current page.
panels = Document.ActivePageReference.Panels
# The return value and out parameters are returned as a tuple
# in IronPython and can be bound with pattern matching.
(found, filterPanel) = panels.TryGetPanel[FilterPanel]()
# Find the filtering selection named "Filters2"
# and set it as current.
for filteringScheme in Document.FilteringSchemes:
filteringSelection = filteringScheme.FilteringSelectionReference
if filteringSelection.Name == "Filters2":
filterPanel.FilteringSchemeReference
= filteringScheme
Comment: The included example script expects to
find a filtering scheme called "Filters2" and changes the
filtering scheme of the active page to the Filters2 filtering scheme.
Click OK
to close the New Script dialog.
Response: The script is added to the Available
scripts list in the Action Control dialog.
Continue with To use the "Change
filtering scheme" script below.
