squirrel_logo
Sign up for free
squirrel_logo

Scenario

This article describes the Scenario component and its properties.

Scenarios provides a convenient graphical interface for a user to save and load different sets of data from spreadsheet ranges specified by the project desinger into a running Squirrel project.

When placed on the canvas the scenario component adds two buttons:

and when these buttons are pressed the end-user is presented with a combination of dialogs to allow them to save, load and edit their scenarios:

 

Select Scenario from the Controls category of the component library. Move the mouse over the canvas and click to add the component to your project:

Scenario Properties

The Scenario properties are organized into SCENARIO SETTINGS, BUTTON GOUP STYLING, and DIALOG STYLING and SCENARIO RANGES drawers.

The component properties are set and edited using different methods, some have multiple methods, some just one. See this Set property values article for more information on using the different methods.

SCENARIO SETTINGS:

This property drawer controls the overall function of the Scenario component. Initially it looks like this:

  • Scenario ID
    • This property provides a identifier under which the scenarios will be saved.
    • When the end user saves a scenario it will be tagged with this identifier and only scenarios with this identifier will be shown to the end user when they choose to re-load a scenario.
    • You should use different identifiers for different projects.
    • In addition to this identifier scenarios are also tagged with unique ID of the project author, i.e. the person who initially added the Scenario component to the canvas, in case other authors select the same scenario identifier.
  • Save scenario to
    • This property allows the desinger to choose whether scenarios are saved to the Squirrel cloud or stored locally on the end-user’s machine.
    • Scenarios which are saved locally are not only specific to the local machine but also to the browser in which the project is viewed. As a result scenarios saved in one browser (e.g. Microsoft Edge) will not appear when the project is run in another browser (e.g. Google Chrome). Additionally, scenarios saved from a project embedded in PowerPoint will only appear when the project is viewed in PowerPoint
    • Locally saved scenarios are saved in the “IndexedDB” database of the browser
    • Scenarios which are saved to the Squirrel cloud will appear no matter which machine or browsers is used to view the project.
    • Selecting to save scenarios to the Squirrel cloud reveals a number of additional options:

 

 

  • Cloud scenario modes – This property controls the scenario actions which the end-user will be able to perform in the final project
    • Allow Save – if this option is deselected then the user will not see the “Add Scenario” button. This is useful to provide a project with a number of build-in scenarios but not allow further ones to be added by the user.
    • Allow Load – if this option is deselected then the user will not see the “View all scenarios” button. This can be useful to capture specific information from the user, for example in a lead capture form.
    • Allow edit – this option is only available of “Allow load” is checked and controls whether the end user is offered the menu option to rename and delete scenarios.
  • Where will your project be hosted?
    • This is a security setting which ensures that the Squirrel cloud will only deliver scenario information to a genuine Squirrel project
    • If Squirrel cloud it selected then there is nothing else to do, however, if “Custom domain” is selected then the domain on which the project will be hosted must be entered. This should be the high level domain without any subdomains and care must be taken to exactly match the name of the hosting domain (including http or https at the start and any port number at the end, e.g. https://somedomain:5000).

 

BUTTON GROUP STYLING:

The BUTTON GROUP STYLING properties are used to control the appearance of the save and load buttons on the canvas. The top section controls the options which are common to both buttons:

  • Font – Choose a font style from the dropdown list.
  • Size – Change the font size of the push button label.
  • B I U – Use these toggle buttons (bold, italic, underline) to change the format of the button label. When any of these is toggled to on, the button is blue:

  • Corners – This property determines the corner radius of the button borders. Use the slider to amend this property, or type a numerical value into the property field.

Each of the buttons can be independently styled by expanding the “SAVE BUTTON” and “LOAD BUTTON” sections to reveal the formatting options:

DIALOG STYLING:

The DIALOG STYLING properties are used to control the appearance pop-up dialogs which are presented when the end-user chooses to save or load a scenario:

  • Font – Controls the font of the title and text in the main part of the dialogs.
  • Text color – Controls the color of the title and text in the main part of the dialogs
  • Fill – Controls the background colour of the dialogs
  • Border – Controls the border of the dialogs
  • Accent Color – Controls the colouring of the buttons in the dialog

SCENARIO RANGES:

These properties specify the spreadsheet ranges which will be saved as part of the scenario.

Note that if a spreadsheet cell which is saved as part of a scenario contains a formula its values will be saved as part of the scenario and not the formula. This means that formulas will be overwritten with values when loading back saved scenarios. As a result it is recommended to avoid specifying ranges which contain spreadsheet formulas.

Each scenario can consist of many saved ranges, new ranges can be added by clicking on the + icon at the top right of the list of ranges.

 

  •  

in Components
Was this article useful?

Related Articles