Use Analysis Designer to build a saved report, that matches your needs. For example, showing measure actuals, for all measures, sorted by perspective.

Then use the pmf parameter extractor to get the parms from that saved report.

The pmf parm extractor is a hidden, secret, and (we think) pretty cool utility you can use to see what parms PMF saves internally to turn one of the Analysis Designer templates into a specific request. There are 9 templates built into Analysis Designer, designed to summarize metrics by Metric, Objective, and Theme. So you'd pick Metric and the specific template you wanted would depend on the layout you were expecting for any Dimensional data. For example, if you wanted a r-to-l trend, you'd pick metrics across dimension, then select Sort By Perspective. Got that part? Good. Run the example. Looks right? Make sure you select the proper display - do you wnat indicators, raw values, etc? When it's all ready, click Save.

Now you need to know the parms because you want to turn this into a gadget. To get the parmns, you'll need to do a one-time registration of the parm extractor tool. You could look in the DB but just try the tool. Go to Manage tab, Content, click New. Choose Web site. Name it something obvious - I like to call it PMF Parameter Extractor. In the URL box type:

/approot/mainstreet/pmf_parm_xtract.htm

Categorize it... probably you'd make it an administration tool, right? Now click Save

OK, now go back to the Analytics tab and select Administration. There's PMF Parameter Extractor! OK, so click Run to run it. Now select your saved report. There are the parms, in the right-hand pane.

Here are the parms I got for mine:

-SET &TIME_RANGE='CURR';
-SET &TIME=0;
-SET &LOCATION=0;
-SET &PRODUCT=0;
-SET &ORGANIZATION=0;
-SET &SUPPLIER=0;
-SET &PERSPECTIVE_ID=0;
-SET &THEME_ID=0;
-SET &OBJECTIVE_ID=0;
-SET &MEASURE_SERIES='0';
-SET &INWH33=0;
-SET &SORTBY1='PERSPECTIVE_NAME';
-SET &RPT_FLDIN01='INDVRC_ACTUAL_TARGET_DEFAULT';
-SET &REPORT_TITLE='Perspective Sort of Metrics';
-SET &WFFMT='HTML';
-SET &THIS_FOCEXEC='PMF_RPT_TMPLT_MEAS_VERT';
-INCLUDE PMF_RPT_TMPLT_MEAS_VERT

Now open a FOCEXEC in your favorite text editor, and paste the parms in. Not all the parms are needed. For example, any parm that ends with =0 is probably just a default. For example, the parms for the Dimension values are obvious defaults. You can remove those lines. The MEASURE_SERIES=0 is also a default (you didn't filter the request by Measure, right?). Besides if you want this to be a gadget, you want the USER to decide which measures are included. You're designing a gadget that takes user preferences after all.

Save the FOCEXEC using the name gadget_[whatever you want].fex and put it in your PMFCUSTOM app. Now define a New Gadget of type PMF Gadget FOCEXECusing this FOCEXEC as the procedure. Make sure you define the Grouping as Perspective, and if you wnat to be able to offer a single or all-perspective view also make perspective a filter. if you want to be able to filter the measures, select Measures as a filter. if you want users to be able to select a custom subset, click Multi-Select.

Save it. Now you can drop the gadget on your dashboard and go to town. If you want to get sophisticated, take a PNG screenshot of your report, save it to 160x160px, and put it in the thumbs folder on your server and client (if they're separate). Then in the Gadget Class form select it as the preview. Now your users will see a cool bitmap preview when they use your new gadget to assemble their dashboards.

Because you defined the interface to the Gadget, (the grouping and filters) your consumers will be able to save their own preferences, change them, right on their dashboards, and PMF will do the heavy lifting to remember what they want to see.

Neato, huh?

Let me know what y'all think.