Customise publishing dependencies

This feature added in Version 9.1 allows you to define

• Which Grids and Tables are executed when each sheet is displayed.
• What order the workbook objects are evaluated in.

Warning In the normal course of using XLCubed you should not need to change these settings as the dependencies are automatically detected when the report is published. If a single object is not being executed then adding a helper formula is the recommended way of fixing the report. You should only consider using this if a particular report is causing issues.

You can use this feature when:

• The correct objects are not executed on many sheets.
• Publication takes a very long time
  • Detecting the dependencies is usually the bulk of the publication time.

The dependencies screen if found under the XLCubed > More ribbon item. When opened it will be pre-populated with the automatically detected dependencies. The screen consists of two parts.

Required objects

This screen defines which objects are executed when each sheet is displayed. A grid/table is always executed when the sheet it is on is displayed.

If you require an object to be run, but it isn't detected then you can set the sheet to be managed manually and add it yourself. Note that this means the sheet requirements will not be updated, and you may need to return to add in more grids if they are added to the report.

Run order

This is the order in which XLCubed objects are evaluated. Changing this can easily break reports and cause slicers/grids to get out of sync. Only adjust this with caution.

Objects which are connected must be run in order, but if they are unconnected then order does not matter. The sheet an object is on does not matter.

For example if Slicer 1 drives Slicer 2 which drives Grid 1 then those must be set up in that order, as they are connected.

If there is anothe grid, Grid 2 which is not connected to any of those then it can be put anywhere in the order. It can be run before, after, or even between the other items as they do not affect each other.

Slow to publish reports

If you have a report that takes a long time to publish it is very likely that the dependency detection is taking most of the time. If the report is finalised and is undergoing cosmetic changes, you can avoid the publishing delay by setting all sheets and the run order to manual.

Note that opening the Customise Dependencies screen runs the dependency checks, so this will also take some time to open, but once all sheets and the run order are manual this stage will be skipped.

If you hold down the Shift key while opening the dependencies screen then the automatic detection will be skipped and it will open quickly.

Resetting

If you change many of these settings you may find that you've got a report that doesn't work well and you need to reset it. To do this simply go into the screen and turn all sheets and the run order to automatic mode. This will clear out the saved changes and the normal XLCubed dependency checker will run again.