Panopticon Real Time has a number of Special Server Parameters. They serve the purpose of giving access to information about the current server system time, the workbook you are viewing, and the current user. You can think of them a little bit like environment variables of the current user session.

The special server parameters are evaluated strictly server-side. This means that they can be referenced in data source settings, for example in a query statement or a text connector text input, to include them in columns in a data table. However, the parameters cannot be referenced directly in for example visualization titles or dashboard text boxes, since they are not assigned a value in the web client. Also, any value passed from the client to the server for one of these special parameters will be ignored and overridden with the server’s value.

For the above reasons, if you want to display the value of a special server parameter in a dashboard, you have to make the value exist in a data table, which you can then use in the dashboard. The most straight-forward way of achieving this is to type in data in the Text Connector, in text entry mode. Below is an example that you can copy-paste and adjust to your needs. You will also find a similar example in the Example Workbook named “How to Actions”, on the dashboard “Special Server Parameters”.

Group,Server Parameter Name,Server Parameter Value
Server time,_current_time,{_current_time:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}
Server time,_current_time_utc,{_current_time_utc:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS}
Workbook info,_dashboard_name,{_dashboard_name}
Workbook info,_datatable_name,{_datatable_name}
Workbook info,_datatable_title,{_datatable_title}
Server time,_last_workday,{_last_workday:yyyy-MM-dd}
Server time,_quarter_start,{_quarter_start:yyyy-MM-dd}
User,_user_id,{_user_id}
User,_user_name,{_user_name}
Server time,_week_start,{_week_start:yyyy-MM-dd}
Workbook info,_workbook_folder,{_workbook_folder}
Workbook info,_workbook_name,{_workbook_name}

Server system time parameters

Note: These parameters return a date-time value, and to get the value look the way you want it, you can reference the parameter including a format string, e.g. {_current_time:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm}

_current_time

Returns the Date/Time of the current time with millisecond precision.
Example value with default formatting: 2022-02-09T13:13:13Z

_current_time_utc

Same as _current_time but in UTC, therefore not dependent on the server’s time zone.

_last_workday

Returns the last business date and time with millisecond precision (excludes Saturdays and Sundays).

_week_start

Returns the current date and time with millisecond precision of the most recent Monday.

_quarter_start

Returns the date of the first day of the current quarter period (i.e., 1st January, 1st April, 1st July, 1st October) with the time set to midnight.

Workbook information parameters

These special parameters can be used to display which workbook etc the user is seeing. This can be useful for example in scenarios where the dashboard is embedded in another web page and the workbook URL is not visible.

_workbook_folder

Returns the name of the folder in the server repository, where the current workbook is saved.

_workbook_name

Returns the name of the current workbook.

_dashboard_name

Returns the name of the current dashboard.

_datatable_title

Returns the title of the current data table, i.e. the name entered by the creator of the data table.

_datatable_name

Returns the unique ID of the current data table.

Current user parameters

These parameters will always reflect the identify of the authenticated user of the current session.

_user_id

Returns the username stripped of domain information (if there was any) and converted into lower case (If it contains a back slash, only the part after the first back slash is returned.)

_user_name

Returns the username exactly as it appears in the Identity, inclusive of any domain, with unchanged letter casing.