Velocity is a popular Java-based template engine. For a general introduction to the Velocity template language, see Apache.org.
If a dashboard needs to run reports based on the results of another report or needs to get data from Java objects, the Excel template must provide a Velocity script instead of a simple Properties worksheet described in the previous section.
The Velocity script for an Excel dashboard template normally consists of three sections:
Section 1. Global Definitions
Define the URIs for dependent reports
Section 2. Preprocessing
Add the required dashboard parameters
Initialize the dependent reports
Section 3. Rendering
Get parameter value(s)
Define the target range/row/column/cell
Get data from reports
Get data Java objects
Populate the target range/row/column/cell
Return the content of the resulting dashboard (Excel workbook)
