| name | officecli-data-dashboard |
| description | Use this skill to build a multi-element Excel dashboard — Dashboard sheet on open, multiple formula-driven KPI cards, multiple charts, sparklines, and conditional formatting — from CSV or tabular input. Trigger on: 'dashboard', 'KPI dashboard', 'analytics dashboard', 'executive dashboard', 'metrics dashboard', 'CSV to dashboard', 'data visualization'. Output is a single .xlsx. Scene-layer on officecli-xlsx: inherits every xlsx hard rule. DO NOT invoke for: a single budget tracker / one-sheet CSV-with-formatting (use xlsx), a 3-statement / DCF / LBO financial model (use financial-model), a weekly report with ≤ 1 chart and < 10 rows (use xlsx). |
Data Dashboard (scene-layer on officecli-xlsx)
A dashboard is not "a spreadsheet with charts". It is a composition: one Dashboard sheet the user lands on with formula-driven KPI cards, cell-range-linked charts, sparklines, and semantic conditional formatting. Everything else (raw data, aggregations) is upstream infrastructure the user should never need to open. This skill teaches the composition pattern. Everything about the xlsx engine — cells, formulas, batch JSON, shell quoting, validate, HTML preview — comes from officecli-xlsx and is not re-taught here.
Setup
If officecli is missing:
- macOS / Linux:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.sh | bash
- Windows (PowerShell):
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.ps1 | iex
Verify with officecli --version (open a new terminal if PATH hasn't picked up). If install fails, download a binary from https://github.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/releases.
⚠️ Help-First Rule
When a prop name, enum value, or alias is uncertain, consult help before guessing.
officecli help xlsx
officecli help xlsx chart
officecli help xlsx sparkline
officecli help xlsx conditionalformatting
Help reflects the installed CLI version. When this skill and help disagree, help wins. DeferredAddKeys (preset, referenceline, trendline, axisNumFmt, holesize, combosplit) work on add only — see Reference.
Mental Model & Inheritance
This skill inherits every xlsx hard rule from officecli-xlsx — shell quoting, zero formula errors, visual delivery floor, batch JSON shape ({"command":"set"|"add","path":...,"props":{...}} — key is command, NOT action), batch JSON dotted-name rule, chart data-feed forms, batch+resident limits, validate discipline. Read officecli-xlsx first; honour those rules, do not re-teach them here.
Reverse handoff — do NOT use this skill when:
- The ask is a single-sheet CSV-with-formatting tracker (no Dashboard sheet, no KPI cards, ≤ 1 chart) → go back to
officecli-xlsx.
- The ask is a 3-statement / DCF / LBO financial model with blue-inputs / black-formulas / cross-sheet drivers → use
officecli-financial-model.
- The ask is a weekly status report with one SUMIF summary and one chart over < 10 rows →
officecli-xlsx.
This skill only accepts: "a Dashboard sheet the user opens first, multiple KPI cards, multiple charts, some CF / sparklines".
Shell & Execution Discipline
→ see officecli-xlsx §Shell & Execution Discipline for the baseline (quoting, heredoc for !, incremental execution).
Two increments specific to dashboards:
- Long chart
add commands exceed 180 chars. Always split across lines with trailing \; never pack a chart command onto a single line. The longer the command, the higher the chance a shell-escape bug hides inside it.
- Multi-instance counts use
query --json | jq length, never raw-get | grep -c. Example: officecli query "$FILE" chart --json | jq '.data.results | length' for "how many charts do I have?".
Core Principles
Five non-negotiable principles. If any one is violated the output is not a dashboard, it is a spreadsheet that happens to have a chart.
-
Formula-driven KPIs. Every KPI value on the Dashboard sheet is a formula — SUM, AVERAGE, IFERROR((...-...)/...,0), whatever — referring to cells on the Data / Summary sheet. Never hardcode a computed number. When the underlying data changes tomorrow, KPIs update on open.
-
Cell-range references for charts. Every chart series reads from a cell range: series1.values="Sheet1!B2:B13". Inline data="Revenue:100,200,300" is for a 5-minute demo, not a delivered dashboard. The one exception: data requires an aggregation Excel cannot express (rare) — document the exception in a comment cell.
-
Dashboard-first architecture. KPI label cells, KPI value cells, charts, sparklines all live on the Dashboard sheet — the single sheet a user lands on. Raw imports and SUMIFS rollups live on Data / Summary sheets, upstream of the Dashboard. The user should never need to switch tabs to find the answer.
-
Visible cells only for chart sources. LibreOffice does not evaluate formulas in hidden columns or hidden sheets at render time. A chart whose series1.values points at a hidden-column SUMIFS renders blank. Pattern: aggregate into a visible Summary sheet, point charts at Summary cells, hide only helper columns that are not chart sources.
-
Data-size-aware complexity. A 10-row dataset does not get 5 KPIs and 4 charts. A 200-row dataset does not get 1 KPI and 1 chart. Scale up the composition with the input (table in §Design Ideas). Overbuilding is as wrong as underbuilding.
Requirements
All officecli-xlsx requirements apply (→ see officecli-xlsx §Requirements for Outputs). Dashboards add these:
- Dashboard sheet is the active tab on open. Confirm 0-based sheet index with
officecli query "$FILE" sheet BEFORE filling activeTab="N". Never guess the index.
calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true. Set via officecli set "$FILE" / --prop calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true. Do NOT raw-set <calcPr> — it produces duplicate elements that fail validate.- Refresh downstream cachedValue after every upstream edit.
fullCalcOnLoad=true schedules runtime recalc only; it does NOT refresh build-time cachedValue. After set B=100 → set E==B+D → fix B=150, E is stale until you re-issue E's formula (or close/reopen). Stale cache ships "Net Change = 0" to the board.
- Every chart has a descriptive title and every series has a name.
"Series1" in a legend is unfinished work.
- Every KPI value cell has a formula. Verifiable:
officecli query "$FILE" 'Dashboard!:has(formula)' --json | jq '.data.results | length' should equal your planned KPI count.
- Header row fill on every data sheet. Data sheet, Summary sheet, and any secondary data sheet need row 1 filled (e.g.,
fill=1F3864 + font.color=FFFFFF + font.bold=true).
- 10+ rows on Data sheet → ≥ 1 CF rule on a numeric column. A 20-row table with zero visual scanning aid is a quality miss.
- Dashboard value columns sized to the widest expected cachedValue — not a fixed 22. Rule of thumb at 24pt bold + currency numFmt:
width ≈ ceil((visible_chars + 2) × 1.3). A KPI holding ¥1,958,414,250 (14 visible chars with currency + commas) needs width ≥ 28; a 4-digit KPI still needs width ≥ 22 as the floor. Hardcoding 22 for a 10+ digit KPI is how ### ships to the user.
- Sparkline row height ≥ 20. A sparkline in a default 15pt row is a flat squiggle — set
/Dashboard/row[N] height=22 (or 24 when paired with a 24pt KPI value cell in the same row).
- Print deliverables set
_xlnm.Print_Area scoped to Dashboard + hide non-Dashboard sheets + add <pageSetup fitToPage/>. Without all three, the print pipeline emits every sheet and Dashboard lands on page 2+. See §Print-ready delivery for the exact commands.
Quick Start
Minimal viable dashboard: 12-month revenue CSV → 4 KPIs + 1 line chart + activeTab + fullCalcOnLoad. Adapt the numbers, don't copy-paste blind. Broken into phases so a single failed phase is obvious.
Phase 1 — Data sheet: create, import, format.
FILE=my_dashboard.xlsx
officecli create "$FILE"
officecli import "$FILE" /Sheet1 --file sales.csv --header
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/col[A]' --prop width=12
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/col[B]' --prop width=15
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/B2:B13' --prop numFmt='$#,##0'
officecli set "$FILE" '/Sheet1/A1:B1' --prop fill=1F3864 --prop font.color=FFFFFF --prop font.bold=true
Phase 2 — Dashboard sheet + one KPI card.
officecli add "$FILE" / --type sheet --prop name=Dashboard
officecli set "$FILE" '/Dashboard/col[A]' --prop width=22
officecli set "$FILE" '/Dashboard/col[B]' --prop width=12
officecli set "$FILE" /Dashboard/A1 --prop value="Total Revenue" --prop font.size=9 --prop font.color=666666 --prop bold=true
officecli set "$FILE" /Dashboard/A2 --prop 'formula==SUM(Sheet1!B2:B13)' --prop numFmt='$#,##0' --prop font.size=24 --prop bold=true --prop font.color=2E7D32
Phase 3 — Sparkline + chart.
officecli add "$FILE" /Dashboard --type sparkline --prop cell=B2 --prop range='Sheet1!B2:B13' --prop type=line --prop color=4472C4 --prop highPoint=true --prop highMarkerColor=FF0000
officecli add "$FILE" /Dashboard --type chart \
--prop chartType=line \
--prop title="Revenue Trend" \
--prop series1.name="Revenue" \
--prop series1.values='Sheet1!B2:B13' \
--prop series1.categories='Sheet1!A2:A13' \
--prop preset=dashboard --prop axisNumFmt='$#,##0' \
--prop x=0 --prop y=5 --prop width=10 --prop height=15
Phase 4 — fullCalcOnLoad → activeTab (LAST) → close → validate.
officecli set "$FILE" / --prop calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true
DASH_IDX=$(officecli query "$FILE" sheet --json \
| jq '[.data.results[].path] | index("/Dashboard")')
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /workbook --xpath "//x:sheets" --action insertbefore \
--xml "<bookViews xmlns=\"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main\"><workbookView activeTab=\"$DASH_IDX\" /></bookViews>"
officecli close "$FILE"
officecli validate "$FILE"
Verified end-to-end on a 12-row revenue CSV: validate reports no errors, Dashboard opens first, Dashboard/A2.cachedValue resolves (2,075,000 for the test data), chart renders with values linked.
Design Ideas
Options, not templates. The user's data and audience drive the choices.
Layout patterns (pick one, stay consistent)
Pattern 1 — executive summary (board packs): KPI strip A1:H4, charts stack from row 6.
┌ KPI1 │ KPI2 │ KPI3 │ KPI4 ┐ rows 1-4
├──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┤
│ Chart 1 (wide) │ rows 6-18
├───────────────┬───────────┤
│ Chart 2 │ Chart 3 │ rows 20-32
Pattern 2 — ops console (live ops): KPIs down A:B, charts fill C:L.
│ KPI1 │ │
│ KPI2 │ Chart 1 │ rows 1-12
│ KPI3 │ │
│ KPI4 ├───────────────────┤
│ KPI5 │ Chart 2 │ rows 14-26
Pattern 3 — scorecard (≥ 6 KPIs, no dominant chart): grid of 2×3 cards (label / value / sparkline).
│ KPI1 │ KPI2 │ KPI3 │ rows 1-4
│ KPI4 │ KPI5 │ KPI6 │ rows 5-8
Complexity scaling by data size
| Rows | KPIs | Charts | Sparklines | CF rules | Preset |
|---|
| < 10 | 1–2 | 1 | skip | 0–1 | minimal |
| 10–50 | 2–3 | 2 | only if sequential time-series | 1–2 | dashboard |
| 50–200 | 3–5 | 2–3 | only if sequential time-series | 2–3 | dashboard |
| 200+ | 3–5 | 3 | only if sequential time-series | 3–4 | dashboard |
Chart type selection
| Data pattern | Chart type | Notes |
|---|
| Trend over time, one series | line | Add trendline=linear to show direction on noisy series |
| Trend over time, multiple components | line (multi-series) or columnStacked | Stacked when components sum to a meaningful total |
| Comparison across categories in time order | column | Not bar — horizontal bars break left-to-right time reading |
| Part-of-whole breakdown | doughnut | Prefer over pie: chartType=pie has a known LibreOffice blank-render regression |
| Budget vs actual | combo with combosplit=1 | First series as bars, rest as lines |
| Correlation | scatter | Uses series1.xValues, NOT series1.categories |
Preset options
--prop preset=<name> on every chart. Options: minimal, dashboard, corporate, magazine, colorful, monochrome, dark. Pick one and stay consistent across all charts on a single Dashboard — mixing presets reads as accidental.
Conditional formatting — semantic colors
Four CF rule types; each uses --type <shorthand> at add time:
| Intent | --type | Typical props |
|---|
| Magnitude bar (sales, spend) | databar | sqref=B2:B13 color=4472C4 min=0 max=<plausible> — always set explicit min/max; defaults emit invalid XML |
| Heat map (rates, growth) | colorscale | sqref=D2:D13 mincolor=FFCDD2 midcolor=FFFFFF maxcolor=C8E6C9 |
| Status indicator | iconset | sqref=E2:E13 iconset=3Arrows — see help for the full enum |
| Custom business rule | formulacf | sqref=B2:B13 'formula=$B2>=100000' fill=C8E6C9 font.color=2E7D32 — NEVER font.bold (schema rejects <b>) |
Semantic colors to stay consistent within a dashboard:
- good / positive: fill
C8E6C9, font 2E7D32
- bad / negative: fill
FFCDD2, font C62828
- neutral: fill
F5F5F5, font 666666
KPI card anatomy
A card is a label cell + a value cell. The label is small gray (font.size=9, font.color=666666, bold); the value is large bold (font.size=24, bold=true, numFmt, font.color signals tone). One row of light fill (e.g. F0F4FF) across the card area gives the "card" read without building merged-cell scaffolds. Value column width must be sized to the largest cachedValue — never narrower than 22, often 26–32 for 8+ digit currency (see Requirements).
Chart width budget by title length
At the dashboard preset's default title font, the chart plot-box width (in column units) must stay ahead of the title string, or the title clips mid-word. Rule of thumb: chart.width ≥ ceil(title.length × 0.18). A 35-character title ("Department: Year-End Headcount vs Attrition Rate") needs width ≥ 7; be safer and use 10–12. If the anchor cannot be widened, shorten the title to ≤ 25 characters — clipped titles in a board-ready deliverable are indefensible.
officecli get chart[N] does not expose numeric width on 1.0.63 — it returns .data.format.anchor (e.g. "A6:K21"). Derive column span from letters (A→K = 10 cols) for Gate 2.
Print-ready delivery (board-pack / investor-send / one-pager)
Triggers: ask contains "print" / "一页" / "董事会" / "投资人". Four artefacts on the Dashboard sheet; non-Dashboard sheets hidden so the print pipeline emits one page only.
officecli add "$FILE" / --type namedrange --prop name=_xlnm.Print_Area --prop scope=Dashboard --prop 'refersTo=Dashboard!$A$1:$H$36'
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /Dashboard --xpath "//x:worksheet" --action prepend --xml '<sheetPr xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main"><pageSetUpPr fitToPage="1"/></sheetPr>'
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /Dashboard --xpath "//x:sheetData" --action insertafter --xml '<pageSetup orientation="landscape" paperSize="9" fitToWidth="1" fitToHeight="1"/>'
for S in Sheet1 Summary; do
officecli raw-set "$FILE" /workbook --xpath "//x:sheet[@name='$S']" --action setattr --xml "state=hidden" || true
done
Delete any Print_Area set on Data / Summary sheets — conflicting scopes emit multi-page output.
QA (REQUIRED — Delivery Gate)
Assume there are problems. Your job is to find them. A chart that was rendered does not mean a chart that was meaningful. "validate pass" is not delivery; "the Dashboard sheet reads like someone who knows the business made it" is delivery.
Minimum cycle before "done"
Inherit the xlsx baseline (view issues, formula error queries, validate, HTML preview scan): → see officecli-xlsx §QA minimum cycle.
Then run the dashboard-specific Delivery Gates. Each gate uses COUNT-then-if pattern with a .data.* wrapper — never chain && echo OK || echo FAIL.
Gate 1 — KPI formula coverage. Every planned KPI cell must carry a formula. Adjust -lt 2 to your plan (4 KPIs → -lt 4).
KPI_FORMULAS=$(officecli query "$FILE" 'Dashboard!:has(formula)' --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$KPI_FORMULAS" -lt 2 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 1: $KPI_FORMULAS formula cells on Dashboard"; exit 1; }
Gate 2 — Chart count matches plan, every chart has data + plausible title width.
CHART_COUNT=$(officecli query "$FILE" chart --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$CHART_COUNT" -lt 1 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 2: zero charts"; exit 1; }
col_num () { local c=$1 n=0; for ((k=0;k<${#c};k++)); do n=$((n*26+$(printf '%d' "'${c:$k:1}")-64)); done; echo "$n"; }
for i in $(seq 1 "$CHART_COUNT"); do
JSON=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/chart[$i]" --json)
SC=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.seriesCount // 0')
TITLE=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.title // ""')
ANCHOR=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.anchor // ""')
[ "$SC" = "0" ] || [ -z "$TITLE" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 2: chart[$i] seriesCount=$SC title='$TITLE'"; exit 1; }
[ -z "$ANCHOR" ] && continue
LCOL=$(echo "${ANCHOR%%:*}" | sed 's/[0-9]*$//'); RCOL=$(echo "${ANCHOR##*:}" | sed 's/[0-9]*$//')
SPAN=$(( $(col_num "$RCOL") - $(col_num "$LCOL") + 1 ))
MIN=$(( (${#TITLE} * 18 + 99) / 100 ))
[ "$SPAN" -lt "$MIN" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 2: chart[$i] title=${#TITLE} chars needs width ≥ $MIN, anchor spans $SPAN"; exit 1; }
done
Narrower titles at preset minimal / magazine may clip earlier than the 0.18 factor — spot-check.
Gate 3 — Chart series names populated (no "Series1" in legend).
for i in $(seq 1 "$CHART_COUNT"); do
BAD=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/chart[$i]" --json | jq '[.data.children[]? | select(.type == "series") | select((.format.name // "") | test("^Series[0-9]+$"; "i"))] | length')
[ "$BAD" -gt 0 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 3: chart[$i] has $BAD auto-named series"; exit 1; }
done
Gate 4 — CF rules on Data sheet (10+ rows).
CF_COUNT=$(officecli query "$FILE" conditionalformatting --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$CF_COUNT" -lt 1 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 4: zero CF rules on 10+ row data sheet"; exit 1; }
Note: query conditionalformatting is the canonical element name; query cf returns 0 (not an alias).
Gate 5 — activeTab and fullCalcOnLoad set. Compare against real Dashboard index (Dashboard-at-index-0 is a true pass).
DASH_IDX=$(officecli query "$FILE" sheet --json | jq '[.data.results[].path] | index("/Dashboard")')
ACTIVE=$(officecli get "$FILE" /workbook --json | jq '.data.format.activeTab // -1')
FULLCALC=$(officecli get "$FILE" /workbook --json | jq -r '.data.format["calc.fullCalcOnLoad"] // false')
[ "$ACTIVE" != "$DASH_IDX" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 5: activeTab=$ACTIVE Dashboard=$DASH_IDX"; exit 1; }
[ "$FULLCALC" != "true" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 5: calc.fullCalcOnLoad=$FULLCALC — stale caches will ship"; exit 1; }
Gate 6 — Placeholder sweep. No build-time tokens in rendered output.
LEAKS=$(officecli view "$FILE" text 2>/dev/null | grep -niE '\{\{|\$fy\$|<TODO>|xxxx|TBD' | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
[ "$LEAKS" -gt 0 ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 6: $LEAKS placeholder tokens"; exit 1; }
Gate 7 — Visual delivery floor (ported from xlsx). Run officecli view "$FILE" html and Read the returned HTML path. Confirm:
- No
### in any Dashboard or Data cell (columns too narrow).
- No truncated KPI labels, sheet tab names, or chart titles.
- No placeholder tokens rendered as text (
$fy$24, {var}, <TODO>, xxxx).
- Pie / doughnut slices render with distinct fill colors (if collapsed in LibreOffice, verify in the user's target viewer before declaring broken — → see officecli-xlsx §Known Issues/Renderer caveats).
- No empty chart anchors — every chart has a visible, plausible plot.
- Dashboard sheet opens first (tab highlighted, active area scrolled to top).
If view html is blocked (renderer conflict, headless, port busy), Gate 7 is still mandatory — run ALL fallback checks:
officecli view "$FILE" text 2>/dev/null | grep -nE '###|\{\{|<TODO>|\$fy\$|xxxx' && { echo "REJECT Gate 7: tokens or ### present"; exit 1; }
for CELL in A2 C2 E2 G2; do
CV=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/$CELL" --json | jq -r '.data.format.cachedValue // .data.text // ""')
W=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/col[${CELL%%[0-9]*}]" --json | jq -r '.data.format.width // 0')
CAP=$(echo "$W * 0.55" | bc -l | awk '{print int($1)}')
[ "${#CV}" -gt "$CAP" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 7: $CELL '$CV' (${#CV} chars) > cap $CAP"; exit 1; }
done
Gate 7 must NEVER be skipped — skipping ships ### to the user.
If scene keywords include print / 一页 / board / 投资人 / 董事会, extend Gate 7 with a structural print-scope check:
if echo "$USER_REQ" | grep -qiE 'print|一页|投资人|董事会|board'; then
LEAKING=$(officecli query "$FILE" 'sheet' --json | jq -r '.data.results[] | select(.name != "Dashboard" and (.state // "visible") == "visible") | .name')
[ -n "$LEAKING" ] && { echo "REJECT Gate 7 print-scope: visible non-Dashboard sheet(s): $LEAKING — hide before delivery"; exit 1; }
PA=$(officecli query "$FILE" 'namedrange[name="_xlnm.Print_Area"]' --json | jq '.data.results | length')
[ "$PA" -ge 1 ] || { echo "REJECT Gate 7 print-scope: no _xlnm.Print_Area set"; exit 1; }
fi
The user opens the file in their target viewer (Office / WPS / Numbers) for the final print preview — the skill does not render export artefacts.
Gate 8 — Formula sanity (cachedValue real, not stale/error). fullCalcOnLoad=true refreshes at runtime, NOT build-time cache — so every formula cell must carry a non-empty, non-zero, non-error cachedValue now.
for CELL in A2 C2 E2 G2; do
JSON=$(officecli get "$FILE" "/Dashboard/$CELL" --json)
[ -z "$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.formula // ""')" ] && continue
CV=$(echo "$JSON" | jq -r '.data.format.cachedValue // ""')
case "$CV" in
"" | "0" | "#DIV/0!" | "#REF!" | "#N/A" | "#VALUE!" | "#NAME?" | "null")
echo "REJECT Gate 8: $CELL cachedValue='$CV' — re-issue formula or close+reopen"; exit 1 ;;
esac
done
If a KPI is genuinely zero (e.g. "terminations this quarter" = 0), whitelist it in the loop and document — default assumption is "zero is broken".
If anything fails, fix at source, re-run the full cycle.
Honest limits
Scatter's series1.xValues is not exposed in get --json (series values="") — use chart-level seriesCount. LibreOffice chart color drift / pie-slice collapse / checkbox double-box are viewer artifacts — spot-check in Office / WPS / Numbers first.
Reference
- Shorthand
--type at add: chart, sparkline, databar, colorscale, iconset, formulacf. CF rules map to help xlsx conditionalformatting; path suffix /Sheet/cf[N].
- Full schemas live in help:
officecli help xlsx chart / sparkline / conditionalformatting. This skill does not mirror them.
- DeferredAddKeys (add-only, ignored on
set): preset, trendline, referenceline, axisNumFmt, combosplit, holesize. See D-1.
- Build order: charts + sparklines + CF + tabColors first →
calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true via high-level set → raw-set activeTab LAST (after all sheets exist).
Known Issues & Pitfalls
Dashboard-specific
| # | Issue | Mitigation |
|---|
| D-1 | preset, referenceline, trendline, axisNumFmt are DeferredAddKeys — work on add only, silently ignored on set | Include them at add time. Cannot apply after the fact — remove + re-add. |
| D-2 | referenceline format is value:color:label:dash (color BEFORE label). "0:Break-Even:FF0000:dash" fails Invalid color value. | Order is value, color, label, dash. |
| D-3 | Scatter charts use series1.xValues, not series1.categories. <cat> inside <scatterChart> is schema-invalid. | --prop series1.xValues="Sheet1!A2:A13" |
| D-4 | formulacf rejects font.bold (dxf/font schema disallows <b>). | Use fill + font.color only; bold is not available via CF. |
| D-5 | Dashboard column widths default to 8.43 — KPI values at 24pt bold show ### | Size by cachedValue bracket: 4–6 digits → 22–24; 7–9 digits (million) → 26–30; 10+ digits (亿 / billion) → 32–36; 百亿 / 10-digit + currency symbol + fit-to-page landscape → 40–44. Formula ceil((visible_chars+2)*1.3) is a starting point; always verify via Gate 7 fallback b). Sparkline columns: 12. |
| D-6 | raw-set activeTab must be the LAST mutation. Inserting before all sheets exist shifts indices. | Finish all sheets / charts / CF / sparklines / tabColors, then raw-set. |
| D-7 | calc.fullCalcOnLoad via raw-set creates duplicate <calcPr> → validate fails | Use officecli set "$FILE" / --prop calc.fullCalcOnLoad=true. |
| D-8 | LibreOffice does not evaluate hidden-column formulas at render → charts referencing hidden cells render blank | Aggregate into a visible Summary sheet, chart reads from Summary. Hide only columns that are not chart sources. |
| D-9 | chartType=pie blank-renders in LibreOffice (v1.0.x) | Use doughnut as the safe substitute for part-of-whole breakdowns. |
| D-10 | SUMIFS / AVERAGEIFS with date criteria fails silently if the criterion is a string | Wrap with DATE() or DATEVALUE(): =SUMIFS(B2:B13,A2:A13,DATE(2025,1,5)). |
| D-11 | Summary sheet percentage formulas display as raw decimals (0.098) without numFmt | Set numFmt="0.0%" at the same set call as the formula. |
| D-12 | import --header sets freeze + AutoFilter but does NOT set column widths; numFmt on a col[] path is rejected | Set widths on col[]; set numFmt on the cell range (A2:A13), not the column. |
| D-13 | Sparkline highpoint is a bool (highlight on/off), not a color. --prop highpoint=FF0000 errors Invalid boolean value | --prop highPoint=true --prop highMarkerColor=FF0000. Same pattern for lowPoint / firstPoint / lastPoint and their *MarkerColor. |
| D-14 | Sparkline cross-sectional data is meaningless (a region or department has no ordering) | Skip sparklines unless rows are a sequential time-series (dates, months, quarters). |
| D-15 | 1.0.63+ rejects empty chart add (Chart requires data) at the CLI layer — legacy skills that relied on silent accept will fail here | Always provide series1.values= / dataRange= / inline data= at chart add time. Treat Gate 2 seriesCount check as a belt-and-braces verification. |
| D-16 | fullCalcOnLoad=true guarantees a runtime recalc when the end user opens the file; it does NOT refresh the build-time cachedValue in XML. Build sequence set B=100 → set E==B+D → fix B=150 leaves E.cachedValue stale (board sees "Net Change = 0"). | After all upstream edits are final, re-issue every downstream formula (officecli set "$FILE" /Sheet/E2 --prop formula==B2+D2) OR close + re-open the file. Gate 8 verifies. |
| D-17 | 1.0.63 built-in calc engine does NOT evaluate SUMPRODUCT with array-predicate form SUMPRODUCT((A2:A97=X)*C2:C97*D2:D97) — cachedValue stays 0/null, Gate 8 rejects. Runtime Excel / WPS compute fine, but board-delivered XLSX with stale cache still ships 0. | Rewrite as helper column + SUMIF: F2==C2*D2 on source sheet, then =SUMIF(B:B, "Region X", F:F). Or pre-aggregate in Summary sheet and chart from there. |
Inherited (pointer only)
Cross-sheet ! trap, batch + resident for formulas, labelRotation on axis-by-role, chartType=pareto, validate while resident, data bar without explicit min/max, chart anchor / series immutability after create → see officecli-xlsx §Known Issues.
