ArcGIS Online Dashboard Data Expression — Still Grayed Out After Test Passes

Cierra_Scriven — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:15:58 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm building an ArcGIS Online Dashboard for dynamic Capital Improvement Project Budget Snapshot, and trying to create a Data Expression using Arcade. I have three tables:

Appropriations (fields: projectguid, fundamount_sum)
Encumbrances (fields: projectguid, Total_Encumbrance)
Expenditures (fields: projectguid, costamount_sum)

Each table has about 350+ records. Every record represents a monetary value for a project that was created using a joined view between the project layer and it's funding or spending table, summarized as sums (except for Encumbrances, which is a separate table with a single hardlined value), matched across the tables by projectguid.

Goal:

I want to calculate the sum total Available Balance for all projects within an indicator element using the formula:

Available Balance = Appropriations - Encumbrances - Expenditures

Then I will use a List Element in the same dashboard to select the project I want to filter down to, which has a GlobalID that matches the projectguid.

Problem:

My Arcade Data Expression runs successfully in "Test" (I get the expected features back).
But the expression is still grayed out and won't save in the Dashboard.
I have already added type: "FeatureSet" to my return.
I made sure all fields match the correct data types (String for projectID, Double for money fields).
I also cleaned my tables to remove records missing projectguid.
I use DefaultValue() to handle missing expenditures or encumbrances safely (treat missing values as 0).

My Code:

// Load the tables var appropriationsTable = FeatureSetByPortalItem( Portal('https://www.arcgis.com'), 'REDACTED_APPROPRIATIONS_ITEM_ID', 0, ['projectguid', 'fundamount_sum'] ); var encumbrancesTable = FeatureSetByPortalItem( Portal('https://www.arcgis.com'), 'REDACTED_ENCUMBRANCES_ITEM_ID', 0, ['projectguid', 'Total_Encumbrance'] ); var expendituresTable = FeatureSetByPortalItem( Portal('https://www.arcgis.com'), 'REDACTED_EXPENDITURES_ITEM_ID', 0, ['projectguid', 'costamount_sum'] ); // Create lookup dictionaries var encumbranceDict = {}; for (var e in encumbrancesTable) { encumbranceDict[e.projectguid] = e.Total_Encumbrance; } var expenditureDict = {}; for (var exp in expendituresTable) { expenditureDict[exp.projectguid] = exp.costamount_sum; } // Build the new feature set var features = []; for (var a in appropriationsTable) { var projID = a.projectguid; if (!IsEmpty(projID)) { var appropriation = DefaultValue(a.fundamount_sum, 0); var encumbrance = DefaultValue(encumbranceDict[projID], 0); var expenditure = DefaultValue(expenditureDict[projID], 0); var availableBalance = (Number(appropriation) - Number(encumbrance) - Number(expenditure)); Push(features, { attributes: { projectID: Text(projID), appropriations: appropriation, encumbrance: encumbrance, expenditures: expenditure, availableBalance: availableBalance } }); } } // Return final FeatureSet return { type: "FeatureSet", fields: [ { name: "projectID", type: "esriFieldTypeString" }, { name: "appropriations", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" }, { name: "encumbrance", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" }, { name: "expenditures", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" }, { name: "availableBalance", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" } ], geometryType: "", features: features };

What I’ve Checked:

All projects have a projectguid
Money fields are properly formatted numbers
Test results show 291 features returned
availableBalance math is correct
No missing required attributes

Question:

What else could cause a working Arcade Data Expression to remain grayed out in ArcGIS Dashboards, even after a successful test run?

Are there additional Arcade quirks or hidden Dashboard requirements I might be missing?

Thanks so much for any help or ideas!

Re: ArcGIS Online Dashboard Data Expression — Still Grayed Out After Test Passes

KenBuja — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:40:25 GMT

In Dashboards, a Data Expression must return a FeatureSet. Your code is returning a dictionary, but that has to be to converted into a FeatureSet for it to be used in the Dashboard.

return FeatureSet({ fields: [ { name: "projectID", type: "esriFieldTypeString" }, { name: "appropriations", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" }, { name: "encumbrance", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" }, { name: "expenditures", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" }, { name: "availableBalance", type: "esriFieldTypeDouble" } ], geometryType: "", features: features });

Re: ArcGIS Online Dashboard Data Expression — Still Grayed Out After Test Passes

Cierra_Scriven — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:41:53 GMT

You're absolutely right. I had thought I had FeatureSet in there and did not. Thank you!

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ArcGIS Online Dashboard Data Expression — Still Grayed Out After Test Passes

Re: ArcGIS Online Dashboard Data Expression — Still Grayed Out After Test Passes

Re: ArcGIS Online Dashboard Data Expression — Still Grayed Out After Test Passes