Dashboard script: automatically reset filters to default when a dashboard is opened

Hey everyone 👋

Here's one that comes up more than you'd think. You've got a dashboard with filters. A user applies a bunch of selections, and the next time they (or someone else) opens it, those filters are still there from the last session. Depending on your use case, that might be exactly what you want... but sometimes it isn't.

If you'd rather your dashboard always open in a clean, predictable state, with filters resetting to the defaults you set at design time, this dashboard script does exactly that. Every time the dashboard is activated, it removes whatever filters are currently applied and restores the defaults automatically.

Here's the full script:

dashboard.on("activated", (e, args) => { const dashFilters = args.dashboard.filters; dashFilters.$$items = dashFilters.$$items.splice(0, dashFilters.$$items.length); let filters = args.dashboard.defaultFilters; var options = { save: true, refresh: true, unionIfSameDimensionAndSameType: false, }; if (!Array.isArray(filters)) { filters = [filters]; } dashFilters.update(filters, options); });

Here's what each part is doing:

Trigger

This fires whenever the dashboard becomes active (when a user opens it or navigates to it). That's the moment everything below kicks off.

dashboard.on("activated", (e, args) => { ... })

Step 1: Clear the current filters

This grabs the live filter collection and empties it out completely — whatever the user had applied before is gone.

const dashFilters = args.dashboard.filters; dashFilters.$$items = dashFilters.$$items.splice(0, dashFilters.$$items.length);

Step 2: Grab the default filters

defaultFilters is the filter state saved at design time. Whatever you configured as the intended starting point when you built the dashboard.

const filters = args.dashboard.defaultFilters;

Step 3: Apply the defaults

This normalizes the filters into an array, then applies them back with save: true so the reset persists, and refresh: true so the data reloads immediately. The unionIfSameDimensionAndSameType: false setting makes sure it replaces rather than tries to merge with anything.

var options = { save: true, refresh: true, unionIfSameDimensionAndSameType: false, }; if (!Array.isArray(filters)) { filters = [filters]; } dashFilters.update(filters, options);

When would you actually use this?

• Shared dashboards where you don't want one user's filter selections to carry over for the next person who opens it
• Executive or presentation dashboards where the default view is intentional and should always be what people land on
• Dashboards embedded in portals or apps where a consistent starting state matters
• Anywhere you've had someone complain that the dashboard "looks different than it usually does" — often it's just leftover filters from a previous session

One thing worth knowing

The $$items approach in Step 1 is manipulating an internal Sisense array directly. The $$ prefix is a convention for internal Angular properties. It works well, but it's worth keeping in mind that if Sisense changes the internal structure down the road, that line could break without much warning. Something to keep an eye on if you're on this script after an upgrade.

Hope this is useful for someone, and happy to answer questions if you run into anything!

Mia from QBeeQ, a Sisense Gold Implementation Partner
www.qbeeq.io