Customized Welcome Banner Using the Logged-In User's Name with BloX [Linux]
Introduction
This article demonstrates how to build a customized welcome banner that greets the currently logged-in user by their first name using a BloX widget in Sisense. The solution is tested on Sisense L2026.1.2 and works for both cloud and on-premises deployments.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Prepare your environment
Open an existing dashboard or create a new one. No data panel configuration is required for this widget – the banner does not consume any measures or dimensions from your data model.
2. Add a BloX widget
Click + Add Widget on your dashboard and select BloX from the widget type list. Open the BloX editor.
3. Leave the data panel empty
Because this widget reads the user's name from the Sisense session rather than from a data panel, you do not need to add any panels. You can leave the BloX data panel completely empty.
4. Paste the full BloX JSON
Replace the contents of the BloX editor with the following JSON:
{
"script": "setTimeout(function() { var name = prism.user.firstName || 'Team'; $('.welcome-text').text('Welcome back, ' + name + '!'); }, 500);",
"showCarousel": false,
"body": [
{
"type": "Container",
"style": {
"background-color": "#ffffff",
"padding": "25px",
"border-left": "8px solid #3498db"
},
"items": [
{
"type": "TextBlock",
"class": "welcome-text",
"text": "Welcome back!",
"size": "extraLarge",
"weight": "bolder",
"color": "dark"
},
{
"type": "TextBlock",
"text": "Here is the latest executive data for your active portfolio.",
"size": "medium",
"isSubtle": true,
"style": {
"margin-top": "5px"
}
}
]
}
],
"actions": []
}5. Adapt the banner to your dashboard
There are three areas you will typically want to customize:
Subtitle text – Update the second TextBlock's "text" value (currently "Here is the latest executive data for your active portfolio.") to describe your specific dashboard's content or purpose.
Accent colour – The left border color is set to #3498db (blue) via the "border-left" style property. Replace this hex value with any color that matches your organization's branding or dashboard theme.
Fallback name – The script uses 'Team' as a fallback if the user's first name is not available (e.g. for service accounts or API users). You can change 'Team' to any preferred fallback string, such as 'there' to produce "Welcome back, there!".
6. Customize the greeting text
The greeting is constructed in the script as 'Welcome back, ' + name + '!'. You can change the prefix or suffix to suit your tone, for example:
'Good morning, ' + name + '!'
'Hello, ' + name + '. Here\'s your dashboard.'
'Hi ' + name + ', welcome to your workspace!'
Simply update the string in the script field accordingly.
7. Save and test
Click Save in the BloX editor. The banner will render with the placeholder text "Welcome back!" for a brief moment (while the DOM loads), then immediately update to display the logged-in user's first name. To verify personalization, open the dashboard as different users and confirm that each sees their own name.
Important notes
prism.user availability: The prism object is only available when a user is actively logged into Sisense in the browser. It is not available in embedded scenarios where Sisense is loaded without a full user session (e.g. SSO token-based embedding without the full Sisense shell). In those cases, you may need to retrieve the user's name from your embedding application's context instead.
First name only: prism.user.firstName returns only the first name. If you prefer to display the full name, you can use (prism.user.firstName + ' ' + prism.user.lastName) in the script.
No data panel required: Unlike most BloX widgets, this one does not need any panels configured. Adding unnecessary panels will not break the widget, but it will trigger redundant data queries on every dashboard load.
Placeholder flash: The placeholder text "Welcome back!" defined in the JSON body is briefly visible before the script runs. This is expected behaviour and is typically imperceptible to users. If you want to minimize it, you can set the initial "text" value to an empty string "" instead.
Conclusion
By reading from the prism.user session object, this BloX widget delivers a zero-configuration personalization layer that requires no data model changes, no additional panels, and no backend modifications. The pattern is lightweight and reusable – the same prism.user.firstName approach can be applied in any other BloX widget or dashboard script wherever user-aware content is needed, such as personalized filter defaults, user-specific instructions, or role-based messaging.
References / Related content
Disclaimer: This post outlines a potential custom workaround for a specific use case or provides instructions regarding a specific task. The solution may not work in all scenarios or Sisense versions, so we strongly recommend testing it in your environment before deployment. If you need further assistance with this, please let us know.
