With getInstance() you can also create the component if it does not exists. From $SPLUNK_HOME/share/splunk/search_mrsparkle/exposed/js/splunkjs/mvc/registry.js : /** * @param id The id of the instance to return. * @param options (Optional). * @param options.create Whether to create a new token model with * the given name if the specified instance * does not exist. * @return The specified instance, or a falsy value * if the instance does not exist and * options.create is omitted or false. */ getInstance: function(id, options) { options = options || {}; // If an instance with this id doesn't exist, // figure out whether we want to create one or not. if (!this.has(id)) { if (options.create) { this.registerInstance(id, this._createTokenModel(id)); } else { console.error(this.createError("No instance with id: " + id)); } } return this.get(id); }, ... View more

Short answer Well, it seems that you can't. Long answer: Reference Panels: You can only use Reference Panels. This only works for panels obviously, so you can't use it for inputs, for example. Furthermore you can't customize your reference panel. For example, if you want to change the drilldown behaviour from row to cell in one specific dashboard for that referenced panel, you can't do it. SplunkJS: I think you can add a div id="some_id" and create a javascript view associated with that id. Obviously, you are managing client-side something that should managed by server. This is a problem if security is a concern for you. Advanced XML: I think you can do modularization with Advanced XML, but for what I know its usage is deprecated. Conclusion: Django bindings seem to be the only way to have a proper template system in Splunk. This, IMHO and without offence, makes simple XML completely useless. ... View more

Hi amrco_sulla, the difference is that populatingSearch is deprecated and you should use search now. See the docs about this http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.2.0/Viz/PanelreferenceforSimplifiedXML#populatingSearch cheers, MuS ... View more