course_dv

Tableau Basic Features

This module introduces filtering and sorting techniques in Tableau. We will cover how to filter data at different levels and how to sort data effectively to enhance your visualizations.

Outcomes:

• Split one field into multiple fields
• Create a calculated field
• Sort data by values or category name
• Publish a dashboard or story
• Add a tooltip to a chart
• Clean data through pivoting and joining
• Filter data using a row level
• Filter data using an aggregate level

Links:

• Problem Datafile

Split Field

Tableau can split fields based on a delimiter. Right-click on a field and select Split. Tableau will create new fields based on the detected delimiter. You should probably rename the new fields, and often will need to set the datatype.

Create calculated field

You can create new fields based on calculations of existing fields. Right-click in the data pane and select Create Calculated Field. You can use a variety of functions to create new measures or dimensions.

Sort

• Use sort button on button bar to sort by values
• Use a-z button on chart to sort by a field name
• Right-click on a pill to get the Sort menu. You can pick from original data, or choose an alternative sort option.

Use Pages for a different style of filter

Dashboards / Stories

• Dashboards
  • Contain multiple sheets on a single page
  • Format with titles, and font
  • Add a filter
    • On the right, floating, or by clicking on a chart
• Stories
  • Contain multiple sheets on multiple pages

Tooltip

• Add fields to a tooltip by dragging a pill to that button in the marks menu.
• Know how to edit the text and formatting by clicking on the button in the marks menu.

Data Cleaning

We sometimes need to adjust our incoming data. Two transformations we often use are pivoting and joining.

• Pivot columns to turn wide data into tall data.
• Join on a common key value.

Filter

Understand the different levels of filtering

• Extraction filters/Data source are used on the dataset. We don’t use these options, as we generally will pull from csv files in this course. They are typically used when we give parameters to a query from a database.
• Context is used when clicking on items in a dashboard. We will see this more when creating dashboards later in the course.
• Dimension/Measure can be filtered on a row-level
• Aggregate filters are applied to the result of a function on a measure. For example, show only regions with SUM(sales) over $1 million.

Generally you should focus on two types of filters: row and aggregate. Use a row-level to filter on a single’s row value. Use aggregate when we want to look at the result of SUM/COUNT/etc… These correspond to SQL’s WHERE and HAVING clauses.

Add a filter by:

• Right-clicking on a cell and clicking show only or exclude.
• Drag/drop a field to the filter pane
  • Use all values to filter on the row-level
  • Use a function (such as SUM) when you want to filter on an aggregate measure.

Filter options:

• TOP
• Non-null
• Show as (right-click on a shown filter)
  • Single value (dropdown, list, slider)
  • Multiple values (list, dropdown, custom list, wildcard)
  • Show as floating