Basics Flashcards
What are the 4 methods to connect to Data when creating a workbook?
- Connect to data on the site.
- Upload a file.
- Connect to on-premises and Cloud data sources.
- Use Dashboard Starters.
What is the Sheets column in the left pane of the interface?
Shows all the worksheets and the named ranges that are part of your spreadsheet.
Canvas
Located top right. When connected to most relational and file-based data, you can drag one or more tables to the canvas area to set up your Tableau data source.
Data Grid
Located below the canvas. Shows the first 1000 rows (default) of data from the tables in your canvas.
Does Tableau automatically identify the data types in each columns of your tables?
Yes. Tableau identifies data types AND geographic roles.
Relationships
Relationships define how tables relate to one another.
Relationships dynamically adjust the SQL join type applied between tables, based on the fields used in your visualizations.
Logical vs Physical Layer
Logical layer is the default view in the Data Source page. This view shows the logical relationships between your data tables. Logical tables remain distinct (normalized), not merged in data source.
Double-click a logical table to see its physical tables. You can combine data between tables at the physical layer using joins and unions. Each logical table contains at least one physical table in this layer. Physical tables are merged into a single , flat table that defines the logical table.
Noodle
Represents the relationship between the tables. Hover over to see summary of relationship. Double-click to edit relationship.
Workspace Area
Data pane: Displays all the fields from data source. Fields are grouped by data source tables.
Shelves + Cards: Drag fields here to build each viz.
View: Viz will display here.
Dimensions vs Measures + what’s their relationship?
Dimensions are fields that contain qualitative and quantitative descriptive values (eg names, dates, geographic data). ID fields are also dimensions.
Measures are fields that contain numeric quantitative values that can be aggregated using functions such as sum or average.
** Dimensions control the level of aggregation of the measures in a visualization **
Hierarchy
A logical arrangement of relevant unique attributes in a data set. This allows the data to have different levels of detail and helps us organize it.
Visualizations
Drag fields from the data pane to the shelves and cards to build each visualizations. Data viz will display in the view. Build one viz per sheet. Combine sheets to create dashboards and stories.
Calculated Fields
Allow you to create new data from data that already exists in your data source. Calculated fields essentially let you create a new field in your data source, where the values or members are determined by a calculation that you control. Can be a dimension OR a measure depending on fields/formulas you use. Calculated fields will appear in data pane and will have = next to them.
Click drop-down menu in data pane to create or go to Analysis > Create calculated field.
Show Me
Useful way to create a view. Shows you a list of common visualization types as well as the recommended one (outlined in orange).
Marks Card
Provides control over how the data is displayed in the view. Also lets you add context and details. Eg format numbers, change colors, size of chart elements, etc.
Filters Shelf
Allows you to specify which data to include and exclude in your graphical view.
- Drag fields on the filters shelf or use “show filter” option.
- Show a filter to make it interactive.
- Adjust filter card setting to control the filters’ appearance and functionality.
- For fields not found in data place use their “show filter” option to move them to filters shelf.
Area Chart
A line chart where the area between the line and the axis is shaded with a color. Generally used to represent accumulated totals over and are a conventional way to display stacked lines.
Discrete vs. Continuous
Discrete fields are colored blue and create Headers. Most dimensions are discrete.
Continuous fields are colored green and create Axes. Most measures are continuous. You will usually want to set dates to continuous so you can keep your dates in chronological order.
Axis
Axes are made from continuous fields. You can edit axes to change axes range, scale, title or tick marks.
Double click to edit.
Level of Detail (LOD) Calculation
LOD expressions allow you to compute values at the data source level and the visualization level. LOD expressions let you answer questions with multiple levels of granularity into a single visualization.
Eg: Can I plot the number of days per quarter where my company had more than 100 orders?
Fixed LOD
Fixed LOD expressions compute a value using the specified dimensions, without reference to the dimensions in the view.
Comments
// for single line /* */ for multiple
Aliases
Alternate names for members in a dimension. You can edit aliases for discrete dimensions.
How to create a default sort order for the values in a categorical field?
- Right click the relevant field.
- Default properties > Sort
- Adjust setting as you want
