Visual Explorer

By default, the Mark type of your visualization will be set to Automatic — based on your configuration, Visual Explorer will try to figure out what is the optimal mark to display. The user can opt to set and change the mark type of each layer by clicking the dropdown menu to select how the measure should be plotted.

In this example, the mark type is being changed for the specific measure AVG(price).

The mark settings options are available in the gear icon next to the mark type. Settings options specific to each mark type are listed below.

When there is no specific field to color the chart by, a single default color is applied to the chart. This default color can be modified by clicking the Edit Colors icon.

Coloring by dimensions

When you add a dimension to the Color channel by dragging and dropping or using the type-ahead search, the measure in the chart is sliced, and each value in the dimension is represented by a different color in your chosen palette. The colors assigned to a specific value can be customized by clicking on the color swatch.

Coloring by measures

Measures can also be added to the Color channel by dragging and dropping or using the typeahead search. This will produce a color gradient with the minimum and maximum values of that measure based on the grouping in your visualization.

Unassigning colors

Colors assigned to a specific value can be ‘unassigned’ if needed. When a value is unassigned, it will be colored using a neutral color (default is light grey). The unassigned values color can be customized by clicking on the color swatch. The user can unassign by right-clicking on a value. Bulk unassigning values is possible by using shift + right-click. You can re-assign colors to a value by clicking on the color swatch next to the value. There is no option to bulk assign.

High cardinality

When a field added to the colors channel has high cardinality (> 250 values), we will default assign palette colors to the first 250 values in the list. All values past the first 250 will be assigned a neutral color. The user has the option to unassign colors to values for which a palette color has been assigned or manually assign/re-assign colors by clicking on the color swatch next to a value.

Adding a continuous numeric measure to the Size channel by dragging and dropping or using the typeahead search will reflect the value of that measure in the width of every mark in that particular layer. This is commonly used in bubble charts to provide additional information about data points relative to each other.

Adding a field to the Text channel by dragging and dropping or using the typeahead search will display text on your visualization. This will display a text data value for every mark in that particular layer.

Like color, when you drop a dimension onto the Detail dropzone, the marks in your visualization will be separated according to the values within that dimension. But unlike dropping a dimension on rows or columns, adding fields to detail is a way to show more data without changing the table structure. However, they will appear in tooltips upon hover.

The grouping in detail will also be factored into your calculations when you use window functions or quick table calculations.

The baseline channel is exclusively applicable to bar and area mark types. It determines the starting point of the bar or area mark. This option is particularly useful for creating timeline and waterfall charts, as shown in the screenshots below.

By default, each measure gets its own axis when you add measures directly to either Rows or Columns.

In the example below, we have one measure in Rows and another measure in Columns. Compare that to the resulting visualization.

If you want multiple measures to be in the same pane and axis, you’ll want to leverage Measure Values and Measure Names.

Shared axis is a feature that allows you to create composite charts that assist with comparing data. As the name implies, fields with a shared axis are plotted together along a single axis with a common scale.

With shared axis, each measure can be configured independently—​including differing mark types—​opening up endless possibilities for combination charts. It allows you to plot two or more measures along a single axis, and helps ensure you’re comparing data across values that are aligned.

If you’re simply looking to compare trends and patterns across measures in your data, that might have separate scales or even different units, Analyst Studio’s dual axis feature may be a better fit for your charting needs. To learn about plotting data along more than one axis, see dual axes.

With Shared axis, you can create a wide array of visualizations from slope charts, bar chart and dot plots, to funnel charts and much more.

Separate legends functionality lets you break out each series you’ve included in your visualization on the Measure Values shelf into distinct legends. You can additionally assign unique color ramps to those series, allowing you to easily compare values within and across measures. To access split legends, add Measure Names onto either columns or rows, and Measure Values into the colors dropzone on the Layers shelf. We recommend adding at least one additional discrete field onto columns or rows, and at least two continuous fields to the Measure Values shelf that has now appeared. This will allow you to see separate legends once enabled.

To access text settings, add a pill into the text dropzone on the layers card (fig 1.1a) for a non-table chart. A button outline will appear around the text icon, and you can click it to launch the Text Settings modal (fig 1.1b).

In the modal you’ll see five checkboxes: All values, Minimum, Maximum, First, and Last (fig 1.2). When All values is selected, your visualization will display text labels for every value in the series. The other four checkbox options control a subset of labels, and you must uncheck All values to use them (fig 1.3).

The Minimum control adds a label to the lowest value of the series in the Text layer (fig 1.4). In the case of multiple data points all having the same lowest value, they will each be labeled in the visualization.

The Maximum control adds a label to the highest value of the series in the Text layer (fig 1.5). In the case of multiple data points all having the same highest value, they will each be labeled in the visualization.

The First control adds a label to the first value of the series in the Text layer (fig 1.6). For individual series, only one value can be labeled using this control.

The Last control adds a label to the last value of the series in the Text layer (fig 1.7). For individual series, only one value can be labeled using this control.

At the bottom right of the modal, you’ll see a toggle that reads Exclude overlapping text labels, which is enabled by default (fig 1.8). When enabled, this smart control hides text labels that stack on top of each other in the visualization, in an attempt to prevent the labels being unreadable. Excluding overlapping labels is useful in data-dense visualizations, or when you intend to shrink down a visualization to a small size for inclusion in a Report. No underlying data is removed by enabling this setting, as it only applies to the label display.

To apply the same text labels to all series in your visualization, simply drop the field you would like to use as a label onto the Text dropzone for All Layers (fig 2.1). When you open text settings from here and apply your changes, all series will inherit the customization.

If you are in All Layers in the layers dropzone, and see a non-interactive Multiple pill in the text channel (fig 2.2), this indicates that individual series have pills in their text channels, and those will have to be removed before you can customize labels using All Layers.

To remove text labels from your visualization, simply drag any pills out of the text channel dropzone for all series (fig 3.1).

Table calculation settings is an advanced feature that allows users to further customize the way an analytic formula is applied to their data in a visualization.

After applying a quick table calculation to a field, or dropping a calculated field into a dropzone, a field’s context menu will display an additional option labeled Table calculation settings (fig 1.1). Clicking this option will open the Table calculation settings modal. It provides additional options that allow you to reorder fields present in your visualization, and specify the way they should be used in the application of the table calculation (fig 1.2).

For non-calculated fields, you’ll see dropdowns for Quick table calculation type, Calculate using, as well as a draggable list and banner readout indicating how the calculation will apply based on your choices (fig 1.3). Different UI options will appear if you’ve selected Percent difference or Difference (fig 1.4a), and Percent of Total (fig 1.4b) as your calculation type. Calculated fields do not have a Quick table calculation type option in the modal.

Quick table calculation type determines the out-of-the-box analytic formula applied to your visualization (fig 1.5).

Calculate using allows you to choose between preset options for applying your table calculation (Table across, table down, etc.), or a Custom order of partitioning and addressing fields (fig 1.6).

Learn more about quick table calculation directions.

No matter which option you choose in Calculate using, you are designating a set of fields from your visualization that the table calculation should be reapplied to (partitioning fields), and a set of fields that should be used for calculation within those sets (addressing fields) (fig 1.7). Each time you select a different Calculate using preset, the fields are either being assigned as addressing or partitioning fields.

The Custom order option in Calculate using lets you set the grouping and order of the addressing and partitioning fields. You can drag fields within and between the categories to control how the table calculation will be applied. If you reorder the fields after selecting a preset option from Calculate using, the value will be changed to Custom order.

There are two main reasons errors appear in the table calculation settings modal. The first error state appears if a nested sort has been applied to a field that is now listed as a partitioning field. When a field is used as a partitioning field for the table calculation, the nested sort will not apply. As a result, you will see a warning icon and tooltip message (fig 2.1). You can ignore this warning, knowing the nested sort will not work, or you can move the field into the Addressing section to resolve the error.

The second error appears when a field used in the table calculation is removed from the dropzones of your visualization. The field with the table calculation will appear red in the dropzone, and also have a red warning icon and text in the Table calculation settings modal (fig 2.2). To resolve this error, you can either re-add the missing field to your visualization, or remove the error field using the close icon in the Table calculation settings modal (fig 2.3).