Before you begin to develop your Visual Discovery components, you create the following objects:
After you have created your canvas and inserted a Visual Discovery component, you can begin to edit the component properties. For example, you can select the data, assign color, show labels, and more. The topics in this chapter cover tasks and options that are available for all Visual Discovery components (unless noted). For a tutorial on creating a Visual Discovery dashboard using sample data, see Tutorial: Building a Visual Discovery Analytic Dashboard. For tasks and options that are graph-type specific, see Visualization Components: Descriptions and Usage.
Important: It is necessary that when you are editing your component properties, you load your data first, and then select your X and Y fields from the loaded data.
The ActiveX drop-down button is shown in the following image, it has a red square around it to identify it.
Tip: When you insert a component, its size (height and width) defaults to predefined dimensions. However, after you select the type of component from the Insert ActiveX Control dialog box (step 6), you can change its size using any standard resizing feature.
When you add a new Visual Discovery component to the HTML Composer canvas, the HTML Composer assigns a default Name and Unique Identifier to it. The naming convention for the component is activexn, where n is an iterative number.
For example, when you add the first component, it is assigned the name activex1. When you add the next component, it is assigned the name activex2, and so on.
If you rename a component in the Properties pane with a more descriptive Name and Unique Identifier, then the next component added will be named by default activex1 if no other component with the same name is found, or the number will increase by 1.
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All components in an analytic dashboard share the same data source. This means that when you begin to create the components for your dashboard, once you select the data for the first component, those data sources are automatically available for all the other components you add.
Add data sources and select data fields from the Data tab in the Properties dialog box.
Important: It is necessary that when you are editing your component properties, you load your data first, and then select your X and Y fields from the loaded data.
Important: If you are developing remotely, you must either map a drive to the remote location of the data source, or copy the data source to the local machine.
Note: The brief description provided on the Data tab is there to guide you as to which types of fields, and how many fields you can select for the particular component type. The bar chart component was used for the example shown here.
Determines the method to calculate the size of the glyph. See What Is a Glyph?.
Enables you to select a file from a list of files you have already looked at. After you select the file name and click Apply, the file is loaded and its tables and fields are displayed in the tree view panel. You can also enter a path or a URL to a file.
Enables you to browse your computer for a data source.
Deletes the selected table.
Removes all data sources from the data pool.
The following table shows the possible icons that appear in the Data tab and what they indicate for the field.
Icon |
Indicates... |
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A table with no items colored. |
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A table with a field that colors the graph. |
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The field is a real number. |
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The field is a real number and colors the graph. |
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The field is a number (integer). |
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The field is a number (integer) and colors the graph. |
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The field is a string. |
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The field is a string and colors the graph. |
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The field is a date. |
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The field is a date and colors the graph. |
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An x-axis selected field. |
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A y-axis selected field. |
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The field is not available for selection. |
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You can use color to change how your graph displays. You can change the color scale of the glyphs based on a field that you select. See What Is a Glyph?. You can also change the colors of the basic graphical elements (such as background color, foreground color, label color, selected variables, and overlay text color) in your graph component.
These settings apply to the entire Visual Discovery Web page.
Specifies the name of the table for the current view. Other tables may be selected, even if they are not shown by the current view, by entering the table name in this field. If you have entered the name before, you may select the arrow key to the right of the entry field and scroll down to the desired name.
Names the field in the table that is used to color the graph. If no field is selected, the table is not colored.
Reapplies the color scale to a subset of data.
Changes the color scale for the graph. See Coloring a Graph by a Field.
Changes the background color of the graphs to black (the default setting), blue, or white. A default set of visualization component element colors is automatically selected for each background color.
Specifies the color behind the graph. By default, the background color is black. A default set of element colors is automatically selected to go with the black background. Select this to change just the background color. If you want to change the entire color scheme, select one of the options in the Standard Tool Element Colors section.
Specifies a data element in the visualization component. For example, sometimes it is the color of the outline of the glyphs.
Specifies the color of the items that are selected. If a color scale has been used, the color scale is used instead of the default selected color if the graph corresponds to individual colored data items.
Specifies the color of values that are missing.
Specifies the color of the visualization component line that you can create and place in bar and line graphs.
Specifies the color of the label or labels (including text and/or items) and any graphs that may be used to denote the items in focus.
Specifies the color of the outline of the bottom and/or right of the graph objects. It helps provide the appearance of depth to the graph. This applies only to bar chart and line chart graphs.
Specifies the color for the title of the visualization component. You can change the title text from the Titles tab.
Specifies the color of the second background element, if one is available. For example, in the data sheet visualization component, a second background color (by default, gray) is used to make rows of data easier to read.
Specifies the color of the static text or graphic that identifies items on a graph; for example, the field names for the X and Y-axis in the bar chart, histogram, or line chart graphs.
Specifies the color of the items that are not selected.
Specifies the color of the line that is drawn around glyphs so they stand out from the background. This applies only to bar chart and line chart graphs.
Specifies the color of the small tick marks (shown at the top of the graph) that indicate items are plotted on top of or overlapping other items.
This element is available for the bar chart, line chart, and time table graphs.
Specifies the color of the shape, indicated in the Selector Shape section of this tab, used to select items.
Specifies the color of the outline of the top/left of graph objects. It helps provide the appearance of depth to the graph. This applies only to bar chart and line chart graphs.
Specifies the color for the X and Y axis titles.
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When you color a graph by a field, you provide another level of meaning to the graph. It is a way to add more information, an additional variable, to the graph. The field you choose to control color is usually based on the type of data you want to analyze and how you want it to appear. Coloring by a particular field helps you study the effect of that field on your data. You can also use color to highlight exceptional values (for example, the high values in a distribution), as well as categories of values.
Coloring depends on the color scale you select; for example, the Rainbow color scale ranges from blue to red. Color is uniformly applied as a continuous scale across the entire range of values in that column. Colors are assigned from low to high for numeric values and in alphabetical order for string values.
Note: If you are selecting colors for a bar chart, histogram, line chart, or pie chart that has more than two fields, make sure the Stack Colors check box is selected on the chart-specific tab.
Note: When you select a subset of data and exclude the unselected items, you might want to apply the color scale to the range of values in the subset instead of it remaining applied to the entire set of data. If the remaining items (the subset) are from the same area of the original data set, the colors of all the items might be very similar. If you reapply the color just to those remaining items, each item might stand out more because the color scale is applied to a smaller range.
To reapply the color scale to a subset of data, select Re-apply color to field in the Color Using Field section and click Apply.
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In interactive data visualization components, selection enables you to retrieve data of interest (and effectively answer questions about the data) just as written queries do. However, many of the methods to visually select data are different from written queries. Since all components in your dashboard share the same data pool, when you select data in one component, the same data is selected in all components.
You select by sweeping an area of the interactive data visualization component with the mouse and clicking on items. Additionally, in the data sheet component, you can perform textual selection.
The Selecting tab controls how selection with the mouse works. These properties affect all views, not just the current view. In addition to selecting a group of items with the mouse, you can also select, unselect, exclude all data, and toggle the selection states using the pop-up menu.
Note:
The default shape used to select items. To select, or sweep, using a rectangle, move the cursor to one corner to the desired data, press and hold the left mouse button, move the cursor to the opposite corner of the desired area, and release the mouse button. The data within the rectangle is selected.
When Lasso is selected, you may draw a free style curve. When the left mouse button is pressed, the lasso follows the cursor and selects items the cursor passes until the mouse button is release.
When Circle is selected, it enables you to sweep, or select, data within a circle whose center is the position where the left mouse button was initially pressed, and the perimeter is where that mouse button is released. When the Circle selector shape is active, a dot appears in the small circle next to the text.
When Rectangular Brush is selected, a rectangle follows the mouse and identifies objects that it passes over.
When Circle Brush is selected as the selector shape, a circular shape follows the mouse and identifies objects that it passes over.
Options include the following. Note that details cannot be presented in a histogram because the histogram displays the distribution of single continuous fields; individual values are not shown.
Hover or Shift - The detailed information about a glyph appears when you hover over or move the cursor over an item while holding down the Shift key. This is the default.
Hold Down Shift - Turns on the detailed information when you press the Shift key and pass over the items. When you are not over an item, the option turns off until you press the Shift key again.
Continuous - When you pass over an item, the detailed information appears about that item.
Options include:
Continuous - The coordinates (location on the X and Y-axis) of a glyph appear when you move the cursor over the item. This is the default.
Hover or Shift - When you hover over or move the cursor over an item while holding down the shift key you see the coordinates for that point.
Hold Down Shift - Turns on the location information when you press the Shift key and pass over the items.
When the cursor moves over a graph, it may cause flickering. Select this option to eliminate the flicker. Graphs may take longer to render with this option set.
Replaces the existing selection set with the next items identified.
Reverses the selection state of items. Selected items become unselected. Unselected items become selected.
Select this option to add identified items to the selection set.
Removes identified items from the selection set, if they are in it.
Selects only those items that were previously selected and are in the set of identified items.
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The Fonts tab sets the font type and size for the view title (the title for the component or graph, which you set in the Titles tab), the axis titles, and the labels. The Titles tab sets the titles of the view (the graph) and the axes of the graph.
To change the font, font style, or font size, click the appropriate Font... button.
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You can use goal lines in a bar or line chart.
Goal lines are lines you can place on a bar or line chart in the report output. Goal lines display in front of the graphed data, enabling you to compare your data with one or more set values. You can see what values are above or below a level you specify.
Before selecting glyphs above or below a goal line, negative and positive values are added. If your graph contains negative and positive numbers, some glyphs that you may initially expect to appear above or below the goal line (depending on which button you select) may, in fact, have a cumulative value different than you might expect and the glyph will not be selected.
Note: Goal lines are not available when you are using a spine plot since the bar glyphs are the same height.
Select a goal line and drag it to the desired value. Use the focus information to position the goal line.
From the pop-up menu, clear the check mark for Show Goal Lines.
Note: This does not permanently remove the goal line from the graph.
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You can animate data in a bar, line, or pie chart.
Animation is when each glyph is sequentially highlighted and then restored to its original state. Animation is especially helpful when you are analyzing two or more interactive data visualization components at the same time because you can easily see the highlighted items in all displayed components simultaneously. Animation is also helpful when you are viewing complex data because it can highlight unexpected relationships.
When you set and control animation in a component (bar chart, line chart, and so on), the animation effect occurs in all the displayed components that use the same data source.
Tip: From the pop-up menu select Animate.
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You can select primary and secondary order in a bar, line, or pie chart.
Order controls the sequence in which glyphs are presented. You can select primary and secondary order in bar, line, and pie charts.
Note: From the pop-up menu, select Primary Order and than select an option.
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You can display labels in a bar, line, or pie chart.
You can choose how and which labels to display in the component when you are creating the component. You can also show and hide individual labels using the pop-up menu.
Note: Labels for the X- and Y-axis come from the field names in your data source.
Tip: From the pop-up menu select Label Mode and then select the desired option.
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