Replacing a Data Table

With Spotfire, it is possible to reuse the visualizations, calculations and setup from a previously created document with new data, as long as the new data is reasonably similar to the old data. This is useful when creating an analysis for, say, sales figures for a certain month. You create a full analysis using the data from January, set up visualizations, calculations, etc., and save the file. When the sales figures for February are available, you can open the same file again, and replace the data from January with the data from February, and the visualizations will be updated. This of course requires that the data table for February is structured in the same way as for January, using the same column names and format.

When you replace the data table, only the operations done on the final data table (such as added calculated columns, data types changed from the Data in analysis flyout, etc.) will be kept, whereas transformations, added rows or columns, and other intermediate operations will disappear.

Note: If you want to keep transformations, added data and other intermediate operations (all steps between the first added data source and the final data table in the source view of the Data canvas), you should consider replacing the data source instead of replacing the entire data table.

To replace an entire data table:

1. On the authoring bar, click Data canvas .

2. From the drop-down list in the upper-left part of the Data canvas, select the data table you wish to replace.

   Comment: This step is only applicable if you have two or more data tables in the analysis.

3. On the data canvas toolbar, click Replace .

4. In the Files and data flyout, select the new source data.

Response: Depending on which type of data you have selected, you are provided with some means to choose what data to open.

5. Depending on the selected source you may be able to specify a load method (data connections) or whether to load data on demand (data connections and information links).

6. For some data sources you can also apply transformations (optional). See Transforming Data to learn more.

7. Click OK.

   Response: If the new data table contains columns that match the columns in the old data table completely, the analysis is immediately updated to use the new data. However, if some columns used in the analysis could not be replaced automatically by columns in the new data table, you will be presented with the Replace Data – Match Columns dialog. Here, you can match columns from the current data table with columns from the new data table. The data is replaced, but you may need to make some manual fixes to make sure all visualizations are displayed as you intended.

8. If necessary, update any visualizations, calculations, or hierarchies that were broken when the data was replaced.

9. If desired, modify the data loading behavior for the new source in the Data canvas.

Note: If you replace a data table used in expressions containing preprocessor syntax, all such expressions must be manually updated to continue working. See Properties in Expressions and Troubleshooting Property Expressions for more information.