Document properties, column properties and data table properties
Properties are metadata about different parts of an analysis file. Some of the properties are created automatically by Spotfire or by other tools that produce data, but when you are working with an analysis file in a Spotfire client, you also have the option to add custom properties to the analysis. Properties can be used inside expressions in different parts of an analysis, such as in calculated columns or custom expressions, and also be used with property controls in text areas (added using the installed client). Data functions can use properties both as inputs and outputs.
There are three different types of properties where you can add a custom property: document properties, data table properties and column properties. They have slightly different purposes but can be used in similar ways.
- Document properties apply to the whole document and are often used as a variable value. They can be used in calculations, for selections of certain values, or directly in visualizations as target values or similar.
- Column properties contain metadata about a specific column or hierarchy, and they can define things like the expression or the description of a column, min and max values within a column, the type of column, and so on.
- Data table properties contain metadata about data tables (or data sources within a data table), such as, what type of data table it is, or how it has been created.
Data table and column properties can have default values. If a default value has been defined, then the default value for the data table or column will be used unless a specific value has been defined. See Editing data table or column property values for more information.
Document properties
Document properties are the most used type of custom properties. They apply to the entire document and can contain any type of value that you want to be able to reuse in the document, like a global variable.
For example, it could be a max, min or target value for some number that you want to visualize as a line in a visualization, or use to filter or color values by. It can also be used as a variable in calculations, like an exchange rate, or similar. If you are trading with foreign countries, and the figures you want to analyze depend on the current exchange rate, then you can create a property that represents the exchange rate, and use the property instead of a fixed exchange rate in all conversion expressions. When the exchange rate changes, you adjust the value of the property to the current rate, and recalculations are performed at all places where the property is involved.
When properties are used in expressions, you can select to either use the current value of the property or to add it as text. This makes it possible to also use properties to represent columns in the analysis. See Properties in expressions for more information.
New document properties and their values can be added manually. See Adding or editing a document property for more information. They can also be specified as the output from a data function calculation. Document property values can be updated by an end user's selections in a property control, if the analysis author has specified this. Read more about the latter in Using document, data table or column properties in an analysis and the following topics.
Column properties
Column properties contain metadata about a specific column or hierarchy, and can be used to classify columns of a certain type, or add specific information about how the column is built or should be used. They can define things like the origin of a column, the description of a column, min and max values within a column, whether or not a column is a geocoding column, and so on. Column properties are sometimes automatically generated from the data source, but they can also be manually created, using any client.
Custom column properties are added to all columns in the analysis, including those in other data tables, but you do not need to add a value for columns where the property is not applicable. The default value of a string property can be empty. Custom column properties can be used to create groups of columns for use in property controls.
The column properties can be used when you create reference lines in visualizations, or, they can be a part of an expression. See Using document, data table or column properties in an analysis for some examples where properties can be used.
There are some column properties available that can point out that a column can be used for geocoding map data. Even though geocoding information can be specified directly from the Data in analysis flyout, you can also make changes to geocoding properties from the data canvas.
In the data canvas, there is an overview of how your columns were created and you can see the values of all column properties during each step (for each node in the graphical source tree). You can edit the value for a specific column by clicking on the final data table node and entering edit mode. See Editing data table or column property values for more information.
Data table properties
Data table properties contain metadata about a specific data table and are not as commonly used as the other types of properties. They can be used to classify different types of data tables.
For example, data table properties are used to specify that a data table is a geocoding data table, which can help placing data correctly on a map. Read more in Specifying new geocoding tables.
When data tables have been added using information links, the keywords and description defined in Information Designer will also be displayed as data table properties.
The data canvas gives you an overview of how your data tables were created and shows the values of all data table properties for each node in the graphical source tree. You can edit the value for a specific data table when clicking on the final data table node and entering edit mode. See Editing data table or column property values for more information.