.When you are saving an analysis you should decide how data will be saved. For in-memory data there are two different options available: Linked or Embedded. Which to choose depends on the data you use and who the end users of the analysis are, and also what data sources they have access to.
Use Linked data to always retrieve the latest data from the data source and keep the file size to a minimum.
Use Embedded data to include a snapshot of the data in the analysis file so that the analysis file is self-contained with data and possible to use offline. The snapshot can be updated manually, see below.
In-database data can never be embedded since it is always fetched directly from the database. See Data Overview and Working With In-Database Data for more information.
Reloading Data
When you save data embedded, the Reload/Refresh options can be used to reload data from the original data source. This means that the embedded data may not necessarily be fixed and unchanged during the lifetime of an analysis. If a reload is done, then the latest data from the original source is fetched into the analysis. Hence, the analysis will contain a snapshot of the data from the latest time of refresh and save. Simply opening an analysis with embedded data will not cause a reload of the data.
To reload all data tables:
All data tables that can be refreshed (linked or embedded)
can be reloaded by clicking on the Reload Data button on the toolbar,
.
Note: Reloading all data tables may take a long time if one or more data tables are very big.
To reload a single data table:
Select Edit > Data Table Properties.
Click on the data table you wish to reload.
Click Refresh Data.
Comment: The Refresh Data button may be unavailable for some of your data tables, see below.
Restrictions on data reload:
If you have a data table imported from the clipboard, if you have added rows or columns to an embedded data table, or if you have frozen some columns in an embedded data table, the data table cannot be reloaded.
Note: If it is important that the analysis should contain specific data, then you might want to break the link to the original source to prevent others from refreshing data unintentionally.
Calculated columns:
Calculated columns can be cached in the analysis file, even when the main data table is linked. The values in the calculated columns are then based on the values from the most recent refresh of the ordinary data columns. When an analysis is opened, ordinary data columns are refreshed from their data sources if they are linked. Only those calculated columns where the original data has changed will be recalculated. The next time the analysis is saved, the new values in the calculated columns are cached in the DXP file. You can switch off the caching of calculated columns in the General tab of the Data Table Properties dialog in order to always recalculate the calculated columns and reduce the file size of the analysis file.
If a calculated column uses a time dependent function, such as DateTimeNow(), it will always be recalculated when the file is opened, even for embedded data tables.
In versions prior to TIBCO Spotfire 3.1, embedded data could not be refreshed.
See also: