Handling data

Your data is the most important thing when you are working with Spotfire visual analytics. If you are familiar with the data you want to analyze, chances increase that you can set up good visualizations and find interesting conclusions during the analysis.

• Data in analysis
  The Data in analysis flyout shows a structured list of all data columns in a data table, that is , it gives you an overview of your data. From this flyout, you can use drag-and-drop operations to specify which data columns to use on the axes of the visualizations, you can filter to certain values (because each column in the panel is associated with a filter) and you can get recommendations about suitable visualizations.
• Changing the default sort order of values in a column
  Text-based columns (strings) can be sorted differently depending on whether you want digits in the texts to be treated as numbers or to be sorted strictly alphabetically. You may also want to define a custom sort order, if the strings in the column have a hierarchical structure that is not alphabetical.
• Unpivoting columns
  Data can be organized in different ways, for example, in a short/wide or tall/skinny format, but still contain the same information. Often, it is easier to visualize data organized in a tall/skinny format, that is, when the values are collected in just a few value columns. Unpivoting is one way to transform data from a short/wide to a tall/skinny format, so the data can be presented the way you want it in the visualizations.
• Replacing a value
  If you find that a value in your data table is misspelled, or, if one value has been entered on a different form than the other values in the column, you can replace that value directly from a table visualization, or from the Details-on-Demand.
• Data canvas
  The Data canvas (the source view) shows how data has been added to the data table, and whether any other modifications have been done to obtain the final data table. Each object in the upper part of the data canvas is called a node, and it represents either a data source or an operation where data from two sources have been combined. In the source structure, you can click on different nodes to see what has been done with the data in that step. This can help you get an insight in how the final data table, used in the analysis, was created. You can also use the data canvas to change settings for different nodes, or to reload data from different sources.
• Reloading data
  If you know that the data sources used in your analysis are refreshed often and you want to make sure you view the absolutely latest data, you can reload data during a session, without having to reopen the analysis.