I'll try to describe this scenario without introducing too much irrelevant info, but keeping it simple.
Using the newish Field Parameter feature in PowerBI, I created a Parameter called _Dimensions and another one called _Measures, selecting common columns in the former and common measures in the latter.
I then build a bar chart with [_Dimension Fields] for X-Axis, [_Measure Fields] for Y-axis, and a single-select slicer for each. Now when user selects a measure and a column, it draws a bar chart of their selected measure, sliced by their selected dimension.
What I'd like to do is actually make this a Pareto chart, which would entail putting in a second measure on Y-axis, but rather than having a pareto counterpart to every possible measure a user may select, I'd like to create a single measure that calculates running percent of total of [selected measure] along [selected dimension].
I was hopeful I could call the [_Dimension Fields] column that PowerBI created with its special properties from DAX, but that doesn't seem to treat them any different than any other column. I also tried NAMEOF, but that just returns a string. I was hoping it would act like INDIRECT does in Excel, treating the string as a reference, but alas.
Does the above problem statement make sense? Can anyone describe an elegant design approach to do this dynamically that does not involve just writing a version of every possible measure a user could select and then use a switch?
imagining the combo chart to look like this (pareto measure in line chart part)
edit: secondary question, but equally important to the end goal of a fully functional dynamic pareto: when user selects measure, I want the selected dimension to always be sorted desc by selected measure. This is how you do a pareto analysis, but PBI does not default to sort descending always, and each time you change the dimension (via slicer click) the chart resets sorting. Any way to ensure that the sort order is fixed correctly?
Calculation groups are the way to go and Tabular Editor is used to create these.
After much exploration, here is my solution. It's not 100% dynamic in that it requires writing custom DAX for each dimension and measure that you need to be available for dynamic use, but gets the job done for the scope of the report in question.
create field parameter from columns that I will want to dynamically use in viz: name it _Dimension
In my example, I will be using two columns from two tables: Carrier[CarrierNumber] and ShipmentLane[LaneCity]
create field parameter from measures that I will want to dynamically use in viz: name it _Measure
in my example, I have two measures I will want to be able to toggle between: Events_Late and Events_Late2. Both exist on OnTimePerformanceDetail table.
create measure to dynamically return value based on the selection of
_Measure in slicer on canvas. This seems like it should not be unnecessary with field parameter feature, but it is necessary for reasons that will be
clear if you try to do this without a custom measure.
create a pareto measure for each of the dimensions that may be
dynamically passed to viz. Each of these dynamically evaluates the base measure, but is specific to a single column for which the measure evaluates over:
create a dynamic pareto measure that chooses the correct pareto calculation based on the selection on _Dimension
create single select Slicers for _Dimension and _Measure
create combo chart, using _Dimension for X-axis, _Measure for Y-axis, and DynamicPareto for line Y-Axis. I have aliased DynamicPareto on the viz to Running% so that it shows nicely and clearly on legend
set the sort order of the chart to be ASC by Dynamic Pareto measure. This ensures that the dimension on X-axis is always sorted correctly
A few notes:
I named the dynamic pareto as "Discrete" because this only works as
designed when doing pareto on a discrete dimension, where the bars
are meant to be sorted desc by [measure]. If you are doing a
Percentile chart, which is basically the same thing, but the
dimension is sorted by dimension value instead of measure value, the
Pareto calculation needs to work slightly differently.
There are lots of Pareto measure patterns out there. I used the one
from this blog, because it's concise and performs well:
https://janizajcbi.com/2018/08/22/pareto-rule-abc-class-in-dax/
it is important that the slicers be set to single select
I discovered there is a Pareto 3rd party viz that is simple and
dynamic, but has very limited formatting features. Fine for quick
analysis, but if you have branding or formatting standards, it may
prove unusable, as in my case
in my production use case, I have a lot more dimensions and a lot
more measures that will be available. Started with just 2+2 to prove
out functionality. Just need to follow same pattern to add more
available dimensions and measures to mix.
my naming convention of * suffix is because this report is built on a
centralized data model. The * makes it easy to find measures that are
local to this report and not a base measure in the model I am
connected to.
the field parameter feature can only be used with a remote model like this if the preview feature of Use Direct Query for AAS and PBI datasets is enabled OR the field parameters are added to the base model. In my case, I'm adding the field parameters to the base model, and all of the measures here are local to the report, connected to remote model.
Related
Looking to generate a series of dates and values on Power BI for which the first value and the increments depend on measures. (Dynamic series generation and then applying to visuals).
Tried do to this through a calculated column, however this was unsuccessful as the column is calculated before the filtering on the measure can occur - so it was providing me with undesired results.
I have also tried to use GENERATESERIES within a measure with UNION to combine the date and values series. However, I am then unable to plot this on a visual as I have multiple values for my measure.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
GDB007
As long as you have a fixed X-axis, you can certainly define the Y-values dynamically using measures that are dynamic.
For example:
In this example, I just defined the [StartValue] measure as a constant 1 but it could be whatever you like. The [Increment] measure here just reads in the value of a small parameter table I created to show multiple values simultaneously by dropping that column in the Legend field of the visual, but this could also be whatever you like.
This is a very simple thing and I can't believe Tableau makes it so hard. I have a bunch of fields, and one measure has many zeroes. I just want to create a subset of the data where this measure > 0.
I can do it with a filter, but I since I will use it several times, it makes sense to create a set once and keep using it. Am I wrong to want to do that? Because I am finding it's just easier to just keep creating the filter in different sheets instead of trying to figure out the set.
I keep referring to this page, but they start out by telling you to right click on a dimension and create a set.
https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/sortgroup_sets_create.htm
I keep ending up here. What does it mean to apply a condition where the sum > 0? I want a set with any value > 0. That's not the same as a sum.
Actually your use case is not appropriate for sets. Sets in tableau work on IN/OUT principle. So the sets can be used as a T/F condition as well as used to differentiate the members IN and OUT of that set e.g. by differentiating these by colors.
What I can understand is that you just want to create a Calculating field which you can use as a ready filter as well as for differentiation also.
To illustrate let's take the following sample data
Now create a calculated field with the following calculation
[Measure] > 0
(Note- this would exclude negative values also. If your data set has negative values and you just want to exclude 0 values use <> instead.)
This calculated field will serve your purpose. See
and
Better seen with average
and
Good Luck.
I am trying to create a report for my stakeholders where we want to check the distribution by values of column1, column2 and likewise. While I could make different tabs for each column, I apparently have 55 columns (all numeric and I will be making bins for them) that the user want to toggle between for comparison on distributions - and coming up with an insight like column 43 is more skewed than column19.
Pet example:
1. Suppose I have data in below format:
2. And I want to create a tableau filter enabling the user to toggle between continents and countries, and get their individual distributions in the same view. I want to keep the measure consistent (population in this example). Something like below:
3. and generating distribution by continent when continent is selected and by country when country is selected
I know if I had wanted to toggle between different measures for the same dimension, then I needed to create parameters, but this is opposite to it (same measure but different dimensions) and I am not able to figure out.
Any comment/help will be much appreciated.
I'm afraid you'd still need to use parameters. There is no equivalent of Measure Names for dimensions so you'll have to create a parameter (I called it Dimension Switch) with Continent, Country, etc. as options and a calculated field that will look something like this:
CASE Dimension Switch
WHEN "Continent" THEN [Continent]
WHEN "Country" THEN [Country]
END
This calculated field will take on the values of whichever column you have selected in the Dimension Switch parameter.
So, I'm constantly being given data in new and different formats. I'm on a crusade to get my work to standardize data for easy use, and if I managed to convince the powers that be to standardize data, this problem becomes entirely moot. Until then, I have the following problem:
I get data in a variety of ways. Sometimes my gross sales are called total sales. Sometimes gross sales before discounts, total sales before discounts, Gross_Sales, etc. Discounts, deductions, exempt amounts, etc. form another column. So on and so forth. I'd like to be able to do the following:
1) Figure out what columns I want,
2) Turn those columns into a pivot table.
For part 1, I have two options, and I'm wondering if there's anymore: The 1st is to use Microsoft's fuzzy-matching add-in to help me match. I'd have a separate tab dedicated to fuzzy matching each column I need. The second is to just generate a long list of all the variants, and to test each one until I find a hit, assign it, and move onto testing the next one.
The second part is turning all of this into a pivot table - the resouces I have so far are https://www.thespreadsheetguru.com/blog/2014/9/27/vba-guide-excel-pivot-tables and How to Create a Pivot Table in VBA
Is there a better method? Is there another way?
Edit: Slightly better method - Grab the data columns, place them into a table, and pivot everything off of that table - it removes the need to re-create pivot tables, just need to move the data over.
Having the same problem, I use a mix of your two methods.
My data consists of a bunch of logs for rejected x-ray images, and the reject reason is a free text field. My solution was to create a table where the first column contains my desired output categories, and then each subsequent column contains a different variation of it.
For example, a row might have (column one/ouput first entry):
Positioning, POS, Positioning Error, Patient Positioning
Note that these are all fairly different from each other. Where the fuzzy matching comes in - it is used to capture all the smaller differences and mispellings around those other columns. When the fuzzy matching section decides a given reason matches a column's entry, it is then replaced with the appropriate desired output reason from column 1 of the table. In my example, a reason of 'Possitioning Err' [sic] would match to column 3 (Positioning Error) and then get converted to Positioning.
Then wash rinse repeat over the rest of your data as needed. This approach was super useful and fairly flexible in helping standardize my data. It was also computationally more expensive, but you'd only need to run the matching portion once I guess.
As for the actual mechanics of going about doing this - I use 2010, so no inbuilt functionality. I run the fuzzy matching code on a temporary worksheet until best percentage matches are found, and then overwrite the actual source data afterwards.
Noob here, I have a table with different entries (rows) per different (repeating) regions.
I'd like to be able to display the data rows filtered - matching that particular region thanks - so I get those particular fields related to each region as a tooltip on a map. (I know how to build the map)
Thank you
Just dragging the fields you want to Details or Tooltip is not doing the trick?
Putting a measure on a shelf (other than filter shelf) includes that field in the visualization query results -- i.e. applies the chosen aggregation function to yield an aggregate result value for each partition of the data (as specified by the unique combination of dimensions)
Putting a dimension on a shelf (other than the filter shelf) also includes that field in the query results, but since the dimensions define how data rows are partitioned, it can affect the level of detail of the query. You'll notice this often as suddenly getting many more marks in your visualization after you add a dimension to a shelf. If you are familiar with SQL, dimensions define the fields that follow the GROUP BY keyword.
EDIT
Thanks for the addition, #AlexBlakemore. I've never said dragging a dimension would not work, only that it wouldn't work as the OP wanted it to (basically the same as you're saying).
And though everything you said (above) is true, it's particularly not exact when it comes to maps. Yes, dragging a dimension will further partition the data, but it will not create additional marks on a map (unless it has also geographical properties). Rather, the tooltip will get the first occurrence of that dimension, and display data for that only. For instance, if you drag "Product" to details, and the possible values are "Bread", "Coffee" and "Milk", it will probably just show "Product: Bread", and the measures for "Bread" only. So yes, it will partition, but no, it won't create additional marks.
Back to OP problem. What I believe you want is a tool tip with all values of the dimension (in my poor example you'd like to see "Bread, Coffee, Milk"). Tableau does not have functions to aggregate strings yet, so it's hard to do so.
What I would suggest is to create a separate sheet, and just drag the dimensions and measures you want to rows. Then put it side by side with the map on a dashboard, and use the map as a filter. Then, when you click on a country/region/city, you'll see the data of that region on the other chart.
Refer to: http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/creating-filter-actions-dashboards
or https://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/tutorials/on-demand/authoring-interactivity