Understanding Layout Containers in Tableau

Contributor & Author: Tiffany Spaulding

Reference: Click Here

Layout Containers in Tableau 8 force spatial relationships between dashboard components. Conceptually, they allow the dashboard designer to format common elements and move multiple dashboard objects at the same time. 

Layout Containers come in one of two options: Horizontal or Vertical. 

• Horizontal layout containers allow the designer to group worksheets and dashboard components left to right across your page and edit the height of all elements at once. 
• Vertical containers allow the user to group worksheets and dashboard components top to bottom down your page and edit the width of all elements at once.

Individual elements within any dashboard (worksheet, text box, blank, image, web page, quick filter, parameter, legend) will highlight with a gray border when selected. Layout containers highlight with a blue borders instead.

Layout containers are forced to the background of the view and can be tricky to select. To select the layout container that a dashboard object is within, first select the item (gray border). Then, using the dropdown arrow at the top right of the active object, choose “Select Layout Container”.

Within the left-hand design window of the dashboard interface, you can also drill down to each object within your dashboard via the Layout section. Clicking on an element here will highlight the item within your view. This method is quite efficient when you have nested layout containers (perhaps a vertical container within a horizontal container). 

 Got the basics now?  Let's go test your knowledge.

I transitioned to Business Intelligence from an engineering and design background (architecture), and therefore I tend to de-construct views to determine how to build it in Tableau. Let's look at a few example dashboards and determine what layout containers would be required to build these views. 

View 1: Title Bar with 3 Worksheets

We would need one horizontal layout container (shown in blue) at the top of our view to house the 5 objects that make up the title bar. 

View 2: Title Bar and Interactivity for 3 Worksheets

Two layout containers would be used for this view: One horizontal container for the title bar (shown in orange) and one vertical container for the interactivity elements (shown in blue).

 View 3: Title Bar and Interactivity for 2 Worksheets

This view uses 3 layout containers: one horizontal for the title bar (orange), one vertical for the interactivity elements (blue), and one horizontal for the 2 worksheets and interactivity container (green). In this layout, we nest one layout container within another.

 Benefits of using layout containers:

• Encourages consistency across a series of dashboards. For example, you could add a title bar across the top of your dashboard could be fixed to a specific height and used on every sheet in your workbook.  Or you could group interactivity elements such as legends, quick filters and parameters into a container to keep the layout consistent across multiple dashboards.
• Formatting of container independent from object – You can add a border to a layout container to visually separate components on a dashboard instead of adding borders to individual elements.
• Ability to lock in one dimension (width or height).
•  Additional control over tiled object landing options within the dashboard.

People's Capital Donations Summary Dashboard

I Spend lot of time to make this Dashboard. I thought I can refresh this dashboard daily. But now unfortunately the official site restricted exporting data to recent 100 records due to high traffic. Any way I just want to share with you this dashboard.

Click Here to See in Tableau Public

Visual Cues and Icons in Tableau Desktop

Tableau provides many visual cues to help you evaluate the type of data that’s displayed in the Data pane and the state of a data view.

Data Sources in the Data Pane

The following table explains each of the icons used to describe the type of data sources in the Data pane. Each icon in the table can be modified by one of two indicators. 

Fields in the Data Pane

The following table explains each of the icons displayed in the Data pane. Each icon in the table can be modified by one of four indicators.

Fields on Shelves

Fields placed on shelves use a combination of icons, colors, and text styles as visual cues. 

Fields on the Marks card

Fields placed on the Marks card use specific icons to describe how they appear in the view. See Mark Properties. 

Sheets in the Dashboards and Worksheets pane

Reference: Click Here

Scenario 13: Sets for Top N and Others

Step 1 

Open a new workbook and connect to the Superstore sample data source.

Step 2 

Right-click Customer Name, select Create > Set.

Step 3 

In the Create Set dialog box, do the following: 

1. In the Name text box, type Top N Customers by Sales.
2. On the Top tab, select By Field, and then select Sales from the field list and Sum from the aggregation list.

3. When finished, click OK.

To determine the top N value—that is, the number of top customers you want to show—you can specify a static number or a dynamic parameter. This procedure uses the sample data source's Top Customers parameter. The Top Customers parameter is defined as an integer with allowable values of 5-40, in increments of 5.

Note: If you used a parameter to determine the size of the set, be sure to right-click the parameter and select Show Parameter Control.

Step 4 

Complete the following steps to create the initial view:

1. From the Sets pane, drag Top N Customers by Sales to the Rows shelf.
2. From the Dimensions pane, drag Customer Name to the Rows shelf, positioning it to the right of the set.
3. From the Measures pane, drag Sales to Text on the Marks card.
4. Click the Descending Sort button  
   on the toolbar to see that the set is working.

Step 5 

In the Sets pane, right-click Top N Customers by Sales and then click Create Calculated Field.

Step 6 

In the Calculated Field dialog box, complete the following steps.

1. In the Name text box, type Subset Labels.
2. In the Formula text box, type the following formula to create dynamic labels for the customers in the set.

IF [Top N Customers by Sales]
THEN "Top " + str([Top Customers]) + " Customers"
ELSE "Others"
END

3. When finished, click OK.

Step 7 

From the Dimensions pane, drag Subset Labels to the Rows shelf, placing it between the Top N set and the Customer Name dimension.

Step 8 

On the Rows shelf, right-click the Top N set and select Show Header.

This hides the In /Out labels while retaining the sort order, so that your top N subset always appears at the top of the view.

Additional tips for improving the view's functionality (optional)

Here are some additional steps you can take to give your viewers more flexibility in displaying the customer subsets.

Step 1 

Right-click the Data pane and select Create Parameter.

Step 2 

In the Create Parameter dialog box, create the following parameter:

1. In the Name text box, type Expand or Collapse.
2. For Data type, select String.
3. For Allowable Values, select List.
4. In the List of values, add the values Expand and Collapse.

5. When finished, click OK.

Step 3 

Select Analysis > Create Calculated Field, and then do the following to create a calculation that uses the parameter you created to enable viewers to specify how to view customers in the Others subset.

1. In the Name text box, type Customer Names.
2. In the Formula box, type the following formula:

IF [Expand or Collapse]="Collapse" THEN
IF [Top N Customers by Sales]
THEN [Customer Name]
ELSE "Others" END
ELSE [Customer Name] END

3. When finished, click OK.

Step 4 

In the Parameters pane, right-click Expand or Collapse parameter and then select Show Parameter Control.

Step 5 

From the Dimensions pane, drag Customer Names to the Rows shelf, and place it directly on top of Customer Name, so that it replaces Customer Name.

Now you can use the Expand or Collapse parameter control to see the names the top N customers, where N is determined by the value set in the Top Customers parameter control—in one group, and the remaining customers individually or rolled up into a single Others entry.

Scenario 12: How to display Top N and Bottom N Customers by Sales in single sheet

We can show Top N and Bottom N customers by Sales in single sheet with help of these functions.

Method 1: Using First( ) & Last( )

Method 2: Using Index()

Method 3: Using Rank( )

Note: Here I am going to use Rank( )

Step 1: Drag “Customer Name” to Row and Sales to Column shelf. Sort Sum(Sales) in descending order.

Step 2: Create Calculated field “Rank of Sales”.

Rank(Sum([Sales]))

Step 3: Create a parameter “Top N & Bottom N” with 3 as default value and integer data type.

Step 4: Create calculated field “Top, Middle & Bottom”.

If [Rank of Sales] <= [Top N & Bottom N] Then "Top N"

Elseif (size() - [Rank of Sales]) < [Top N & Bottom N] Then "Bottom N"

Else "Middle"

END

Step 5: Drag Calculated field “Top, Middle & Bottom” to filter shelf, select only Top N and Bottom N.

Step 6: Drag Calculated field “Top, Middle & Bottom” to color shelf.

Note: Let’s assume that we want to see Each Region wise Top N and Bottom N Customers by Sales. Then

Step 7: Drag Region to Row Shelf.

Step 8: Right Click on “Top, Middle & Bottom” column which there in filter shelf, Compute Using and then Select Pane Down.

Step 9: Right Click on “Top, Middle & Bottom” column which there in Color shelf, Compute Using and then Select Pane Down.

Tableau: Mouse Control

Want to improve your efficiency in Tableau? One of the best pro-tips you can learn is how to properly utilize mouse functions in the tool.

Contributor & Author: Tiffany Spaulding

Reference: Click Here

I know I know … your first response was probably: “Really? We are going to discuss how to use a mouse?” ABSOLUTELY YES! Most of us think we have our mice under control. I get it. I thought I did, too.

Every week as I teach new and experienced users about Tableau, there are always notable WOW moments. These are moments when, as an instructor, I witness a light bulb of learning illuminate for the first time and grin knowing I just added value.  

We each come into Tableau from different backgrounds and industries. For some users, learning a few keyboard shortcuts can be their biggest efficiency improvement. Others nearly scrape their jaw off the floor when they see Tableau’s Excel add-in, the Tableau Data Reshape, for the first time, realizing all the time they have wasted reshaping data manually in Excel.

Even with those “Aha” moments, the best improvement to my personal efficiency in the tool was learning how to use my mouse. For laptop users dependent on a trackpad, especially if you use two hands to operate your trackpad, break down and buy a mouse. Your Tableau efficiency alone will be worth the minimal cost, effort and miniscule weight in your computer bag.

Learning to use a Right Click Drag makes selecting date parts and date values much faster and easier. Learning to use a CTRL drag will assist in duplicating table calcs used in the view and Measure Names in blended visualizations. 

The Anatomy of a Mouse:

Most basic mice have two buttons and a scroll wheel. Depending on the number of clicks, duration or combination of clicks and keys, varying actions and menus are available.

Note: Many mice now have a clickable scroll wheel and sometimes even a rocking (left to right) scroll wheel. This allows even further control to shortcut menus and horizontal scrolling. On many laptops, you can also customize secret actions inside the track pad by pressing the left and right buttons simultaneously. The list of mouse controls below is only aimed at left, right and scroll functions.

Work your way through the mouse controls below. Some focus on simply the click (single click, double click, click & hold, click & drag) while others add in either CTRL or SHIFT from your keyboard. Focus your attention to any bold Tableau functionalities listed in the right-hand column for maximum impact to your efficiency.