Book Image

Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x

By : Tristan Guillevin
Book Image

Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x

By: Tristan Guillevin

Overview of this book

Tableau is one of the leading business intelligence tools used worldwide, in organizations of every scale. In its latest release, Tableau 2018 promises richer and more useful features related to visual analytics, reporting, dashboarding, and a host of other data visualization aspects. Getting Started with Tableau 2018.x will get you up and running with these features. The book starts with all the new functionalities of the different Tableau 2018 versions, along with concrete examples of how to use them. However, if you're new to Tableau, don't worry! The rest of the book will guide you through each major aspect of Tableau with examples. You'll learn how to connect to data, build a data source, visualize your data, build a dashboard, and share it online. In the final chapters, you'll also learn advanced techniques such as creating a cross-database join, data blending, and more. By the end of the book, you will have a firm understanding of how to effectively use Tableau to create quick, cost-effective, and business-efficient business intelligence solutions.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Catching Up with Tableau 2018
Index

Calculated Field basics


A Calculated Field is a new field in your data source. It can have any data type. You can build a calculated Measure or Dimension. To differentiate a field from the Calculated Field, each data type icon has a small equals symbol in front of it, as you can see in the following screenshot:

Let's start by learning how to create a Calculated Field.

Creating a Calculated Field

To create a new Calculated Field, go through the following steps:

  1. Click on the small arrow next to Dimensions in the Data pane, highlighted in the following screenshot: 

It's also possible to right-click on a field and go to Create to start a new Calculated Field based on this field. You can edit a Calculated Field when you right-click on it.

  1. When you create a new Calculated Field, a new window opens where you have to write a formula. The formula can be based on other fields, calculated or not, and use functions.
  2. On the right, when you click on the arrow, you can open the list of functions.
  3. When you write...