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

Blue and green – Discrete and Continuous


A field or pill in blue is Discrete. A field or pill in green is Continuous. Dimensions and Measures can be either Continuous or Discrete. 

Discrete field displays each distinct value. Any data types can be expressed in a discrete way. In the View, a Discrete field placed in Rows or Columns is represented with headers. Here is an example of a Discrete Dimension and a Discrete Measure, as you can see both have clickable and distinct headers:

A Continuous field represents values from an infinite set. Only numbers and dates can be continuous. In the View, Continuous fields are represented on an axis. Here is an example of a Continuous Dimension and a Continuous Measure, as you can see, both are displayed on an axis:

It is crucial to understand these differences. It may sound a bit abstract, but it'll help you when you start building visualizations. Talking about visualizations, there is a bar that you constantly see when using Tableau: the toolbar. Let...