Book Image

Getting Started with Tableau 2019.2 - Second Edition

By : Tristan Guillevin
Book Image

Getting Started with Tableau 2019.2 - Second Edition

By: Tristan Guillevin

Overview of this book

Tableau is one of the leading data visualization tools and is regularly updated with new functionalities and features. The latest release, Tableau 2019.2, promises new and advanced features related to visual analytics, reporting, dashboarding, and a host of other data visualization aspects. Getting Started with Tableau 2019.2 will get you up to speed with these additional functionalities. The book starts by highlighting the new functionalities of Tableau 2019.2, providing concrete examples of how to use them. However, if you're new to Tableau, you won't have to worry as the book also covers the major aspects of Tableau with relevant examples. You'll learn how to connect to data, build a data source, visualize your data, build a dashboard, and even share data online. In the concluding chapters, you'll delve into advanced techniques such as creating a cross-database join and data blending. By the end of this book, you will be able to use Tableau effectively to create quick, cost-effective, and business-efficient Business Intelligence (BI) solutions.

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Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
Get in touch
Section 1: An Introduction to Tableau
Free Chapter
1
1. Catching Up with Tableau 2019
1. Catching Up with Tableau 2019
Connector improvements
Worksheet enhancement
New actions
Empowered Dashboard
Tableau Server
Ask Data (2019.1)
Summary
2
2. The Tableau Core
2. The Tableau Core
The different Tableau products
Speaking Tableau
Dimension and Measure
Blue and green – Discrete and Continuous
The toolbar options
Live or Extract
Summary
3
3. Getting Started with Tableau Desktop
3. Getting Started with Tableau Desktop
Connecting to data
Creating your first set of visualizations
Building your first Dashboard
Using Tableau for data exploration
Summary
Section 2: Connecting, Building, and Sharing
4
4. Connecting to Data and Simple Transformations
4. Connecting to Data and Simple Transformations
Data connections
Join data easily
Union your data
Simple transformations
Summary
5
5. Building an Efficient Data Source
5. Building an Efficient Data Source
Understanding the data source
Refreshing a data source and dealing with changes
Field customization and default properties
Hierarchies
Groups, sets, and bins
Summary
6
6. Design Insightful Visualizations
6. Design Insightful Visualizations
Creating visualizations
The Mark type
Mark properties
Using multiple Measures
Filters
Pages
Worksheet options and formats
Summary
7
7. Powerful Dashboards, Stories, and Actions
7. Powerful Dashboards, Stories, and Actions
Dashboard basics
Dashboard objects
Dashboard actions
Creating a story
Summary
8
8. Publishing and Interacting in Tableau Server
8. Publishing and Interacting in Tableau Server
An introduction to Tableau Server
Publishing and modifying the content
Interacting with published content
Summary
Section 3: Advanced features
9
9. An Introduction to Calculations
9. An Introduction to Calculations
Calculated field basics
Advanced functions
Summary
10
10. Analytics and Parameters
10. Analytics and Parameters
Using built-in Analytics tools
How to work with Parameters
Creating a year-on-year comparator
Summary
11
11. Advanced Data Connections
11. Advanced Data Connections
Cross-database join
Data blending
Wildcard union
Summary
12
12. Dealing with Security
12. Dealing with Security
Tableau Server security
User filters
Row-level filters
Summary
Section 4: After Finishing the Book
13
13. How to Keep Growing Your Skills
13. How to Keep Growing Your Skills
The Tableau Community
Tableau Public
Community projects
Ambassadors, Zen Masters, and Iron Viz
Summary
14
A. Other Books You May Enjoy
A. Other Books You May Enjoy
Leave a review – let other readers know what you think
15
Index
Index

Ask Data is the first view that opens when you click on a data source. It's a new tool to query any data sources using the English language. With this new feature, Tableau Server becomes more and more easy to use for everyone. But how does it work, exactly?

On the left, you'll find something similar to the Data pane in Tableau Desktop, and in the middle, a simple search bar with some suggestions. The following is an example of Ask Data when using the Sample – Superstore data source:

Ask Data (2019.1)

All you have to do is ask. Write something in the search bar and a new browser tab will automatically open with the result of what you asked for. For example, if you write sum of profit by state, Ask Data automatically creates a map with the sales in color:

Ask Data (2019.1)

Without any knowledge of how to use Tableau to create a visualization, Ask Data was able to convert some text into a visualization.

On the Data pane on the left, when you hover over a field, a nice tooltip gives you some quick insights about the number of values, their distribution, and even the formula (if it's a calculated field). But wait—there's more! If you click on the small arrow next to a field, you can use the Edit synonyms option. When you add a synonym to a field, you are able to use that synonym in your sentence to create the visualization.

On the top, you can see that the search bar has expanded and suggested that you can adjust the question or use the Clear All button to start over. Here are some examples of what you can add:

Tip

Next to the visualization, you can also use the selector to change the Marks type.

If you are satisfied with the visualization but you want to quickly change a Measure or Dimension, you can click on different fields in the query box to open a menu that allows you to choose a different field and its aggregation. For example, if you click on sum of Profit, you can quickly change it to display the discount instead, as you can see in the following screenshot:

Ask Data (2019.1)

Note

The 2019.2 version of Tableau Server pushes Ask Data even further, allowing you to write simple calculations such as avg sales / avg profit, but you can also create multiple Sheets and save the workbook directly in a project.

Of course, Ask Data doesn't have the flexibility of Tableau Desktop, and you don't have much control over what the result will be. However, it can easily supply a feature users have long demanded: Can you just build a big table where I can search what I want?. With Ask Data, you don't need that anymore.

Next, we'll look at a nice evolution for the alerts.

Alerts is an amazing feature that you can use to receive emails when your data satisfies a condition. With Tableau Server 2019.2, clicking on the Alerts button in the toolbar doesn't open the alert creation window anymore; instead, it opens a new pane on the right. Here's the Alerts view:

New Alerts view (2019.2)

Thanks to this new pane, you can create alerts using the Create button, but also view and subscribe to all the existing Alerts that have been set by other users. When you click on an Alert, you will see all of its details (condition, last triggered, owner, and so on).

With effect from Tableau 2019.1, every Dashboard has a phone layout by default. Its new features will help you preview it.

With effect from Tableau 2019.1, you can preview the layouts on Tableau Server. Above the toolbar, a new button, Preview Device Layouts, is now available, as highlighted in the following screenshot:

Device preview (2019.1)

When you click on the button, Tableau opens preview mode, where you can select Laptop, Tablet, or Phone to see how your Dashboard renders on those different devices.

Let's finish this section with a few other improvements.

Here is a list of other new features available on Tableau Server:

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