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.

Related Content you might be interested in

Current Title:

Small book image
Getting Started with Tableau 2019.2 - Second Edition
Tristan Guillevin
Jun, 2019 | 260 pages
No titles found
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

Chapter 4. Connecting to Data and Simple Transformations

The first thing you usually do when opening Tableau is to connect to a dataset. You already had a glimpse of a data connection in the previous chapter, when we used an Excel file. In this chapter, we'll cover the most important options that Tableau offers when connecting to data, along with the following:

  • Data connections
  • Join data easily
  • Union your data
  • Simple transformations

To harmonize all the different terms used between the various data providers, we'll use the following terms through the chapter:

  • A dataset represents any source of data. It is where your data is located. It could be an Excel file, a database on a server, or a file on the cloud. This is what you want to connect to Tableau.
  • Tables represent, no matter the connection, a sheet in Excel or a table in a database.
  • Data Source represents the result of your connection after all the transformations.

Let's start with some examples of data connections.

Previous Section
End of Section 1
Next Section