Tableau Desktop

This first section, covering Tableau Desktop, is divided into three parts, as follows:

• Data source improvements: All of the new ways to connect your data and increase performance
• Visualization improvements: All of the things that you can do on a Worksheet, to create better visualizations
• Dashboard improvements: All of the options and new features to help you create better Dashboards

To understand and reproduce the examples provided in this chapter, you need to know how to connect to data, build a Data Source, and create Worksheets and Dashboards.

Data Source improvements

In this section of the book, we'll focus on two major improvements: the normalized extract and the spatial join.

Normalized extract (2018.3)

Previously, when creating an extract, Tableau always generated a single table. This was sometimes problematic, especially when a Join duplicated the number of lines. Now, when you Join multiple tables, you can choose the schema, creating either a Single Table or Multiple Tables: 

For example, you can download the Excel file Multiple Table Storage Test from the Chapter 1 section of my website, book.ladataviz.com (or, browse to https://ladataviz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Multiple-Table-Storage-Test.xlsx). This file contains the an Orders sheet, with approximately 10,000 rows and another sheet, User Access, with 6,000 rows.

Individually, those tables are small, and creating an extract only takes a few seconds. When you Join the two tables, the data is duplicated. The result of the Join produces more than 11 million rows. When you created an extract, prior to Tableau 2018.3, the 11 million rows had to be retrieved, as you can see in the following screenshot:

Thanks to Tableau 2018.3, if you select the Multiple Tables schema when creating an extract, the extraction time is very short because the two tables are generated separately, prior to being joined. The only drawback is that you can't use all of the Extract options (Filters, Aggregation, and Number of rows).

The next new feature is also related to Joins. 

Spatial join (2018.2)

A new type of Join, called an Intersect, is now available, and it was created especially for spatial files. You can find it in the Join configuration, highlighted as follows:

Intersects are useful when the only common field between the two tables is the spatial one. Tableau joins the data when there is a spatial intersection between a polygon and a point. 

For example, let's look at how to join the two following shapefiles. The first one contains the polygons of the French regions:

The second one contains a list of ports around the world:

To recreate the example, you can download the ZIP file Spatial Join from the Chapter 1 section of my website, book.ladataviz.com (or, browse to https://ladataviz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Spatial-Join.zip).

Let's create a spatial Join between the two spatial files, as follows:

1. Open Tableau and connect to the first spatial file, contours-geographiques-des-nouvelles-regions-metropole.shp.
2. Add a second spatial connection in the same Data Source (see Chapter 12, Advanced Data Connections, if you don't know how to create cross-database Joins), and choose the ne_10m_ports.shp file.
3. Choose an Inner interest Join between the two tables, shown as follows:

4. You can test your Data Source; the remaining French regions are the ones with ports, and the remaining ports are only French ones. If you create a Dual Axis map, you can show both the regions and the ports on the same map, as follows:

This is surely a great advancement for using spatial files in Tableau. Let's finish this section by looking at other Data Source improvements.

Other Data Source improvements

Some other Data Source improvements are as follows:

• From Tableau 2018.1, Tableau can recognize spatial columns in SQL Server and use them for mapping. You can also use Custom SQL to write an advanced analysis using your spatial fields.
• Cross-database Joins and MDX queries have improved in performance since Tableau 2018.2.

Now, let's take a look at visualization improvements.

Visualization improvements

Many new features are available when speaking about visualizations. With the new versions of Tableau, you can use a new type of Marks, create Dual Axis mapping, step lines, jump lines, save and reuse your clusters, and much more. Let's start with the new Density Mark.

Density Mark (2018.3)

Density is the newest Marks type, introduced in Tableau 2018.3 and represented with the following icon:

This new mark fills a gap: to show the Density of Marks. The superposition of multiple Marks determines the color intensity. It's a straightforward Marks type; you can use it in various cases, as long as you have many Marks overlapping.

In the following example, you can see that the concentration of customers by Sales and Quantity:

The most important property for the Density Mark is the color. Thanks to the intensity of the color, you can see the Density of the Marks. To deal with this particularity, there is a new option when you click on the Color property: Intensity. Changing the intensity of the color tells different stories. In the following screenshot, the Intensity is set to 90%: 

In the following screenshot, the Intensity is set to 40%:

Tableau has also added new color palettes, specially designed for the Density Mark. You'll find palettes for bright and dark backgrounds. Currently, the only drawback is the impossibility to open the Edit Color menu and select a color on your screen or enter a color code. You can, however, use your custom palette, specified in the Preference.tps file of your Tableau Repository.

Step and jump lines (2018.1)

Since version 2018.1, when you use the Line Marks type, a click on the Path button has opened a menu where you can select the Line Type: Linear, Step, or Jump. The following screenshot shows an example of a step line:

Although it's not the most spectacular new feature, it's nevertheless a great addition, simplifying a complicated procedure to build the same visualization.

Worksheet transparency (2018.3)

A long-awaited feature is the Worksheet transparency. It is a great addition, allowing you to build better visualizations; but it's also an open door to terrible practices and designs.

Data is the most crucial element in data visualization—not the design. The design is important, as it's a vector of success for your Dashboards, but it's not the primary concern. Please, always focus on the clarity of the data, and keep in mind the Data-Ink Ratio introduced by Edward Tufte: https://infovis-wiki.net/wiki/Data-Ink_Ratio.

To make the background of a Worksheet transparent, follow these steps:

1. Click on Format... in the Worksheet options, as highlighted in the following screenshot:

2. Click on the third icon, Shading, to modify the shading format.
3. Select None in the Default Worksheet shading, highlighted as follows:

Use this new feature with caution! The next new feature is the ability to create Dual Axis, with different types of coordinates.

Dual Axis mapping (2018.1)

Before Tableau 2018.1, you could already build a Dual Axis map. To do so, duplicate the longitude in columns, or latitude in rows, and select Dual Axis in the pill option. Thanks to the Dual Axis option, it is possible to have two different Mark types and a different level of detail in each Marks layer. In the following screenshot, you can see a Dual Axis map, with a filled map for the state with the Sales in color in the first layer, and circles for each city, colored in black, in the second Marks layer:

Unfortunately, in previous versions of Tableau, it was impossible to create a Dual Axis map by combining Tableau-generated coordinates and custom coordinates in your data. Since Tableau 2018.1, it's been possible. Let's look at how to do it.

To reproduce the example, download the Orders without City file from my website, book.ladataviz.com, or browse to https://ladataviz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Orders-without-City.xlsx.

In the Orders without City file, the cities have been removed and replaced by their latitude and longitude, in two different columns: Latitude City and Longitude City. The goal is to rebuild the preceding example with this new file. Do as follows:

1. Open Tableau and connect to the Orders without City file.
2. Right-click on the Latitude City field and select Convert to Dimension. Repeat the same for Longitude City.
3. Double-click on State to create a map, and put Sales in color.
4. Add Latitude (generated) next to the existing Latitude (generated) pill.
5. Right-click on the second Latitude (generated) pill and click on Dual Axis.
6. On the second Marks layer, change the Type to Circle, add Latitude City and Longitude City in Detail, change the Quantity from Color to Size, and, finally, change the color of the Marks to black. The final result is as follows:

As you can see, since Tableau 2018.1, you can combine generated coordinates with custom ones.

The next enhancement was one of the longest-standing requests from the community: the nested sort.

Nested sort (2018.2)

Sorting a measure across two dimensions was inexplicably difficult prior to Tableau 2018.2. If you tried to sort the categories by Sales for each dimension, you would see the following:

As you can see, the categories were sorted without taking the years into account (making it difficult to rank the categories in 2016 or 2018, for example). It was possible to get the desired sort with a hidden combined field or some table calculations, but everyone agrees that it was unnecessarily complicated. 

From Tableau 2018.2, if you click on the Sort button on the axis, Tableau creates a nested sort, displaying the best Category per year as follows:

If you still want to use the previous method of sorting, you can use the sorting icon in the toolbar. 

This small enhancement makes the product a lot simpler to use. The next feature is quite similar, with a simple addition having a tremendous positive impact.

Hierarchy filtering (2018.1)

If you display the Quick Filter of a field that is part of a hierarchy, a new option is now available: All Values in Hierarchy. This new option is applied by default.

With this option, the Quick Filter only shows the possible values, considering the filtered parent value of the hierarchy. It produces the same result as the Only relevant values option, but automatically, and with better performance.

Let's finish by looking at a list of other small enhancements that will make your life easier (when using Tableau, of course).

Other improvements

The following is a list of other small visualization improvements:

• Tableau 10.5 introduced the Viz In Tooltip feature. Unfortunately, in previous versions, it was impossible to hide a worksheet that was only used in a tooltip. You can now hide those Worksheets in every Tableau 2018 version.
• From Tableau 2018.1, saved clusters are no longer just groups, but are a special field with this icon:  You can reuse saved clusters, and, with a right-click, you can refit the clusters to take the new data into account.
• You can revert your workbook to Tableau 10.2 by using the option Export as Version in the top File menu. From Tableau 2018.2, you also get clear information about the compatibility and lost functions.
• When you hover over a grayed option in the Analytics pane, Tableau now gives you information about why you can't use that option.
• Tableau now displays the link to the Driver Installation page in the Connection menu, for a specific connection.
• You can display negative values on a logarithmic axis, from Tableau 2018.2.
• Dates can be represented in ISO 8601 format, from Tableau 2018.2.
• Geocoding has been improved in the 2018.2 version, with Japanese municipalities, wards, seven-digit postal codes, and 2018 Pennsylvania Congressional Districts.
• Cross-database Joins and multi-dimensional expression queries for cubes have improved performance since Tableau 2018.2.
• In Tableau 2018.3, you can connect to the ESRI Geodatabase, KML, and the TopoJSON file.

Now, we'll look at the new features available for Dashboards.

Dashboard improvements

This year, two new Dashboard items, two new actions, the Grid, and the automatic Mobile layout were released by Tableau. 

Let's start with the extensions, which are likely the most important new feature in this book.

Extensions (2018.2)

If you have been a Tableau user for a long time, I'm sure that you have dreamed about one of the following features: dynamic parameters, an automatic date updater, export to CSV buttons, an automatic radar chart or Sankey diagram, and more. Thanks to the extensions, all of these features are now available! And the best part is: this is just the beginning. 

Extensions provide the ability to interact with other applications or services, directly inside Tableau, without leaving your Dashboard. You can also use them to expand Tableau's limits. The extensions are supported on Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server.

You can add new extensions from the Dashboard pane, on the left-hand side, as follows:

When you add an Extension object, Tableau opens a new window, where you have to select a .TREX file. You can either download existing .TREX files in the Extension Gallery, or create your own.

The Extension Gallery is available at https://extensiongallery.tableau.com. From here, you can find and download many extensions, developed by Tableau and their partners. One example is the Data-Driven Parameters extension page, with the Download button highlighted, as follows:

When you add an extension, Tableau opens a warning, asking you to allow and trust the extension. Then, you'll likely have to configure the extension. As every extension is different, each configuration window is different. The following is an example of the Data-Driven Parameter Configuration window, where you have to select a parameter, a worksheet, and a field:

Using the Extensions API, you can also develop new extensions in Node.js to create new interactions with your applications. Unfortunately, you will not learn how to code in Node.js in this book. However, if you want to learn how to build your own extensions, you'll find tutorials, samples, and clear explanations in the Tableau Extensions GitHub page, at https://tableau.github.io/extensions-api. 

As you can see, the possibilities are infinite. Tableau will frequently update the Extension Gallery, offering new ways to work with Tableau.

The next feature is also a new Dashboard object!

Dashboard navigation button (2018.3)

Have you ever created a navigation button in Tableau, to change from one Dashboard to another? It was one of those unnecessarily complicated processes: you had to add a Worksheet with a custom shape on a Dashboard, and add an action to another Dashboard: complicated, long, and now, obsolete.

Since Tableau 2018.3, the Button object is available on the Dashboard pane, as highlighted in the following screenshot:

You can add a Button to your Dashboard as follows:

1. Drag and drop the Button object to wherever you please.
2. When you add a Button, Tableau will display it, and you can then configure it with a right-click, as follows:

3. On the configuration window, you will have to specify a target sheet (a Worksheet, Dashboard, or Story), and you can change the image and add a tooltip. The following is an example of a button that redirects to the Product Dashboard, with a personalized image and a tooltip:

4. Finally, without having to use shapes and actions, you can add navigation buttons to your Dashboard, as highlighted in the following screenshot:

In 2018, Tableau added two new Dashboard objects, and also two new actions. Let's start with the first one, which is really close to the Button object.

Navigation action (2018.3)

In Tableau 2018.3, when you add an Action, you will find the Go to Sheet... action, highlighted as follows:

This action is straightforward: from one or multiple source Worksheets, you can navigate to a Target Sheet (Worksheet, Dashboard, or Story). The following screenshot shows the configuration window, when you add a Go to Sheet... action: 

In this configuration window, you can specify the following:

• The Name of the action
• The Source Sheets
• The trigger (Hover, Select, or Menu)
• The Target Sheet (Worksheet, Dashboard, or Story)

This action is quite similar to the Button object, as both allow you to navigate between your sheets. The difference, however, is crucial: one is a configurable Dashboard object, while the other is an action based on a sheet and a trigger.

The second new action allows you to create new ways to interact with your Worksheets.

The Change Set Values action (2018.3)

The Change Set Values action allows you to visually select the values to put in a set. From one or multiple source Worksheets, you can update the values of a set in your Data Source to impact other visualization in your Workbook. 

When you create a Change Set Values action, a configuration window will open, where you can specify the following:

• The Name of the action
• The Source Sheets
• The trigger (Hover, Select, or Menu)
• The set—you have to specify the Data Source and the set

As for the action filter, you can dictate the behavior when clearing the action. There are three different behaviors, as follows:

• Keep set value: When you clear the selection, the current values of the set stay as selected.
• Add all values to set: When you clear the selection, all of the values will be in the set.
• Remove all values from set: When you clear the selection, all of the values will be out of the set. 

Let's go through a guided tutorial, using Sample-Superstore, to see how to configure and use this new action:

1. Create a first Worksheet, Sales by State a map of State with Sales in color, as shown in the following screenshot:

2. Create a set, State Set, based on State (right-click on the State field and go to Create, then Set). On the Edit Set window, select Use all, as follows:

3. Create a second Worksheet, Sales by Sub-Category, with Sales in Columns, Sub-Category in Rows, and the new State Set in Color. The following screenshot shows what your Worksheet should look like:

4. Create a Dashboard. First, add Sales by State, then add Sales by Sub-Category to the right. Add an action and choose Change Set Values. We want to update State Set when we click on a state on the map. When we clear the selection, all of the values will be In the set. The following screenshot illustrates the required configuration:

5. Let's test our action! When you select one or multiple states on the map, you should see the portion of sales coming from the selected state(s) on the right. In the following screenshot, you can see the portion of Sales coming from the state of California:

The ability to visually select the values of a set will surely provide great opportunities.

The next feature will be a great time saver if you have to create Mobile layouts.

Automatic Mobile layouts (2018.2)

From Tableau 2018.2, when you add a Phone or Tablet layout, Tableau automatically rearranges the Dashboard layout, making it ready to use. In the previous versions, you had to reorder it yourself. 

Consider the automatic Phone layout created by Tableau before 2018.2, as shown in the following screenshot:

The following is the same layout, automatically built by Tableau in 2018.2:

If you decide to change something inside of your custom layout, you can use the Rearrange layout option. It will automatically reorder the items and change the sizes. The option is available when you click on the three dots (...) next to a layout, highlighted as follows:

This feature doesn't allow you to create new things, but it'll save you a lot of time. The next feature is similar.

Grids (2018.2)

Whether you are working with floating or container layouts, the goal is the same: to have a nice-looking Dashboard. With Grids, Tableau makes it easier for you to achieve this. You can show or hide the Grid from the Dashboard menu, or by pressing the G key on your keyboard. 

From the Dashboard menu, you can also open the Grid option and choose its size in pixels. The following screenshot shows an example of a ten-pixel grid:

The Grid comes with another great enhancement: you can move the floating items, pixel by pixel, with the keyboard arrows. Achieving great designs has never been simpler!

This ends the section about Tableau Desktop. As always, Tableau has improved both Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server. Now, let's look at all of the new features available in Tableau Server and Tableau Online.