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Table

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Updated at November 15, 2024

A table is a standard form of data representation with as many details as possible. It stores data as a two-dimensional array that consists of columns and rows. Table column headers show dimension or measure names, while cells contain their values. Each row is a set of cells with each column's value. A table may also contain a row with results.

Tables are a great tool for detailed analysis (a deep dive into figures) and problem detection. At the same time, it takes longer to read information from a table than from a graph or chart. Therefore, it is a good idea to place it at the end of a dashboard.

A table is a good choice for quantitative comparison, where you can see different values of multiple categories or dimensions. The table below shows three different measures by three categories.

table-chart

Source table
Categories Subcategories Delivery type Sales Number of customers Number of orders
Household cleaners Detergents Delivery 597 729 250 256
Household cleaners Detergents Pickup 1 352 690 521 550
Household cleaners Cleaners Delivery 541 911 225 230
Household cleaners Cleaners Pickup 1 348 868 493 518
Household goods Beauty and health products Delivery 263 891 132 134
Household goods Beauty and health products Pickup 706 423 321 333
Household goods Kitchen products Delivery 671 566 165 167
Household goods Kitchen products Pickup 1 283 731 289 297
Household goods Non-essential goods Delivery 701 818 210 213
Household goods Non-essential goods Pickup 1 521 937 447 475
Home appliances Kitchenware Delivery 829 157 213 218
Home appliances Kitchenware Pickup 2 048 211 482 513
Home appliances Health and beauty equipment Delivery 944 770 255 258
Home appliances Health and beauty equipment Pickup 2 387 410 550 581

To simplify the comparison of different values and make the information easier to comprehend, you can use advanced settings when creating a table:

Wizard sections

Wizard
section		 Description
Columns Dimensions and measures to be used as columns. The field name appears in the column header. You can use markup functions in columns.
Colors Measure. Affects color fill of all cells within a row. It may only contain one measure.
Sorting Dimensions and measures specified in the Columns section.
You can use multiple dimensions and measures.
The order of fields in the section affects the sorting order of the table fields. The sorting direction is marked with an icon next to the field: for ascending or for descending. To change the sorting direction, click the icon.
Filters Dimension or measure. Used as a filter.

Creating a table

To create a table:

Warning

If you use a new DataLens object model with workbooks and collections:

  1. Go to the DataLens home page. In the left-hand panel, select Collections and workbooks.
  2. Open the workbook, click Create in the top-right corner, and select the appropriate object.

Follow the guide from step 4.

  1. Go to the DataLens home page.

  2. In the left-hand panel, select Charts.

  3. Click Create chart → Chart.

  4. At the top left, click Select dataset and specify the dataset to visualize.

  5. Select Table as the chart type.

  6. Drag a dimension or measure from the dataset to Columns. The field is displayed as a column.

    Note

    • After dragging a Tree of strings dimension to the Columns section, you will see a tree hierarchy in the visualization area.
    • You can change the order of columns by dragging dimensions in the Columns section.

Additional settings

Renaming columns

  1. Under Columns, click the icon to the left of the dimension or measure name.
  2. In the window that opens, change the Name field value and click Apply.

Adding a tooltip to a table header

  1. Under Columns, click the icon to the left of the dimension or measure name.
  2. In the window that opens, enable the Tooltip option, enter the text in the field below, and click Apply. By default, with this option enabled, the tooltip text is taken from the field description in the dataset.

When the option is enabled, the icon appears next to the table column header. Hover over the icon to bring up the tooltip.

Setting up table data sorting by multiple columns

  1. On the left side of the screen above the chart, click .
  2. Enable the Pagination setting and click Apply.
  3. Press and hold Ctrl while clicking the headers of columns to change the sorting for.

Setting the width of table columns

  1. In the top-right corner of the Columns section, click (the icon is displayed when you hover over the section).

  2. Under Width, select the values for columns and rows:

    • Auto: Automatic column width.
    • %: Column width as a percentage of the table's total width.
    • px: Column width in pixels.

    The % and px options allow you to break text within cells by word. Thus the number of rows in a cell may grow.

    Example of column width settings

    image

    Note

    The total width of a table always takes up 100% of available space regardless of the specified width of individual columns.

  3. Click Apply.

To set the width of any column to Auto, click Reset.

Freezing table columns

  1. In the top-right corner of the Columns section, click (the icon is displayed when you hover over the section).
  2. In the Freeze window that opens, enter the number of columns to freeze. These columns will stay in place as you scroll horizontally.
  3. Click Apply.

Adding a row with totals

  1. On the left side of the screen above the chart, click .
  2. Enable the Results option and click Apply.

The Total row is displayed in the table. Values in the row are calculated using the same formulas as aggregation in the measure.

Note

  • Values in the Total row are calculated only for measures. For dimensions, the row is empty.
  • If the Pagination option is selected, the Total row is placed on the last page.
  • If a table consists of a single entry, the Total row is not displayed.

Adding row color

  1. Drag a measure to the Color section.

  2. In the top-right corner of the Colors section, click (the icon is displayed when you hover over the section).

  3. Set up colors:

    • Gradient type: Select two or three colors.

      • Gradient color: Select a color palette for the gradient from the list.
      • Gradient direction: Change the gradient direction using the icon.

    • Set threshold values: Set numeric thresholds for each color.

Setting the field fill color

  1. Under Columns, click the icon to the left of the dimension or measure name.

  2. In the window that opens, enable Column fill color.

  3. In the By field list, select the field whose values the fill will be based on.

  4. Set the Fill type:

    Note

    You can use the Palette type for dimensions and the Gradient type for measures.

    1. Click the color scheme selection field and set a color for each dimension value.
    2. Click Apply.

    1. Click the gradient selection field and set the following properties:

      • Gradient type: Select two or three colors.

        • Gradient color: Select a color palette for the gradient from the list.
        • Gradient direction: Change the gradient direction using the icon.

      • Set threshold values: Set numeric thresholds for each color.

    2. Click Apply.

  5. Click Apply.

Adding a linear indicator to a column with a measure

  1. Under Columns, click the icon to the left of the measure name.

  2. In the window that opens, enable Linear indicator.

  3. Specify the indicator settings:

    • Fill type: Type of fill color for the indicator.
    • Positive values: Indicator color for positive values.
    • Negative values: Indicator color for negative values.
    • Show labels: This option enables displaying measure values in a cell.
    • Show in totals: This option enables displaying the indicator in cells with totals.
    • Align: Left or right alignment of the indicator position in a column. Only applies if all numbers in a column are either positive or negative.
    • Scale: Sets the indicator scale. If you set a scale manually, specify the min and max values. Make sure the min value is less than or equal to 0 and the max value is larger than or equal to 0.
    Example of linear indicator settings

    image

  4. Click Apply.

Example of a chart with a linear indicator

image

Recommendations

  • Limit the size of your table or use filters and sorting. Tables with too many rows or columns are hard to read.

  • Use tables for their intended purpose only. Do not replace all data visualization types with them.

  • Place dimensions on the left and measures on the right. This makes the data easier to comprehend.

  • Make sure column names you use are short and readable.

  • Enable the display of totals at the bottom of a table.

    Table with totals and pagination

    table-pagination

  • When posting a table on a dashboard, enable auto height in the widget settings. This will help you save dashboard space.

    Setting up auto height

    table-auto-height

    If you use a filter, the table height will automatically adapt to the number of rows.

    Using a filter with the auto height option enabled

    If no value is set in the filter, a table displays all rows depending on the limit to the number of rows per page.

    table-auto-height-2

    If the number of displayed rows decreases when using the filter, the table height is reduced automatically.

    table-auto-height-3

  • Represent totals (or subtotals) as a column. To do this, use calculated fields based on window functions or LOD expressions. For example:

    • Sales subtotal by product category: CategorySales with the SUM(SUM([Sales]) WITHIN [ProductCategory]) formula.

    • Total sales: TotalSales with the SUM(SUM([Sales]) TOTAL) formula.

      Table example

      table-sum

    • Maximum order count per month grouped by product category: MaxCountByCategory with the MAX(COUNTD([OrderID] INCLUDE [ProductCategory])) formula.

      Table example

      table-count

  • Use sorting. This makes the data easier to comprehend.

  • Use the URL function in table cells to enable users to follow a link.

  • If a table cell contains a long text, use the column width settings to enable a line break in cells.

    Setup example

    table-column-width

  • When displaying numeric data, specify the dimension and the number of decimal places. For example, if you select Millions, M in the Dimension drop-down list, you will see 10,3 M rather than 10 345 234.23. If you set the Decimal places field to 2, you will see 123.12 rather than 123.1234.

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