Filtering and Hiding

Joe Mako’s Order of filtering post:

http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/forum/topic/question-how-create-product-velocity-calculation#comment-39603

A long post on global filters, action filters, etc.
http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/109284

Global filter across data sources (parameter with calc field to test the parameter)
http://vizwiz.blogspot.com/2012/06/create-global-filter-in-tableau-across.html

Complex sorts in table calcs
http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/109013

use as filter is faster than quick filters

Use as filter can work on any clickable element in the view

  • Edit actions to change what they use
  • see the TCC11 – JediTricks video for some funky global filtering

(use in nursing dashboard for per-unit stuff?)

Type-in on a quick filter is used as a wildcard, to change this use a type-in parameter and then a calc field with:

[ID] == [ID Parameter]

That will return true for the one row of interest and false for everything else. Just put that on the filter shelf and select just “true” (you’ll need to set the parameter to a value that exists to have the “true” option available).

Can’t drag a filter

If a pill can’t be dragged onto the filter shelf, try converting it into a continuous.

Lookup0 to make filters work locally after all db calculations are done. Handy to filter in %ofTotal calc. #tableaujedi #TCC11
by mohanganeesh at 10/18/11 2:38 PM

Hide happens after the data calculations. Filter happens before. Very handy to use hide in % of total calc. #tableaujedi #TCC11

Here’s a hiding link using the LOOKUP() trick:
http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/172343
File is Hide via Filter on Table Calc.twbx.zip.

Create a field called Date Filter w/value LOOKUP(ATTR([date]),0). Tableau will treat it as a date for the filter functions, but still have all data available to the calculations.

Hide (filter) rows if first column is empty
http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/116249

Filtering first year out of YoY calculations:
http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/filter-first-year

Filtering YoY to same month/day as current date:
http://www.freakalytics.com/2012/06/05/balancing-analysis-of-multiple-years-by-filtering-through-the-same-monthday-as-today/

Grabbing certain prior dates out of the data with user-selectable “filter”:

one way to filter for data within specific dates:
http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/116985

http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/175953#175953

IF [scanDate] >=[StartDate] AND [scanDate] <= [EndDate] THEN "Keep" ELSE "Remove" END

Restrict filter options in a Quick Filter based on another Filter

Mark Jackson demonstrates a couple of options in http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/210455#210455

Can use Action Filter

Find first month in a set of data

My response to http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/177996

which is based on: http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/168597#168597
workbook is running sum of count distinct.twbx

IF TOTAL(MIN([Month of Install]))=ATTR([Month of Install]) THEN 1 ELSE 0 END

Calculation uses TOTAL which doesn’t care about sorting/addressing, so it’s a lot more bulletproof.

Another one for last date:

As an alternative to LAST()==0 from Ross Bunker in http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/178251#178251

ATTR([Order Date]) == WINDOW_MAX(ATTR([Order Date]))

Hiding certain items/dimensions in a % of total

For hiding certain items/dimensions in a % of total – e.g. PrimeCare/Non-PrimeCare/Null, just show % of total that is PrimeCare

1.     Create a calculated field called “Hide [Dimension]” with calc:

LOOKUP(MIN([dimension]),0)

results in “find my value” when the [dimension] is in the level of detail 2. Add that calc field to the level of detail 3. Create a Quick Filter on the calc field

Enjoy!

from TCC11 – JediTricks video

Using a set:
http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/109355
and attached workbook (upgraded so it will work with current data)

Using a simple IF statement:

A way to “filter” dates by using LOOKUP()
http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/115403
full_running.twbx workbook, simpler solution worksheet

Create a calculated field that is LOOKUP([Date],0) and make it continuous. Put it on the filter shelf for Range of Dates and leave it at that. When the user changes the slider, the range will change.

Hide NULL values

http://onlinehelp.tableausoftware.com/v5.2/online/Output/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=Tableau_Online_Help&file=Tableau%2520Online%2520Help-29-24.html

Dashboards and filters

http://vizwiz.blogspot.com/2011/08/tableau-tip-local-vs-global-filters-on.html

http://reports4u.co.uk/2011/06/10/tableau-dashboard-level-filter/

Robert Morton with a bit on when filters might not be able to properly compute the domain: http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/215056#215056

Data source filters are not applied directly to the data that is extracted, instead are added to each query. Post from Robert Morton: http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/227815

[loop category=”wikicontent” tag=”filtering,filters,filter”]
[field title] – Added [field date]
[content]
[/loop]

Related posts:

    [loop tag=”filter,filtering,filters,hide,hiding,LOOKUP()” exclude=”this” relation=”and” compare=”not” taxonomy=”category” value=”wikicontent”]

  • [field title-link][field thumbnail-link]

[/loop]

4 thoughts on “Filtering and Hiding

  1. Katie

    Hi Jonathan,

    I’m trying to segment my survey data by demographics for one scale item of one question (question asks respondents to rate a list of items on a scale of “definitely influences”, “somewhat influences”, or “no influence”; I only want to see the “definitely influences” results, and I need those broken out by demographics).

    I followed your instructions in the “Hiding certain items/dimensions in a % of total” section of this post, and I was able to filter to the “definitely” dimension item and see the segmented results. Yay! However, I need the “definitely” results to act as my new “grand total” column so that readers can see the segmented “definitely” results next to the total “definitely” results. Do you have a recommendation on how to do this? I have posted this question to the Tableau Community forum and included my workbook [here](https://community.tableau.com/thread/225507?start=0&tstart=0). I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

    Thanks,
    Katie

    Reply
    1. Jonathan Drummey Post author

      Hi, without seeing your data and view and having a sense of what you are trying to filter I can’t be sure because the exact method would depend on that. For example if the dual axes had different levels of detail then we might be able to use a table calculation filter. If you are filtering for a single class or category then using a parameter & a calculated dimension that returns the desired values might work. My suggestion would be to publish your question on the Tableau forums http://community.tableau.com with a Tableau packaged workbook with some sample data and then feel free to link back to it here and I can take a look.

      Reply

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