Methods and user interfaces for generating level of detail calculations for data visualizations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11429271-B2
Application number	US-202017095696-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2020
Priority date	Nov 11, 2019
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

A computing device displays a data visualization interface and receives user selection of a data source. The computing device also receives user input to select a measure data field and a dimension data field. In response to the user input, the computing device: generates a custom calculation that aggregates data for the measure data field, grouped by distinct data values of the dimension data field; and stores the custom calculation as a new selectable data field, associated with a data object corresponding to the dimension data field. The computing device also receives user selection of the new selectable data field and placement of the new selectable data field onto a first shelf in a shelf region. The first shelf defines a first data visualization characteristic determined according to data values of the custom calculation. The computing device generates and displays a data visualization based on the first data visualization characteristic.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for generating level of detail calculations for data visualizations, comprising:
at a computing device having a display, one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors:
receiving user selection of a data source;
displaying a data visualization interface, including:
a data visualization region;
a shelf region with a plurality of shelves, each shelf defining a respective characteristic of a data visualization based on placement of data fields onto the respective shelf; and
a schema information region displaying a plurality of data objects, wherein each of the data objects has one or more selectable data fields from the data source and each of the data fields is designated as a dimension or a measure;

receiving user input to select a measure data field and a dimension data field from the schema information region, the measure data field representing quantitative data and the dimension data field representing categorical data;
in response to the user input:
generating a custom calculation that groups data values of the dimension data field according to one or more respective distinct data values of the dimension data field and executes an aggregation function to aggregate data values of the measure data field for each of the one or more distinct data values of the dimension data field;
storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field, associated with a first data object corresponding to the dimension data field; and
displaying the new selectable data field as a data field for the first data object in the schema information region;

receiving user selection of the new selectable data field from the schema information region and placement of the new selectable data field onto a first shelf in the shelf region, wherein the first shelf defines a first data visualization characteristic; and
generating and displaying a data visualization in the data visualization region, wherein the first data visualization characteristic of the data visualization is determined according to data values of the custom calculation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user input is a drag-and-drop operation comprising dragging the measure data field and dropping the measure data field over the dimension data field.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the dimension data field is a primary key or alternative key of a data object corresponding to the dimension data field.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user input further comprises:
user initiation of a context menu associated with the measure data field or the dimension data field; and
user selection of a context menu option to build the custom calculation.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising in response to the user selection of the context menu option:
displaying a dialog window, populated by the generated custom calculation; and
detecting a second user input in the dialog window to edit the custom calculation;
wherein storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field is in response to detecting user activation of a save affordance in the dialog window.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the custom calculation is of the form {FIXED [field1]: AGG([field2])}, where “field1” is a name of the dimension data field, “AGG” is an aggregation operator, and “field2” is a name of the measure data field.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the aggregation operator is one of SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating and displaying the data visualization in the data visualization region comprises:
generating one or more database queries directed to the data source according to user placement of data fields from the schema information region onto shelves in the shelf region, including the placement of the new selectable data field onto the first shelf;
executing the one or more database queries to retrieve one or more data sets from the data source, including aggregated data for the measure data field grouped according to the dimension data field; and
generating and displaying the data visualization according to the retrieved data sets.

9. A computing device, comprising:
a display;
one or more processors; and
memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
receiving user selection of a data source;
displaying a data visualization interface, including:
a data visualization region;
a shelf region with a plurality of shelves, each shelf defining a respective characteristic of a data visualization based on placement of data fields onto the respective shelf; and
a schema information region displaying a plurality of data objects, wherein each of the data objects has one or more selectable data fields from the data source and each of the data fields is designated as a dimension or a measure;

receiving user input to select a measure data field and a dimension data field from the schema information region, the measure data field representing quantitative data and the dimension data field representing categorical data;
in response to the user input:
generating a custom calculation that groups data values of the dimension data field according to one or more respective distinct data values of the dimension data field and executes an aggregation function to aggregate data values of the measure data field for each of the one or more distinct data values of the dimension data field;
storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field, associated with a first data object corresponding to the dimension data field; and
displaying the new selectable data field as a data field for the first data object in the schema information region;

receiving user selection of the new selectable data field from the schema information region and placement of the new selectable data field onto a first shelf in the shelf region, wherein the first shelf defines a first data visualization characteristic; and
generating and displaying a data visualization in the data visualization region, wherein the first data visualization characteristic of the data visualization is determined according to data values of the custom calculation.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the user input is a drag-and-drop operation comprising dragging the measure data field and dropping the measure data field over the dimension data field.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the dimension data field is a primary key or alternative key of a data object corresponding to the dimension data field.

12. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the user input further comprises:
user initiation of a context menu associated with the measure data field or the dimension data field; and
user selection of a context menu option to build the custom calculation.

13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for responding to the user selection of the context menu option by:
displaying a dialog window, populated by the generated custom calculation; and
detecting a second user input in the dialog window to edit the custom calculation;
wherein storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field is in response to detecting user activation of a save affordance in the dialog window.

14. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the custom calculation is of the form {FIXED [field1]: AGG([field2])}, where “field1” is a name of the dime

Assignees

• Tableau Software Llc

Inventors

• Nhan Thomas
• Folting Allan
• Cory Daniel Philip
• Talbot Justin
• Lum Lauren Christina
• Sulc Elaine Weatherfield
• Doan Susan Denise

Classifications

• G06F3/0486 Primary

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title

• G06F16/904 Primary

  Browsing; Visualisation therefor (for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957) · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title