Editing your data¶
In many applications where a custom interface is used, the user has the necessity to insert some input information normally through dedicated forms provided by the interface itself.
In other situations, the user needs to modify existing data to apply business decisions or to react to some external occurrences.
Generally, therefore, in a custom interface the ability to edit and modify your underlying data is of primary importance. In standard dashboarding software programs, this functionality is either omitted or handled in preliminary steps using separate tools.
The innovative approach of Rulex Studio is to provide editing capabilities in a unique framework with its existing dashboarding possibilities, enhancing the scope of the created custom interfaces.
Data editing is carried on in Rulex Studio mainly by the following two families:
Before entering into detail about these two families and their characteristics, some general information about editing operation in Rulex Studio is necessary. When talking about data editing, there are two main possible operations:
Adding a new row to a certain Dataset.
Modifying the value of one or more cells of a certain Dataset.
If for the first operation the unique information required is the name of the dataset we want to consider, for the second one we need the possibility to select the cells we want to consider in our edit operation.
Therefore, to properly understand the scope of any edit operation in Rulex Studio, it is necessary to highlight all the possibilities the same component offers you to properly select a subset of an imported Dataset.
We are going to call this operation a selection, and we are going to devote to this topic the next section.
See also
Even if the selection is mainly performed to trigger correctly an editing operation, its definition is general and its effect can lead to graphical modifications even in widget families not described in this page, see for example here.
Data Selection¶
Data selection is essentially the labeling of rows in a provided Dataset with a binary flag: True if the row is selected, False otherwise.
The meaning of this selection is both graphical and functional:
From the graphical point of view any widget can use this information to modify accordingly its graphical behavior: the simplest example is the Table widget where selected rows are colored with a different layout, or the Bar plot widget where bins constructed by only unselected rows are greyed out.
From the functional point of view any editing operation performed on a Dataset will affect only selected rows leaving the rest of the dataset untouched.
See also
Selecting rows is different from filtering them: read this section to further information about Data filtering.
In Rulex Studio a Data selection can be triggered in different ways from different widget types. However, in any of them Data selection is activated by default and it can be configured in a dedicated panel of their Widget menu layout.
If activated, a Data selection can be triggered in the following ways:
In Table widget by selecting any of the table rows.
In Row Selector widget by changing the selected row.
In Plot widgets by selecting part of the data bar/point/sectors or part of the traces from the legend.
In Action widgets by modifying their considered values.
One of these triggers creates a Data selection on the Dataset table associated to the attributes used in the considered trigger widget.
Attention
In all the listed widget Data selection is available only if attributes considered in the selection belong all to the same original dataset, otherwise this possibility is disabled.
Therefore, any other widget getting attributes from the same dataset can graphically be affected by the provided selection. It is not mandatory because in the trigger widget for any Data selection operation a scope can be configured.
The scope is a list of widget names of the same slide or dialog which will see the effect of the triggered operation. Default is the whole slide which is also the largest scope available. If the scope is empty the Data selection does not produce any direct graphical effects, but it can still be useful to exploit its functional aspect for editing operation.
Once a Data selection is activated on a dataset, its effect is then propagated to the other datasets for which is active a dataset relation with the original dataset. Propagation for Data selection works the same as Data filtering: further information can be found here.
Example
In this example, we will explore the graphical effects of data selection. Using a Row Selector widget to trigger a data selection operation that will modify the selected row in a Table and the selected bar in a Vertical Bar chart on the same slide.
Import the Selection_Example_Graphical view along with the Personal details dataset.
Enter 4 in the Row Selector widget to highlight the row with index 4 in the Table widget, corresponding to John, and the bar representing John in the Vertical Bar chart.
Click on the filter icon in the top-right corner of the Row Selector to clear the current data selection.
Right-click on the Row Selector and choose the Open widget layout entry.
Remove barplot1 in the Scope field of the Layout options window.
Click APPLY to update the settings.
Enter again 4 in the Row Selector widget. Notice how the selection for John’s bar is no longer active; all bars now appear blue colored, as the Vertical Bar chart is no longer within the Row Selector’s scope.
Example
In this last example, we will explore the functional effects of data selection. Using a Filter drop down menu widget to trigger a data selection operation, we will fill an Input Field widget. Then, we will modify the value in the Input Field and press the CHANGE AGE General button to edit the associated value displayed on the Radial Gauge.
Import the Selection_Example_Functional view along with the Personal details dataset.
Select John from the Filter drop down menu widget. The Input Field will populate with John’s current age.
Edit the age in the Input Field to 80.
Click the CHANGE AGE button to apply the changes. Notice how the mean age displayed in the Radial gauge changes.
Tables¶
The Tables family includes all the widgets with tabular or pseudo-tabular visualization form with editing properties.
Those widgets are useful when the user needs to visualize multiple rows in the same slide/dialog or report page and possibly to modify multiple rows at the same time.
Tip
If the desired editing is row by row, we strongly suggest using the Inputs family which is designed to perform this task.
Members of this family are:
Table: standard tabular form
The Table displays in a grid table specific attributes or an entire dataset, previously imported in the Dataset left panel. It can also automatically merge attributes coming from different Dataset. If an attribute of a different table from the one already present in a Table widget is dropped, a join dialog is shown to the user to establish the joining mechanism to perform the evaluation of the final grid.
The dialog shows a subset of the option of a standard Join task. In particular, it always performs an Inner Join with key conditions to be set. To add a new key condition the user can press the plus button located at the center of the dialog.
Each key condition is formed by:
A left attribute chosen among the attributes of the dataset already present in the Table widget
A comparison operator
A weight parameter, used in some operator to slightly tune the comparison
A right attribute chosen among the attributes of the dataset of the new dropped param.
Hint
Attributes can be chosen even if they are not added to the Table widget itself; they only need to belong to one of the two involved datasets.
Warning
Editing property is disabled if the Table widget contains attributes from more than one dataset.
Configuration and customization of the Table widget is performed through its Widget menu and through several context menu available on the most important part of the grid (header rows, index columns or table cells). A detailed presentation about all its customizations and about all its editing properties is contained in this dedicated page.
Inputs¶
The Inputs family includes all the widgets with an input edit box with editing properties.
Those widgets are useful when the user needs to browse through its data in the same slide/dialog and to modify or add a single row at the same time.
Members of this family are:
Note
The event triggers available for the Inputs widgets change according to the action type. A box with a list of the event triggers available for each Inputs widget is available in the corresponding page.
In the Input Field widget users need to drag a single attribute from the Datasets panel onto the widget, and it allows to insert a new value to a specific attribute.
By default, when you drag the Input Field widget onto the stage, it initially appears with a central edit box. However, when you drag an attribute onto it, its graphical appearance changes. The graphical appearance of an Input Field depends on the data type of the attribute being dragged onto it, more information in the corresponding page.
Configuration and customizations of the Input Field widget are performed through its corresponding layout menu which can be opened by double-clicking on the widget.
To start using the Row Selector widget, users need to drag an entire dataset from the Datasets panel onto the widget. The Row Selector allows to select a specific row in a dataset or add a new one.
Configuration and customizations of the Row Selector widget are performed through its corresponding layout menu which can be opened by double-clicking on the widget.