Previewing Data from a Table

The Preview table lets you see all the values for all the rows and columns in a table. This includes any custom columns, tables, and ETL processes that have been applied to your table.

The Preview table makes it easy to verify that the data in your table is accurate and complete.

In addition to displaying a preview of your data, from the Statistics tab, you can view statistics about the data you are previewing. The statistics tab in the editor allows the user to quickly understand and parse the results of their query, without writing more SQL.

Note:

Summary Statistics is available on select plans. Site administrators can contact their Customer Success Manager for additional information.

Example:

You can view a distribution of the values of your data, nulls, distinct values, and the standard deviation for each column.

Note:

To view underlying table data, you will first need to build your ElastiCube.

To review the underlying table data:

  • Click the relevant table and select the magnifying glass icon to display the Preview table.

The Preview table contains a variety of information and functionality that relate to your table. A sample preview is displayed below.

  1. Column Filter - Search for columns in your table. As you begin to type, relevant results are displayed in the left pane. This does not affect the results displayed in the preview.

  2. Connected Table - This icon indicates that the column is connected to another table. Click the icon to disconnect the relationship or to view more information about the connection. See Creating and Removing a Relationship Between Tables for more information.

  3. Table Details - The number of columns and rows included in the table.

  4. Menu Options - Tasks you can perform on a column. Hover over the column to display the menu and click it to display the options.

  5. Filter Column - Apply filters to the data in the column. You can filter numeric data and text data. See Filtering Columns for more information.

  6. Sort Column - Sort a column. Hover over the column name to display the sort icon. You can sort the column by date, numerically, or alphabetically depending on the type of column.

  7. Add Custom Column - Add a custom column to the table. See Adding a Custom Column for more information.

  8. Sample Data - A sample of your data. See Sampling Data below for more information.

Filtering Columns

You can filter data displayed in your Preview table's columns by defining conditions for numeric data and text data. To limit what data is displayed in the preview, you can add multiple conditions that you define. For example, a Text filter can limit the strings included in the preview.

Filtering the data in the Preview table does not affect the data itself, just what you see in the preview.

Filtering your preview is useful if you need to check specific data to verify the accuracy of your table's completeness.

To filter entire rows or columns of data from your preview:

  1. In the Preview table, hover over the header in the of the relevant column to display the Filter icon.
  2. Click the Filter icon to define the filter's conditions.
Text Numeric
  1. Define your filters. Click Add Condition to add more conditions to the filter or click Clear to erase all the conditions.
  2. After you have defined your conditions, click Apply to update the preview.

Sampling Data

If you are working with a large dataset, you may want to restrict the amount of data displayed in your Preview table. Sisense provides three options for displaying a sample of your data:

Top: The first rows that are contained at the top of your data.

Bottom: The last rows that are contained at the bottom of your data.

Sample: A random selection of rows contained in your table. Sisense selects a sample of your data randomly by rows. If you open the preview again, the same rows will be displayed until your next ElastiCube build

With each sampling option, you can determine how many rows are displayed according to the value of the Number of Rows field. You can modify this value to display as few as 10 rows or include as many as you like, up to the total number of rows included in the table.
To view a sample of your data:

  1. In Sisense, open a preview of your table.

  2. In the top-right corner of the Preview table, click the Sampling Icon.

  3. Select the relevant sampling option for your data and enter the amount of rows to be included in the sample in the Number of Rows field.

  4. Click Done. Your Preview table is updated.