Learning the Spotfire Expression Language

Why Do Counts Aggregate Differently in Spotfire?

Last week, I wrote a post on using Axis Names on Cross Tables. My examples calculated the difference in Amounts between two scenarios on a cross table. I also needed to know the difference in well counts between scenarios, this time on a bar chart. But, when I changed the aggregation from a Sum to a CountDistinct, the calculations didn’t work anymore. That is because counts aggregate differently than the other aggregation methods. Read on if you want to get your counts right!

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Troubleshooting Custom Expressions in Spotfire

Working with custom expressions in Spotfire can be tricky. You try different combinations of syntax and just get errors. Sometimes the error message is helpful, but often it is just jibberish. How do you know exactly what’s getting passed thru the expression? There is a way to find out. Check out this short post for a solid pro-tip on troubleshooting custom expressions in Spotfire.

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Spotfire Axis Names on Bar Charts

Last week, I introduced the concept of Axis Names. If I counted correctly, there are 19 axis names applicable to one or more of the 14 visualizations in Spotfire. I will go through the axis names one visualization at a time, beginning with axis names on bar charts. Although, I learned very quickly that just because you can use an axis name on a given visualization, it doesn’t mean you should. I’ll show you what I mean by looking at Axis.X and Axis.Color. Read on to learn more.

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$esc and $map Functions in Spotfire

A while ago, I started a series on learning the Spotfire expression language. I made a lot of progress on it but got pulled off on a few side quests. This week, I return to that theme with an explanation of how to use the $esc and $map functions in Spotfire. Knowing how to use these functions will allow you to connect visualizations to property control to provide a more interactive experience for users. It will also give you greater insight into how Spotfire expressions really work. Read on if you want to be able to…

  • Create dynamic visualizations that update with changes to property controls.
  • Use data limiting with property controls.
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Node Navigation – FirstNode, LastNode, LastPeriods, PreviousPeriod & NextPeriod

This is post 8 in my series on learning the Spotfire expression language. We are in the middle of exploring all of the node navigation methods. This post will cover FirstNode, LastNode, LastPeriods, PreviousPeriod and NextPeriod. I’m combining these particular methods in order to differentiate between Node, Period, and Periods. Read on to learn the difference.

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