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July 7, 2006
The Spotfire DXP data handling
In this article I will cover the exiting architecture of the data handling is Spotfire DXP in some detail.
The data handling of Spotfire DXP is one of the most exiting parts of the product, it relies heavily on experiences learned from the Spotfire DecisionSite product, but we have also spent quite some time on investigating the needs of the business analytics market. These findings gave us some interesting ideas that we have twisted around until something with a Spotfire feeling came out.
Many of the capabilities of the data handling of Spotfire DXP can be found in other products, but we have made it possible to start with a data set, add more data from various data sources and then visualizing multiple aspects (views) of this data simultaneously, with full interaction and tight coupling in between different data views.
In Spotfire DecisionSite we have visualizations that have specific columns assigned to their axes, and some plots have built in aggregation of these axes, i.e. bar chart and pie chart. In Spotfire DXP this has been taken much further. Each axis in the visualization is now assigned a data view, which can be dynamically calculated from one or more column in the data set.
The data view can be calculated based on the columns exposed by the original data set imported into Spotfire DXP or any other view derived from that view. Data views can also be based on subsets of other views, e.g. filtered rows or marked rows.
Just as in Spotfire DecisionSite, DXP has the ability to create new columns based on other columns. Spotfire DXP extends this concept with the ability to use the expression language to calculate aggregated columns, cumulative sums and hierarchies.
All data views and calculated columns are automatically recalculated when required, e.g. when the filtering is changed and when new rows are added to the data set.
Another important feature which has been enabled by Spotfire DXP is the ability to have different sets of data filters apply to different visualization. This is enabled by the ability to create new data subsets for different views. In Spotfire DXP 1.0 this is used to make it possible to have query device panels on different pages that work independently.
The hierarchy handling is another really important new feature, I will describe this in a later posting.
Happy analysis,
/Jonas
Posted by Jonas Lagerblad at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
Spotfire DXP - exiting new stuff
The countdown for the biggest product launch in the history of Spotfire will very
soon reach zero now, and I will try to describe some of the great innovations in
this product.
The product will be called Spotfire DXP and it is a completely new foundation for
interactive business analytics. Spotfire DXP embraces the strengths of the Spotfire
DecisionSite and adds a huge set of new capabilities never seen together in one
product before.
We have talked to customers and investigated all aspects of the data analytics market
to come up with a completely novel way of interact with data.
The main capabilities of Spotfire DXP are:
- Centrally managed data access via the Spotfire Information Services
- Centrally managed product deployment
- Interactive analysis of large data sets - a new take of the unique Spotfire way
of allowing the and user to analyze business critical data - End user friendly packaging of complex analytical tools
- Extensibility of product
Compared to the Spotfire DecisionSite product you will notice many differences.
The main features that are visible to the user are:
- New user interface, which allows a much more effective analysis of data, and gives the user direct access to all common operations via drag drop and on screen roperty
controls - Undo and redo of changes to the analysis session
- Addition of new data rows and columns in a much more flexible way
- Visualization of multiple views of data in parallel
- Analysis data with hierarchies
All of these new features are based on a completely new product foundation developed using the Microsoft .Net 2.0 framework.
Stay tuned for more details on architecture and exiting challenges encountered.
Regards,
Jonas
Posted by Jonas Lagerblad at 6:45 AM | Comments (0)
