Analyzing & Exploring Data

When you ask a query in Data Messenger, a data response will be returned to you. A range of additional tools/features are available to help you analyze and explore your data further.

Hover over the data response to see which tools and features are available to you.

On hover, you will see a Toolbar in the top right corner and a range of available visualization options in the top left corner:

Query Toolbar

The Query Toolbar contains tools that enable you to filter results and export your query responses as needed.

Learn about all the tools available to you in the Data Messenger Toolbar:

Delete Data Response

Click on the trash can icon to delete a data response.

Report a Problem

Click on the “warning” icon to report a problem.

When querying data with AutoQL, you can “report a problem” if you believe an issue has occurred (I.e. if the data returned was inaccurate or not what you were expecting).

From the data response view, click on the “Report a problem” icon, then select the option that most-closely suits the problem you are experiencing.

Selecting either of the first two options will report the problem automatically without providing additional context.

Select “other” to provide helpful context about the issue you are experiencing, then click Submit. Your feedback will be sent to our team for review.

 Show/Hide Columns

Click on the “eye” icon to show/hide columns.

Opt to only display the columns in a table that contain the data most relevant for your unique purposes. To show or hide individual columns, select the “Show/Hide Columns” icon. Simply select which columns you would like to view and click “Apply”. 

Filter Table

Filtering is a useful way to see only the data that you want returned/displayed. To filter a data response, select the “Filter” icon. 

Underneath each column header, you can filter by name, number, and enter criteria such as less than and greater than (</>) to filter numerical values.

More options 

View additional features/available actions by clicking on the triple dot icon in the toolbar menu on the far left-hand side.

Download as a CSV

To download your result as a CSV file, select the “Download as a CSV” icon and open the CSV file on your computer.

Note: This feature is only available when viewing a data response in tabular format (not as a graphical response).

Copy Table to Clipboard

To copy a data response and move it to an external spreadsheet, presentation, report, or other, just select the “Copy to Clipboard” icon, and paste the data response into your desired spreadsheet or other location.

Note: This feature is only available when viewing a data response in tabular format (not as a graphical response).

Download as a PNG

To download your chart or graph as a PNG, select the “Download as a PNG” icon and open the PNG file on your computer.

Shortcuts in Data Messenger

• If you’d like to repeat the last query, hit the up arrow on your keyboard to generate the same query in the input field. 
• To cancel an executed query that is still running, tap the ESC button on your keyboard.

Visualizations

Data visualization types are the graphical representations of data (returned as responses to queries) that communicate relationships among the represented data points to viewers or consumers of that data:

Visualization options show up on-hover in the top left corner of a data response.

Dynamically visualize data using a variety of graphing and charting options. Data Messenger supports several visualization types, as depicted below.

• 1) Tables

Displays array data in a regular table. See example below:

• 2) Filter Tables

Displays a multi-dimensional table, with the first column frozen. See example below:

• 3) Line Charts

Ordinal data is displayed on the x-axis, numerical data is displayed on the y-axis. Will show a line series for each column of data where applicable. See example below:

4) Pie Charts 

Summarizes a set of nominal data or displays the different values of a given variable (e.g. by percentage distribution). This type of chart is a circle divided into a series of segments. Each segment represents a particular category. See example below:

5) Bar Charts

Ordinal data is displayed on the y-axis, numerical data is displayed on the x-axis, bars are horizontal. Will show a series for each column of data where applicable. See example below:

6) Column Charts

Ordinal data is displayed on the x-axis, numerical data is displayed on the y-axis, bars are vertical. Will show a series for each column of data where applicable. See example below:

7) Stacked Bar and Stacked Column Charts

Stacked Bar: Ordinal data is on the y-axis, numerical data is on the x-axis, bars are horizontal. Bars are split into categories using the third dimension. Will show a legend for the categories on the right-hand side. 

Stacked Column: Ordinal data is on the x-axis, numerical data is on the y-axis, bars are vertical. Columns are split into categories using the third dimension. Will show a legend for the categories on the right-hand side.

• • Note: Only available for queries containing more than one groupable. For example: “Total sales by customer by month this year”

8) Stacked Area Charts

Ordinal data is on the x-axis, numerical data is on the y-axis. Each area is stacked on top of the previous area. Will show a legend for the categories on the right-hand side. See example below: 

• • • Note: Only available for queries containing more than one groupable. For example: “Total sales by customer by month this year

9) Heat Maps

The position of the squares are based on the categories, and the opacity of the squares are based on the values. See example below:

• • • Note: Only available for queries containing more than one groupable.

10) Bubble Charts

The position of the bubbles are based on the categories, and the radius of the bubbles are based on the values. See example below:

• • Note: Only available for queries containing more than one groupable.

Adjust Axis Display

Once a data response has been returned, in some instances, you may notice a small arrow is present beside the x-axis or y-axis label. 

If this arrow is present, this means the data being displayed on that axis can be adjusted. 

Click on the arrow to view the different options that are available for you to display on that axis and select the one you would prefer to show.

Note: The Adjust Axis feature is only applicable under specific conditions. Due to how specific query responses can be graphed, this axis-adjusting functionality is only available when:

• • The query contains multiple groupables or filters AND
  • The selected data visualization type is a line chart, bar chart or column chart

Interpretation / “Interpreted As” Statement

When a data response gets returned, you will see a visual response (table or graph), followed by a text statement preceded by “Interpreted as”. This text statement provides a plain-English interpretation of how your query was understood by AutoQL, including helpful context that shows the relationship between filters/value labels in the query and their corresponding column in the database.

Each Interpretation/ ”Interpreted as” statement displays filters/value labels with their corresponding column header in brackets.

• Filters are displayed in blue text.
• Locked Filters also appear in blue text, but are differentiated from unlocked filters by a lock icon preceding it.

Visualizing Rows

When a data response gets returned, if there is a lot of information to be displayed we've set it up to return a subset of the data to speed up response time. The default return amount is 50 rows of data but you can pre-configure that initial amount.

As a user scrolls through the data response, additional rows will be returned creating an infinite scroll effect till all the rows are displayed.

Drill Downs 

• When viewing a query result, there may be times where you wish to uncover the details underlying a given data point. To do so in Data Messenger, you can easily “drill down” to access these details.

What is a Drill Down?

To drill down means to surface or access a deeper level of information — or uncover the underlying details — that make up a given data point.

How to Use Drill Downs

To drill down to access the details underlying a particular data point, enter a natural language query, receive the data response, and then simply click on a particular line item or detail in the graph or chart that is returned.

Note: When you click on a data point to drill down, an additional "drill down query" will be automatically generated from your action and a detailed response will be returned to you within seconds.

Managing & Locking Filters

When querying in Data Messenger, you may wish to apply filters to help you narrow down results, cut through excess noise, and gain critical insights faster.

Managing filters allows you to “lock” specific filters so that only the specific data associated with that filter will get returned.

This feature is particularly useful in helping narrow down or focus on something particular in the query results. This can also be thought of as “subsetting” the data.

Accessing the Manage Filters Menu

To access the Managing Filters menu, you have two options:

1. Click on the lock icon in the top right corner of Data Messenger, or 

2. Ask a query in Data Messenger, then click on a Filter/Value Label in the “Interpreted As” statement – which then opens the Filter Locking menu.

This feature allows you to set your own filter preferences and retain those preferences for the duration of an entire session (session-specific), or to set filters that get retained between sessions and are applied on an ongoing basis over time (persistent). These Lock Settings are described further below.

How to Lock a Filter

To lock a filter:

• • Navigate to the Filter Locking menu
  • Begin typing in the search bar to find the filter you wish to lock.
  • Click on a filter to apply/lock it. That filter would then appear in the menu of locked filters below.
  • Now that a filter has been locked, any subsequent queries you ask will automatically factor that filter in.

Null Filter Locking

There may be times that you want to include/exclude "null" or non-existent data. 

• • Begin typing in the search bar "NULL" to find the filter you wish to lock.
  • Click on a filter to apply/lock it.
  • Click on whether to INCLUDE or EXCLUDE the null data.
    • Now that a filter has been locked, any subsequent queries you ask will automatically factor that null filter in.
    

Lock Settings: Persistent & Session-Specific

Filters can be locked on a persistent or session-specific basis.

• • Persistent:
    • The filter is locked on a persistent basis unless it gets removed, meaning the filter will remain locked between sessions, so you can pick up where you left off when you return to Data Messenger.
  • Session-Specific: 
    • The filter is locked for the current session only. If you leave Data Messenger or close your browser and start a new session, the locked filter won’t be retained.

Removing/Unlocking a Filter

If you wish to remove a filter that has been locked or to view filters you have locked, simply click on any filter within an “Interpreted as” statement, or click into the Manage Filters menu at any time.

To unlock/remove a Filter, click on the small trash can icon in the locked filters menu.