Get started with Visualization

DoubleCloud Visualization is a powerful business analytics tool that you can use to present your data as charts and diagrams, create dashboards, and embed them in your applications or websites. With Visualization, you can track your product and business metrics directly from data sources, such as PostgreSQL and ClickHouse® databases, and make data-based decisions.

This guide explains how to create a dashboard with charts based on data from a sample CSV file.

Before you start

Download the hits_sample.csv file with sample data.

Step 1. Create a workbook

A workbook is a visualization environment that contains tools to process and visualize data from connections to data sources.

Open the Visualization page in the console.
At the top right, click Create → Create workbook.
Enter a workbook name, such as Hits data, and click Create

An empty workbook looks as follows:

You can create other visualization components, such as datasets or charts, from this page.

Step 2. Create a connection

Connections access hosts in your cluster to fetch data for processing and visualization. In this tutorial, you'll create a connection that retrieves data from a CSV file, but the process is similar for other data sources.

To create a connection, take the following steps:

On the workbook page, click + Create connection.
Select Files.
In the left panel, click Upload files and select the hits_sample.csv file you downloaded.

Visualization will upload the file and show you a preview of the data.
In the data preview section, make sure that the encoding is set to utf-8, separator is Semicolon, and column header is enabled:

The preview block under the settings contains the header row and data rows. Visualization automatically detects column data types and shows them in the header row.
Click Create connection at the top right.
Enter a connection name, such as Hits connection, and click Create.

Step 3. Create a dataset

A dataset is a tool that parses the data recievied from a connector and gets it ready for representation in a graphical form.

On the workbook page, click + Create Dataset.
In the Connections section, you'll see the Hits connection that you just created. The Tables section contain tables with data that can be visualized. You'll see the hits_sample table in the workspace on the right:
Take a look at the data available for visualization in the Preview section below:
Click Save at the top right and name the dataset Test BA Dataset when prompted.
Go back to the workbook. You'll see the following under Datasets:

Step 4. Create charts

DoubleCloud Visualization supports over a dozen chart types. In this section, you'll learn how to visualize data from the example dataset using three most popular charts in Visualization — the column chart, donut chart, and indicator.

You'll also add selectors as filters for data visualizations.

Step 4.1. Create a column chart

A column chart is useful for visualizing value changes over time.

To create a column chart:

Click Create → Wizard chart.
Select Test BA Dataset from the list.
By default, Column chart is already selected.
Drag and drop Measures and Dimensions to the appropriate sections of the chart:
- Date to X - this provides the timeline over which the data was changing.
- Time_Spent to Y - this is the value changes of which we're going to visualize.
- Browser to Color - this enriches the data with color-coding
Your chart fields configuration should look like this:
Click Save at the top right.
Name the chart Time spent per browser and click Done.

Additional practice with Column charts
If you want some more practice creating column charts, create a similar chart, but make it about Traffic source. Select the Traffic_Source dimension for your Y field.
Go back to the workbook.

Step 4.2. Create a Donut chart

A donut chart allows you to compare the same parameter between several categories.

In our case, we want to visually compare the shares of users from all the device platforms and types:

Click Create → Wizard chart.
Select Test BA Dataset from the list.
Click the chart type field on the right of the dataset section and select Donut chart from the drop-down list.
Drag and drop Measures and Dimensions to the appropriate sections of the chart:
- Browser to Measures - each unique value in the Browser column will create a new section of the chart, and the number of occurrences will determine the size of the section.
- Technology to Color - this will define the color of each section.
Now we need to remove the number indicator from the center of the chart:
1. Click .
2. In the Chart settings window, toggle the Totals switch.
3. Click Apply
Your final chart settings configuration should look like this:
Click Save.
Let's call our chart User shares by platform and click Done.

Additional practice with Donut charts

If you want to practice creating bar charts, create a similar chart, but make it about Traffic source - choose the Traffic_Source field for your Color field.

Step 4.3. Create an indicator

An indicator shows a numeric value or a sum of values in large letters.

Click Create → Wizard chart.
Select Test BA Dataset from the list.
Click the chart type field on the right of the dataset section and select Indicator from the drop-down list.
Drag and drop Hit_ID to the Measure field.
Now let's make your indicator's header easier to understand:
1. Click the icon next to your chart type.
2. Toggle the Header switch and type Total hits:
3. Click Apply.
Let's customize the appearance of your indicator:
1. Hover your cursor over the Measure field and click .
2. In the popup window, select the M size and choose a different color:
3. Click Apply.
Your final chart settings configuration should look like this:
Click Save in the upper-right corner of the page.
The header value will automatically apply the name, just click Save.

Additional practice with Indicators

If you want to practice creating indicators, create a similar chart, but choose the Time_spent your Measure field, select a different color for the numbers, and write an appropriate header.

Go back to the workbook. Your Charts section should look as follows:

Step 5. Create a dashboard

A dashboard is a customizable data display that provides you with capabilities to arrange charts and selectors and organize them into tabs.

Click Create → Dashboard in the upper-right corner of your workbook page.
Let's name it Test BA Dashboard and click Create. Your dashboard will open in edit mode.
Add a description to the dashboard:
1. Click . You'll see the Dashboard info dialog:
2. Copy the following text and paste it into the WYSIWYG editor field:
```
This dashboard shows the website usage metrics for the project.
```
3. Click Save.

You're now ready to start populating your dashboard with tabs and charts.

Add charts to your dashboard

Click Add → Chart. You'll see the chart placement dialog:
1. Under Chart, click Select and choose the Time spent per browser chart from the list.
2. You'll see the chart's Title appear in the relevant field. To the right, there's the Show checkbox - let's keep it as is.
3. In the Description field, let's add some context to the chart. Copy and paste the following:
```
This chart shows the time users spend on the website arranged by browser.
```
4. Click Add.
5. Move the chart around the dashboard and resize it to your liking.
Add the User shares by platform donut chart to the dashboard and resize it if you want.
Add the Total hits indicator chart.

1 In the chart placement dialog, uncheck the Show box - we've already added the header to this chart, no need to duplicate it.
In the upper-right corner of the page, click Save.

Now you have a working dashboard with charts that will automatically update when the data on your data source changes:

final-dashboard

Keep exploring

Overview

Use Visualization API