Inspiration
Currently, you can add a field to the pages shelf and automatically flip through values via the control. However, if you want to do the same with a parameter, the pages shelf currently does not support it. We found that this would be a very valuable tool to tell a story within your dashboards, so we created Param Flipper.
What it does
Param Flipper is a Tableau Dashboard Extension that allows users to vary a parameter across a range of values in order to create and animation of your data. Once inserted into a dashboard, paramFlipper allows a user to fully customize their display, choosing from any parameter in the workbook, setting a step size, start and end value, and displaying duration.
How we built it
This extension was built using the Dashboard Extensions API. We used the well known javascript, moment.js, to cycle through moments. The script was written in javascript.
Challenges we ran into
The most challenging part of this project was using Tableau's Dashboard Extensions API. This was new to our team, but once we got the hang of it, it was very user friendly and easy to work with.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of the fact that this extension has so many valuable use cases, such as to show data in context without filtering, or to make explicit how analysis results depend on a model parameter.
What we learned
We learned how to use Tableau's Extensions API and to improve our JavaScript and HTML/CSS skills.
What's next for paramFlipper
In the future, we hope to improve the user interface for Param Flipper. We plane to make the control more closely resemble the VCR-like aesthetic of the pages control. We also hope to release an improved version of Param Flipper to the Tableau Extensions Gallery
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