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Have you “inherited” someone else’s Spotfire project?
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Has another group built a project for you and you would like to understand it better?
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Would you like to familiarize yourself with other developers’ projects?
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Are you in charge of modifying someone else’s project?
What Do You Need To Know
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How large and complex is the project?
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How many tables are in the project?
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Are the tables tall and skinny or short and wide or just huge?
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Where do those tables come from?
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What do you know about those data sources?
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Are tables related?
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How “clean” is the project?
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Are there duplicate columns? <see this post for an explanation of how/why this happens>
- Did the developer use a naming convention?
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Are there parts of the project that are redundant, unused or broken?
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Does it contain property controls, filtering schemes, scripts and/or other bits in pieces that were created but aren’t being used?
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Did the author duplicate tables?
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Are all of the data connections in the project for tables that are being used?
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Are all of the tables connected to visualizations or do they feed tables connected to visualizations?
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Do all of the calculations work?
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Do you have any frozen columns?
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How “technical” is the project? What skills do you need to modify it?
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Does the project use data functions?
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Does the project contain JavaScript or IronPython?
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Did the author include custom SQL queries?
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Do the data functions use packages?
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Did the author input HTML or CSS code?
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Does the project make use of custom extensions?
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How can this project be improved?
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Can the load time improve?
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Can unused components be removed?
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Part 1 — Tables and Data Sources
First, we cover tables and data sources because they are the foundation for the project. You must understand this to understand the rest of the project.
Part 2 — Data Functions
Table build and data wrangling might come next, BUT data functions commonly create data tables and/or perform data wrangling tasks, so we’ll look at them second.
Part 3 — Table Build and Data Wrangling
Next, with an understanding of data sources, we’ll look at how they come together and how much data manipulation happens.
Part 4 — Document Properties
Then, we’ll look at the Edit > Document Properties menu because they can be used in columns and calcs.
Part 5 — Columns and Calculations
Now, we have a good high-level understanding of the project, so we can get into the nitty gritty details.
Part 6 — Text Areas and Scripting
Part 7 — Visualizations & Data Limiting
Visualizations are covered last because they are where everything comes together.
Guest Spotfire blogger residing in Whitefish, MT. Working for SM Energy’s Advanced Analytics and Emerging Technology team!
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