Viewers of a document have the ability to Explore the charts and tables or to create their own tables and charts. Explore mode allows the user to either create a new table or chart, or, modify an existing table or chart in the published document (e.g., changing the data that is selected, selecting different statistics). The user has access to many of the same controls that you have when editing in Displayr. Any tables or charts that are created in Explore mode will be available only to the user that created them (ie this feature is not a way of modifying the dashboard for other dashboard users). Only logged-in users with appropriate access rights to the company Displayr account will have their outputs saved and available the next time they view the report.
Explore mode is started when viewing a published dashboard and by clicking the Explore button in the upper right-hand. Users only have this option if it has been made available to them (see below). Any charts or tables created by the user can be saved by pressing Copy. These charts and tables will then be available to the user whenever they login to the dashboard and will also update whenever the dashboard is updated.
Statistical analyses and items created using the Visualization menu are not available to explore.
There are seven sections of options in the Explore Mode ribbon:
Explore
The Copy and Delete buttons allow you to copy or delete your existing table/chart output. You can also use this to create a new table or chart and then change the variable sets used under Questions to show different data in the table or chart.
The Name field is the reference name of the table/chart that you've created. This can be altered as needed.
Questions
These two drop-downs allow you to select the questions (variable sets) that are used as inputs to the table/chart you've created. All questions in the project that haven't been hidden by the dashboard designer will be available as selections. The first drop-down is the question that goes in the rows/stub of the table and the second drop-down is the question that will go in the columns across the top of the table.
Tables
The Table button allows you to switch a chart output back to a table.
Charts
The Charts drop-down allows you to select different chart types to turn your table into. This drop-down charting menu contains various chart types including bar and column charts, line charts, stacked charts pie charts, and more.
Statistics
The Statistics section allows you to select the statistics that are shown in the Cells of the table. You can also show column-level statistics using Below or row-level statistics using Right.
Format
In this section, the top two buttons are used to increase or decrease the number of decimal points displayed in the output, while the bottom two buttons are used to apply %-signs or $-signs to the data in the table.
Weight
In this drop-down, you can select any weights available in the document, and apply them to the data in the table.
Filters
On the far right side of the Explore screen, a list of available filters will also be provided. Selecting a filter will apply it to the current table/chart. It is also possible to create additional filters by selecting the cells in some table types (click the cell and hold down Ctrl or Shift keys to select additional cells) and then clicking Create Filter. The cases in the data from the selected cells will then be used to create a new filter.
How to Enable Explore
If your document requires password access, user groups with access to your document must have Explore mode enabled. To do so:
- Click the user icon in the top right-hand corner when in Edit mode and select Account Settings.
- Go to the Settings tab.
- Scroll down to Groups.
- Select a group that has been given access to the document.
- Ensure the Users in this group can Explore box is ticked.
- Click Save.
Note that only accounts with a login will be able to save work done in Explore mode. See the blog post How to Control Who Can View your Documents for more details.
If your document does not require password access:
- Click the Export > Web Page.
- Select the Anyone with the link option.
- Expand the Advanced menu at the bottom.
- Check the box for Viewers can Explore without password.
- Click the Publish or Republish button.
