Tableau Type Conversion with STR, INT and FLOAT functions.

0:00Hey it's Tim here. In today's video I'm

0:01going to be covering the three type

0:03conversion functions

0:04int, float and string. Okay let's get stuck

0:08in. Okay so what I'm going to do is I'm

0:10going to

0:10connect to a mark data set. I'm going to

0:11make this available in the description

0:13below so you

0:14can download it and have a go yourself. So

0:16I'm going to go ahead here to excel, go to

0:18my desktop

0:19and you can see I have this mark data here

0:21for type conversion. Let's open this up and

0:23I'll show

0:24you basically what's going on in this data

0:26set. It's a very very simple data set. We

0:30've got names

0:31of individuals age, year and height and

0:33inches. So what I'm going to do is I'm

0:34going to deliberately

0:36create scenarios here with this data set to

0:38sort of showcase what's possible and what's

0:41not possible

0:42with all these functions. So let's go ahead

0:45and go to sheet one and this is it. This is

0:47the basic data

0:48set we're going to work with. I'll go ahead

0:49and take an extract just to sort of start

0:51to get into

0:52a good habit and I'll keep that in the same

0:54folder here. So let's just hit save and now

0:56we're pretty

0:57much ready to go. Okay first thing I'm

0:59going to do is drag first name onto rose

1:02and then we're going

1:03to start looking at some of this

1:04information. Now if you look at this year

1:06born is at the moment

1:08in this sort of upper part which is

1:10typically where the dimensions are. So in

1:142020.2 I believe

1:16Tableau got rid of the separator that so do

1:19you where measures and dimensions were and

1:22now they

1:22have just this sort of subtle line. So

1:25essentially speaking the year we're born

1:27here is actually

1:28coming across as an integer which is why it

1:30's sort of sitting here at the top whereas

1:32everything else

1:33is coming through as a measure. So you've

1:34got age height and inches and I think this

1:36is partly

1:36because Tableau understands that this is a

1:39slightly sort of a specific data type. So

1:42it is actually

1:42able to look inside rose and give a guess

1:44as to what it might be. So let's just build

1:47this table

1:47what I'll do is I'll make everything

1:49discrete so we can just see the information

1:51. We've got some

1:52ages and names duplicating themselves here

1:55so that's good to know. What I'll also do

1:58is I'll

1:58bring out age and again I'll make this

2:00discrete just so we can see this as a tab

2:02ular formula.

2:03Then height and inches I'll do the same and

2:05again we'll do this as discrete just so we

2:08can see that.

2:08The data count we don't need that so much

2:10but that's pretty much where we are this is

2:12all our

2:13data types. So we have the scenario where

2:15we have duplicate names I wouldn't worry

2:18too much about

2:18that it's not going to cause as much of a

2:20problem especially if we keep the year in

2:22context and so

2:23we're going to be pretty much ready to go.

2:25The first function we're going to cover is

2:27changing

2:28numbers into text so let's look at the

2:30string function. In order to do this I'm

2:32just going

2:32to create a calculated field and bring in

2:34our calculation window. I'll make this a

2:36little bit

2:37smaller just so we can see more of the

2:39window here and then I'll bring this back

2:41out so you can see

2:42the functions. I'll call this string and

2:45what we need to do here is just type in the

2:48function str.

2:49So str will bring up this function and if

2:52we hit enter you'll see that it wraps

2:55itself around that

2:56and if you look on the right hand side it

2:58says returns a string given an expression.

3:00Example

3:00string age returns all the values of the

3:02age measures as string so that's exactly

3:05what we're

3:05going to do. So let's go ahead here and

3:08just type in age and if I just type in age

3:11you'll see that

3:12that comes in and at the moment age is a

3:14measure so what this is going to do is

3:15going to turn this

3:16into a piece of text. What does that mean?

3:20I'll show you so let's just say we hit

3:22apply and then

3:23we bring this into our view and notice this

3:26time around when I bring it in it's a blue

3:29item so it

3:29behaves like a dimension like a discrete

3:31item and I'm just going to put it right

3:33next to where we

3:34have the sum of age which is actually the

3:36aggregated version of the measure that we

3:38're

3:39using so if I now put that in there you'll

3:41see that because it's a string it doesn't

3:43automatically

3:44aggregate you can't really sort of do much

3:47with it there but also if this wasn't a

3:49whole number

3:50let's say this was a decimal point it would

3:52also turn this into a piece of text. Let me

3:54show you

3:55how that works so let's go in here let's

3:57change this and let's just change the

3:59height that we've

4:00got so let's say height okay height in

4:02inches let's change that into a string and

4:04then hit apply

4:05and you'll see the tableau changes that to

4:07a string now when it does that you'll

4:10notice

4:11that it doesn't just show the two decimal

4:13places that we had it actually goes into

4:15the data set

4:16and goes and gets as much precision as it

4:18can out of that number so that's just

4:20something to bear in

4:21mind if you're going to be turning floats

4:23or numbers into strings just consider the

4:26precision

4:26that you want out of that data set because

4:28if you get something like this you're

4:29probably going to

4:30have to do some cleaning up to remove the

4:32decimal point information that you need or

4:35rounding up or

4:36rounding down then returning a string just

4:38to give you something that's actually

4:39worthwhile working

4:40with because heights in inches you probably

4:43want to turn that into some other sort of

4:45metrics like

4:46maybe foot and inches like you know five

4:48foot six or something like that this is

4:50just all in inches

4:51so you maybe you could do a conversion

4:53calculation in tableau to sort of clean

4:55that up but that's

4:55pretty much a string function it works on

4:58both integers and floats and you just need

5:00to bear in

5:00mind that it will do a pretty good job of

5:02turning that including bringing back all

5:04the precision

5:05that you have inside of your numerical

5:07fields if you have something with a high

5:09level precision

5:10like floats okay let's go on to the next

5:12function okay for the next bit i'm going to

5:14show you how

5:15the integer function works and we're going

5:17to use the height in inches which is

5:19actually a float as

5:20an example to show you that so let's go

5:22ahead and create a new calculated field in

5:25this case

5:25i'm just going to call it integer okay let

5:27's just call integer and this is another

5:29very simple

5:30function just type in int and you'll see it

5:32comes up straight away hit enter and now we

5:35have our

5:35expression already now what i need to do is

5:38to put the height in inches into this so

5:40let's just

5:40go ahead and type in heights and inches hit

5:43enter and you'll see the calculation is now

5:45valid let's

5:46hit apply drag it into our view and now

5:48what i'm going to do is i'm actually going

5:50to put it right

5:51here and at the moment because an integer

5:53is coming through is like a essentially

5:55like as a measure

5:56and what i'm actually going to do is turn

5:58it into a discrete item very very shortly

6:00so i'll put it

6:01in here or create a bar chart and then now

6:03if we go back and make it a discrete item

6:05we'll actually

6:06get to see it as a table so you'll see that

6:08exactly what's happened here by turning it

6:10into

6:10an integer it basically behaves as like a

6:13whole number so there are no fractions

6:15related to this

6:16essentially the difference between a

6:18floating and integers and integers a whole

6:20number essentially

6:20like a you know 2010 could be an integer or

6:2336 could be an integer when you talk about

6:26your age

6:26generally we talk in integers no one says

6:29they are you know 33.3 years old they just

6:31say they're 33

6:32years old so in that case you're using

6:34integers however when you work with floats

6:36you get

6:37essentially a fraction related to that

6:38number so 33.3 is technically something

6:41like 33 and one third

6:42okay and so integers will basically remove

6:45that sort of precision from your number and

6:48just return

6:49the whole number this is useful if you're

6:50working with the data that maybe needs that

6:53it's actually

6:53quite common when you work with certain

6:55data sets that you might want integers over

6:57floats and so

6:58this is essentially how you do it just put

7:00that into an integer function and you get a

7:02whole

7:02number back let's click ok and now we're

7:05going to go to the next function which is

7:06essentially

7:07the float function and we're going to use

7:10this on the age as a way of figuring this

7:12out okay so

7:12let's go ahead and create a calculation

7:14here let's create calculated field i'm just

7:17going to type in

7:17float now this is a weird one because in

7:19this particular example what i'm doing is i

7:21'm applying

7:22it to age which is at the moment it's like

7:24a whole number it's just in it it's an

7:26integer but if i

7:27just go ahead and do that um let's just say

7:29float we're going to look at another way

7:31that you can

7:32see that this is a float let's just hit

7:35apply and um let's just drag this into our

7:37view and we're

7:39going to deliberately put it here in the uh

7:42top but now you can see that this is a

7:43float but it

7:44looks exactly the same as our integer and

7:47that's because there is no precision in our

7:50age data

7:51that can make this float work in sort of

7:53more detail if i head over here to the left

7:55hand side

7:56you'll see that we have age and flight they

7:58look exactly the same but if i right click

8:00on age and

8:00i go to uh change data type you'll see that

8:02this says number whole which means it's an

8:05integer

8:06whereas if i go to the float calculation we

8:07've just created which looks identical in

8:09the table

8:10and actually go to that and see change data

8:12type says number decimals this is how i

8:14know

8:14that i've actually changed the number to a

8:16float even though it looks exactly the same

8:18as an integer so this is a really important

8:21sort of semantic thing to be aware of

8:23and because it can fundamentally change the

8:25way your charts behave and also how you do

8:27things

8:28like aggregate and work with the data now

8:30that's not to say that you couldn't force

8:32decimals into

8:33the formatting let's say that i wanted this

8:35age for whatever reason to be formatted uh

8:38you know

8:38like a decimal i could still force that so

8:40if i click on format here for this age

8:42integer

8:43i just go to number custom i can still

8:45force it to have decimal places but it's

8:48still going to be a

8:50whole number okay so that's just something

8:52to be aware of what you see and what it

8:54actually is

8:55aren't necessarily linked formatting is

8:57sort of separate to what's actually

8:59happening with the

8:59data structure and that's something that

9:01catches a lot of people out especially when

9:02you want to

9:03do things like formatting currency so that

9:05's just something to be aware of okay so

9:07that's pretty

9:07much it for this video we've covered the

9:10three main type conversion functions int

9:12string and

9:13float and essentially what those functions

9:15do is they change whatever you give them

9:17whatever

9:18expression you give them into another data

9:20type now this is commonly used in use cases

9:22where you're working inside of a

9:23calculation and maybe you need to compare

9:25integers with integers

9:27or floats to floats typically when you work

9:29with data types you need to be working with

9:31the same

9:31range of data types so this is a great way

9:33of getting around that problem okay so that

9:36's very

9:36much it if you've enjoyed this video you

9:38know what to do hit a comment below let me

9:39know what

9:40you'd like to see next next week i'm going

9:42to start trying to tackle that mountain of

9:44server content that everyone's been asking

9:46for alongside still covering some functions

9:48so

9:48we will get to more complex topics i think

9:50it's just really important to cover the

9:53fundamentals

9:53so that when you talk about complex topics

9:55you can reference the fundamentals a little

9:57later on

9:58that's essentially the game plan here we're

10:00covering the simple stuff so we can do the

10:02complex stuff later on so stay tuned for

10:04that all right i'll catch you in the next

10:05video