Lorna used this week’s challenge to showcase a new feature in Tableau v2023.1 – dynamic axis titles. As you can expect, you’ll therefore need this version of Desktop (or later if you’re reading this in the future ;-)) to complete the challenge.

Modelling the data

Download the file Lorna provided and connect to the 2023 sheet. Lorna hinted that a pivot would help, so in the data source canvas, multi-select all the measures (ctrl-click each column – there are several) then right-click and Pivot.

Rename Pivot Field Names to Measure and rename Pivot Field Values to Value.

Building the Basic Scatter Plot

We need 2 parameters to control the selection of the measures we want to display in the scatter plot. Right click on Measure > Create > Parameter

pMeasure1

string parameter defaulted to Metres, and all the possible other values should be listed

Repeat the steps again to create pMeasure2 which is defaulted to Tackles

To determine the value to plot on the axes based on the selections from the parameters we need

X-Axis Value

IF [pMeasure1] = [Measure] THEN
IF [Value] <> 0 THEN [Value] END
END

Note – the additional nested IF was added as I discovered while playing with the Lorna’s solution that marks didn’t display when the value was zero.

Similarly we need

Y-Axis Value

IF [pMeasure2] = [Measure] THEN
IF [Value] <> 0 THEN [Value]END
END

Add X-Axis to Columns, Y-Axis to Rows, Team Name to Rows and Name to Detail. This will give a basic scatter plot.

Change the mark type to circle, adjust the colour, and reduce the opacity to around 70%. Add a grey border to the circles.

The size is based on the number of games the player has played, so we need

Count Games

COUNTD([Game ID])

Add this to the Size shelf.

Adjust the Tooltip so it references the parameters and the other relevant fields

To change the axis titles, edit the x-axis (right click axis > edit axis) and from the menu arrow next to the word ‘custom’, select the pMeasure1 option.

Repeat the same for the y-axis, but select pMeasure2 instead.

Making the small multiples

For this we need to define which row and column each Team Name should sit in. As we’ve only got 12 teams to work with, and that number is static, and we know we’re working with a 3×4 grid, I’m going to ‘hardcode’ this a bit rather than use more dynamic calculations.

To see what’s going on, on a new sheet add Team Name to Rows. Then create a new field

INDEX

INDEX()

and add this to Rows and convert to discrete. It should provider a counter from 1 to 12 for each Team Name.

Based off this INDEX value we’ll work out which row and colum each team will sit.

Column

(INDEX()-1) % 3

Row

IF [INDEX]<=3 THEN 1
ELSEIF [INDEX]<=6 THEN 2
ELSEIF [INDEX]<=9 THEN 3
ELSE 4
END

Add these to the table as blue discrete pills

Back onto the scatter plot sheet, add Row to Rows as a blue discrete pill, add Column to Columns as a discrete pill, and move Team Name to Detail. Modify the table calculation settings of both the Row and the Column pill so that the calculation is computed using Team Name and Name (in that order) and at the level of Team Name

Hide the Column and Row pills (uncheck Show Header)

Adding the Team Name title

Create a new field

Ref Line

WINDOW_MAX(SUM([Y-Axis Value])) * 1.1

and add this to the Rows. This will create a second marks card. Set the table calcuation of the Ref Line pill to compute using Name and Team Name (in that order).

On the Ref Line marks card, remove the pill from the Size shelf, change the mark type to gantt bar, and reduce the size to the smallest possible, set the opacity to 0%, and border to none.

Add Team Name to the Label shelf, then set to label min/max values, by the X-Axis Value field and Label Minimum value only.

Each team name should only be displayed once. Edit the text of the label and add a few spaces to shift the label across and align it better.

Edit the Tooltip of this marks card, and delete all the text. Now make the chart dual axis and synchronise the axis. Then remove Measure Names from the All marks card, and hide the right hand axis.

Finally remove the 0 lines from displaying, and hide the nulls indicator (right click). Add the chart to a dashboard, and position the parameters as floating objects within the text of the title. I just used spaces within the text to leave room for where I wanted to place the parameterss.

And that should be it. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’!

Donna