Methods and user interfaces for generating level of detail calculations for data visualizations

1. A method for generating level of detail calculations for data visualizations, comprising:

at a computing device having a display, one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors:

receiving user selection of a data source;

displaying a data visualization interface, including:

a data visualization region;

a shelf region with a plurality of shelves, each shelf defining a respective characteristic of a data visualization based on placement of data fields onto the respective shelf; and

a schema information region displaying a plurality of data objects, wherein each of the data objects has one or more selectable data fields from the data source and each of the data fields is designated as a dimension or a measure;

receiving user input to select a measure data field and a dimension data field from the schema information region, the measure data field representing quantitative data and the dimension data field representing categorical data;

in response to the user input:

generating a custom calculation that groups data values of the dimension data field according to one or more respective distinct data values of the dimension data field and executes an aggregation function to aggregate data values of the measure data field for each of the one or more distinct data values of the dimension data field;

storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field, associated with a first data object corresponding to the dimension data field; and

displaying the new selectable data field as a data field for the first data object in the schema information region;

receiving user selection of the new selectable data field from the schema information region and placement of the new selectable data field onto a first shelf in the shelf region, wherein the first shelf defines a first data visualization characteristic; and

generating and displaying a data visualization in the data visualization region, wherein the first data visualization characteristic of the data visualization is determined according to data values of the custom calculation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user input is a drag-and-drop operation comprising dragging the measure data field and dropping the measure data field over the dimension data field.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the dimension data field is a primary key or alternative key of a data object corresponding to the dimension data field.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user input further comprises:

user initiation of a context menu associated with the measure data field or the dimension data field; and

user selection of a context menu option to build the custom calculation.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising in response to the user selection of the context menu option:

displaying a dialog window, populated by the generated custom calculation; and

detecting a second user input in the dialog window to edit the custom calculation;

wherein storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field is in response to detecting user activation of a save affordance in the dialog window.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the custom calculation is of the form {FIXED [field1]: AGG([field2])}, where “field1” is a name of the dimension data field, “AGG” is an aggregation operator, and “field2” is a name of the measure data field.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the aggregation operator is one of SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating and displaying the data visualization in the data visualization region comprises:

generating one or more database queries directed to the data source according to user placement of data fields from the schema information region onto shelves in the shelf region, including the placement of the new selectable data field onto the first shelf;

executing the one or more database queries to retrieve one or more data sets from the data source, including aggregated data for the measure data field grouped according to the dimension data field; and

generating and displaying the data visualization according to the retrieved data sets.

9. A computing device, comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:

receiving user selection of a data source;

displaying a data visualization interface, including:

a data visualization region;

a shelf region with a plurality of shelves, each shelf defining a respective characteristic of a data visualization based on placement of data fields onto the respective shelf; and

a schema information region displaying a plurality of data objects, wherein each of the data objects has one or more selectable data fields from the data source and each of the data fields is designated as a dimension or a measure;

receiving user input to select a measure data field and a dimension data field from the schema information region, the measure data field representing quantitative data and the dimension data field representing categorical data;

in response to the user input:

generating a custom calculation that groups data values of the dimension data field according to one or more respective distinct data values of the dimension data field and executes an aggregation function to aggregate data values of the measure data field for each of the one or more distinct data values of the dimension data field;

storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field, associated with a first data object corresponding to the dimension data field; and

displaying the new selectable data field as a data field for the first data object in the schema information region;

receiving user selection of the new selectable data field from the schema information region and placement of the new selectable data field onto a first shelf in the shelf region, wherein the first shelf defines a first data visualization characteristic; and

generating and displaying a data visualization in the data visualization region, wherein the first data visualization characteristic of the data visualization is determined according to data values of the custom calculation.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the user input is a drag-and-drop operation comprising dragging the measure data field and dropping the measure data field over the dimension data field.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the dimension data field is a primary key or alternative key of a data object corresponding to the dimension data field.

12. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the user input further comprises:

user initiation of a context menu associated with the measure data field or the dimension data field; and

user selection of a context menu option to build the custom calculation.

13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for responding to the user selection of the context menu option by:

displaying a dialog window, populated by the generated custom calculation; and

detecting a second user input in the dialog window to edit the custom calculation;

wherein storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field is in response to detecting user activation of a save affordance in the dialog window.

14. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the custom calculation is of the form {FIXED [field1]: AGG([field2])}, where “field1” is a name of the dimension data field, “AGG” is an aggregation operator, and “field2” is a name of the measure data field.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the aggregation operator is one of SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX.

16. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the instructions for generating and displaying the data visualization in the data visualization region further comprise instructions for:

generating one or more database queries directed to the data source according to user placement of data fields from the schema information region onto shelves in the shelf region, including the placement of the new selectable data field onto the first shelf;

executing the one or more database queries to retrieve one or more data sets from the data source, including aggregated data for the measure data field grouped according to the dimension data field; and

generating and displaying the data visualization according to the retrieved data sets.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer system having a display, one or more processors and memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving user selection of a data source;

displaying a data visualization interface, including:

a data visualization region;

a shelf region with a plurality of shelves, each shelf defining a respective characteristic of a data visualization based on placement of data fields onto the respective shelf; and

a schema information region displaying a plurality of data objects, wherein each of the data objects has one or more selectable data fields from the data source and each of the data fields is designated as a dimension or a measure;

receiving user input to select a measure data field and a dimension data field from the schema information region, the measure data field representing quantitative data and the dimension data field representing categorical data;

in response to the user input:

generating a custom calculation that groups data values of the dimension data field according to one or more respective distinct data values of the dimension data field and executes an aggregation function to aggregate data values of the measure data field for each of the one or more distinct data values of the dimension data field;

storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field, associated with a first data object corresponding to the dimension data field; and

displaying the new selectable data field as a data field for the first data object in the schema information region;

receiving user selection of the new selectable data field from the schema information region and placement of the new selectable data field onto a first shelf in the shelf region, wherein the first shelf defines a first data visualization characteristic; and

generating and displaying a data visualization in the data visualization region, wherein the first data visualization characteristic of the data visualization is determined according to data values of the custom calculation.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the user input is a drag-and-drop operation comprising dragging the measure data field and dropping the measure data field over the dimension data field.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the user input further comprises:

user initiation of a context menu associated with the measure data field or the dimension data field; and

user selection of a context menu option to build the custom calculation.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for responding to the user selection of the context menu option by:

displaying a dialog window, populated by the generated custom calculation; and

detecting a second user input in the dialog window to edit the custom calculation;

wherein storing the custom calculation as a new selectable data field is in response to detecting user activation of a save affordance in the dialog window.