Built-in library visuals

Every organisation's visual library starts with ten ready-made visuals. They are published, documented and ready to insert, so you can put an animated or 3D visual on a report without writing code. This page lists them, the fields each one takes and how each one reacts to clicks. For the library itself, see Visual library.

Use a built-in visual

1. Open the report and click Edit in the report header.
2. Open Visualizations and click Library under Custom. The Insert from the visual library picker opens.
3. Select a visual. Its Docs tab explains the fields, the options and the interactions; Details lists the roles it Expects in the Data well.
4. Choose Insert v<n> onto page, then drag fields into the visual's roles in the Data well.

To keep a visual one click away, pin it, and it appears in the Pinned row of Visualizations. See Visual library.

What every built-in visual has in common:

• One dimension and one measure are enough to draw something useful.
• It follows the report theme, in light and dark, and fits itself to the size of its tile.
• A click on a mark filters the report; Ctrl or Cmd adds to the selection, and a click on empty space clears it.
• A hover shows a tooltip with every bound measure. Where a visual takes several measures, a switcher in its toolbar picks the one it draws.
• It carries sample data, so its library card and preview draw before you bind anything.
• Its labels and messages are options: change them in the Visual options section, for example to translate them.
• In an exported report it is pictured as a still frame.

The ten visuals at a glance

Data City

A 3D city with one tower per Rows and Columns cell. Tower height is the measure picked in the toolbar; tower colour compares the second measure with a target, so a tall red tower is a big cell that underperforms. With a single measure, colour shows height bands instead.

• Rows (one dimension): one street per value. Columns (one dimension): one tower per value on each street. Measures (1 to 8): each one becomes a button in the Height switcher; the second one colours the towers.
• Options include Colour by measure #, Target for the colour measure (0 compares every cell with the average), At-risk band starts at (share of target), Higher is better, Maximum rows (streets) and Maximum columns.
• Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom and use Reset view to fly home. Click a tower to filter on its row and column, or an axis label to filter on the whole row or column. Drag Focus to light only the weakest cells.

Liquid Tanks

A row of glass tanks, one per Item. The liquid is the Level, in up to three stacked layers; the tank size is the Capacity, and a ring marks the Target. The base of each tank glows in a status colour that compares the level with its target.

• Item (one dimension): one tank per value. Level (1 to 3 measures): the liquid layers from the bottom up. Capacity and Target (optional, one measure each): without Capacity every tank has the same height; without Target, Target fill when no Target field is bound places the ring.
• Options include Default sort (by fill % or by level), Maximum tanks, Higher is better for cases where a full tank is bad, such as overstock, and Bubbles in the liquid.
• Sort reorders the tanks and Show isolates one layer. Click a tank or its label to filter on that item.

Ribbon Timeline

A 3D timeline with one glass ribbon per Series value rising over the Time axis. Show a measure per period or cumulative, and press Play to sweep through time. With a target, a plane shows when each series crosses it; without one, the side panel lists the lead changes.

• Series (1 or 2 dimensions): with two, a By switcher picks one. Time (one dimension): the ordered axis; dates, numbers, months and quarters sort by themselves. Measures (1 to 8): each one becomes a button in the Measure switcher.
• Options include Target, Start in cumulative mode, Play through time once on open, Seconds for a full play and Maximum ribbons.
• Click a ribbon, its label or a legend entry to filter on that series, or a time label to filter on that period. Play and the timeline let you scrub through time.

Flow River

An animated Sankey diagram. Ribbons join every Source value to every Target value, their thickness follows the selected measure, and glowing particles drift along each ribbon. When target values also appear as sources, the river chains into stages by itself.

• Source and Target (one dimension each). Measures (1 to 8): each one becomes a button in the measure switcher, and the ribbons re-flow when you switch.
• Options include Layout (auto, two columns or stages), Ribbon colour, Particles (calm, lively or off) and Nodes per column; smaller nodes are merged into Other and a note says so.
• Click a ribbon to filter on both of its ends at once, or a node to filter on that value. The animation button pauses the particles.
• Rows with zero, negative or empty values are skipped and counted in the note. Flows that loop back on themselves cannot be drawn as stages and are counted too.

Bar Race

An animated bar chart race. Each entity gets a horizontal bar sized by the active measure, ranked largest first, and the race steps through the time periods: bars glide past each other when ranks swap, and a large ticker shows the current period. With one period, or no Time field, it is a ranked bar chart.

• Entity (one dimension): one bar per value. Time (one dimension): the periods of the race; numbers, dates, months and quarters sort chronologically. Measures (1 to 8): bar length.
• Options include Bars shown (10 by default, up to 30), Milliseconds per period, Play on first view, Loop, Running total for flows such as monthly revenue, and Missing periods.
• Use Play, Pause, the timeline and the speed button. With the chart focused, Space plays or pauses, the arrow keys step one period, and Home and End jump to the first or last period. Click a bar to filter on its entity.

Data Terrain

A smooth 3D landscape built from an X axis by Y axis matrix: each cell's height is the selected measure, and the surface between cells is smoothed so peaks and valleys read at a glance. Contour lines mark round values, and the colours run from valley to peak in your theme.

• X axis and Y axis (one dimension each); without a Y axis the terrain is a single ridge. Measures (1 to 8): switch the measure and the terrain changes shape.
• Options include Height scale, Contour lines (approx.), Peak labels, Axis order, Maximum X values and Maximum Y values (40 each by default), and Colour: valleys and Colour: peaks.
• Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom and right-drag to pan. Hover a point for a probe with every measure, and click it to filter on its X and Y values together. Negative values sink below a see-through zero plane.

Bubble Galaxy

Packed bubbles, one per Item, with an area that follows the active measure. Bind a Group and the bubbles gather into labelled clusters with their totals; Together merges them back into one galaxy.

• Item (one dimension). Group (optional, one dimension): clusters and colours. Measures (1 to 8): bubble area.
• Options include Start split by group, Most bubbles (300 by default, up to 1,000), Gap between bubbles (px), Animate and Details panel, which opens the Top items panel.
• Click a bubble to filter on its item, or a cluster title or legend chip to filter on that group. A bubble twice as wide holds four times the value, because area, not width, follows the value.

Sunburst Zoom

A zoomable radial hierarchy. The first Levels field is the inner ring and the last one is the outer ring, and each arc's angle is its share of the active measure. Click an arc to zoom into it; the centre shows the focused total.

• Levels (1 to 3 dimensions), for example Region, Country and Category. Measures (1 to 8): arc size follows the measure picked in the switcher.
• Options include Click behaviour (Zoom and filter, Filter only or Zoom only), Slice order, Slices per ring (16 by default; the smallest are grouped into one Other slice) and Zoom animation (ms).
• Click the centre, a breadcrumb or press Esc to zoom out. The Breakdown panel ranks the children of the focused arc.

Ridgeline Glow

Stacked glowing ridges, one per Series, drawn over an ordered X axis. Each ridge hides the ones behind it, and the ridge under the pointer lifts with a crosshair tooltip.

• Series (one dimension): one ridge per value. X axis (one dimension): numbers and dates are placed to scale, and months, weekdays and quarters sort by meaning. Measures (1 to 8): ridge height.
• Options include Default sort (data order, peak position or total), Ridge scale (shared or per ridge), Overlap, Maximum ridges (24 by default), Missing points, Palette and Curve.
• Click a ridge to filter on its series, or an X label to filter on that position. Sort by peak position to tell a seasonality story.

Pulse KPI Wall

A wall of KPI cards that fits itself to the tile. Each card fills a liquid gauge with the actual against the target, counts up to its value, and shows the gap to target in a status colour: on track, at risk or off track. With Trend time, a sparkline shows the history.

• Item (one dimension): one card per value. Actual (one measure): the card value. Target (optional, one measure): drives the gauge, the gap and the status. Trend time (optional, one dimension): adds the sparkline.
• Options include Card value with a trend, On track from (share of target), At risk from (share of target), Lower is better for (item names judged the other way round, such as costs) and Card order, and Maximum cards (24 by default).
• Click a card to filter on its item, or a sparkline point to filter on the item and that period. The status chips in the header narrow the wall to one status.

Questions, answered

Can I change a built-in visual for my organisation?

Yes, with Publish Organization Visuals. Open the visual in the library and use Edit details for its name, description, icon and docs, or Edit code to save a new version. Without that permission you can still change the code of a tile you inserted; the tile then shows Modified, and Publish to library adds your variant as a new visual. See Visual library.

I inserted a built-in visual and it is empty. Why?

The tile draws your report's fields, not the sample data, so it waits until its roles are bound. Drag a dimension and a measure into its roles in the Data well; the insert confirmation reminds you: "Map its roles in the Data well."

I bound several measures, but the visual draws only one. Why?

The visual draws one measure at a time. Use the switcher in its toolbar to pick another; the tooltip lists every bound measure. In Data City the second measure also colours the towers.

Why are some items missing from the visual?

Most built-in visuals cap how many marks they draw, so a large result stays readable: for example Bars shown in Bar Race, Most bubbles in Bubble Galaxy and Maximum cards in Pulse KPI Wall. A note on the visual says how many were left out. Raise the cap in Visual options, or narrow the filters.

Can I turn the animation off?

Yes, in Visual options. For example, set Particles to off in Flow River, turn off Play on first view in Bar Race or Animate in Bubble Galaxy, or set Zoom animation (ms) to 0 in Sunburst Zoom.

How do I translate the labels in a built-in visual?

Every label, button and message the visual shows is an option. Open Visual options on the tile and type your own wording.

Do the 3D visuals work in exports?

Yes. An export pictures each visual as a still frame. Data Terrain draws a flat contour map when the browser cannot show 3D; Data City, Liquid Tanks and Ribbon Timeline show a message instead.

Who made the built-in visuals, and do they get updates?

They are made by the DataMind Team, which is the author shown on their cards. When an update to DataMind improves a built-in visual, your library receives the new version automatically. Tiles that already use the visual are not changed: they show Update available, and you choose when to update them. If your organisation published its own version of a built-in visual, that version is kept and the update skips it.