2 Replies Latest reply on Feb 5, 2018 2:40 PM by Sarah Delaney

    text table dashboad action on grand total results in bad BAN

    Sarah Delaney
    Sarah Delaney Feb 5, 2018 1:00 PM

      I have a text table with a grand total. I want the user to be able to click on any number in the table, including the grand total had have the BAN change.

       

      This works for any cell in the text table EXCEPT the grand total. Clicking on the grand total returns the count of ALL records in the data set, not the column total for that year. I can't come up with a work around. Any ideas?

       

      action_and_BAN_issue.png

      (Originally there was a filter inside the BAN to only count a specific kind of student, but that was removed when I noticed  the strange behavior.)

        • 1. Re: text table dashboad action on grand total results in bad BAN
          Joe Oppelt
          Joe Oppelt Ambassador Feb 5, 2018 2:26 PM (in response to Sarah Delaney)

          Grand totals are weird creatures.

           

          For one thing, in your case the grand total contains all the credentials that are above it in the crosstab.

           

          In the attached I did some things.  First of all I changed the settings of the action to specify the dimensions in question.  In my opinion, that's a best-practice.  When you have ALL selected you can run into trouble -- especially when you modify the sheet some day.

           

          Also I changed the setting for "Clearing the selection will...".  Using your original settings, if you click on 52, for example, in the upper left of the crosstab, and then you click on it again to clear it, you also get the giant value in the HU sheet.

           

          But the key thing I did was to create a second sheet that was a copy of the first.  Uncheck Totals on both sheets.  On the second sheet, remove [Credential] from rows.  (Now you end up with your own grand total value by year.)  In rows, double-click and you get a little edit box.  In quotes, type in what you want the label for that line to be.  (I typed "Grand Total".)  Tableau creates a little calc there.  It becomes your label for the row.

           

          Format the total sheet to fit where the grand totals used to be.  Position the sheet on the dashboard.  (I floated it in this example.)


          And then I created a separate action for that sheet.  Now you have the behavior you wanted.

          2 of 2 people found this helpful
          • 2. Re: text table dashboad action on grand total results in bad BAN
            Sarah Delaney
            Sarah Delaney Feb 5, 2018 2:40 PM (in response to Joe Oppelt)

            This completely solves my problem!

             

            I had run across another posting that suggested using a second spreadsheet with the totals, but I couldn't visualize how it was supposed to work. It took your workbook for me to understand how things were supposed to hang together.

             

            Thank you very much for taking the time.