Use a Slider Dashboard Filter to Animate Visualizations

You can add a slider dashboard filter to a canvas and animate visualizations to show how the data changes relative to a specified dimension. Consumers can select a value interactively, or automatically play through dimension values, similar to a time-lapse video or animation.

You can use attribute and date columns as well as parameters as slider filter controls. When you use a parameter as a slider filter control, selecting a value or playing the slider automatically only updates the parameter value where it's used in the visualizations. When you use a column as a slider filter control, it filters the data in the visualizations like any other filter.

For example, suppose you have a workbook canvas with visualizations showing data on Olympic medals for swimming. You can use a slider filter with the column Year as a filter control to let consumers see how the data in the visualization changes between the years 2000 and 2012.
Description of filters_slider_example.png follows
Description of the illustration filters_slider_example.png

For more information about slider filters, see Filter Types. For more information about slider properties, see Dashboard Filter Control Properties.

This tutorial provides a use case explaining how to create a dashboard filter with a slider control to see how revenue and product type data changes over the years.

Tutorial icon Tutorial

  1. On your home page, hover over a workbook, click Actions, and select Open.
  2. In the Data panel, click Visualizations, scroll to the Dashboard Controls section, and drag Dashboard Filters Dashboard Filters visualization to the canvas.
  3. Create a dashboard filter control:
    • In the Data Panel, click Data and drag an attribute or date column to the new dashboard filters visualization.
    • In the Data Panel, click Parameters and drag a parameter to the new dashboard filters visualization.
  4. Click Properties, then click Filter Controls.
  5. Expand the filter or parameter you just added.
  6. In the Filter Type row, click the current type and select Slider.
    Description of filters_slider_type.png follows
    Description of the illustration filters_slider_type.png

  7. In the Play row, select On to enable automatic playback or Off to enable consumers to select values manually.
  8. If you enabled Play, in the dashboard filter visualization, click Play to see how your visualizations change as the filter control moves through the values.
    Description of filters_slider_play.png follows
    Description of the illustration filters_slider_play.png