Chapter 3. Using the Record Viewer

This chapter discusses the capabilities of the Record Viewer, and contains the following sections:

Overview of the Record Viewer

The Record Viewer allows you to view your data directly, as Figure 3-1 shows. This gives you the opportunity to get familiar with the columns and the data values within them. The Record Viewer also allows you to:

  • Manipulate the columns by resizing, rearranging, or hiding them

  • Sort or filter your data by the values in any given column

  • Renumber the rows after sorting or filtering

  • Search for a given value

  • Save your manipulated file in a number of formats

    Figure 3-1. The Record Viewer

    Figure 3-1 The Record Viewer

Starting the Record Viewer

There are three ways to start the Record Viewer:

  • From the Tool Manager:

    • Click the Viz Tools tab in the Data Destination panel.

    • Choose Record Viewer from the Tool popup menu.

  • Double-click the Record Viewer icon, which is in the MineSet page of the icon catalog. The icon is labeled recordview. Because no file is specified, the start-up screen requires you to use File > Open to select one.

  • Enter this command at the UNIX shell command-line prompt:

    recordview [ filename ] 
    

Manipulating the Columns

There are three ways to manipulate the columns in the Record Viewer:

  • You can resize columns by clicking anywhere on the right column divider and dragging the divider to the position you want.

  • You can rearrange the columns by clicking and dragging the title cell of the column to its new location.

  • You can hide columns by choosing “Hide/Show columns” from the View menu and deselecting the columns you wish to hide. You can show the columns again by reselecting them. Figure 3-2 shows the Hide/Show Columns panel.

    Figure 3-2. Record Viewer Hide/Show Column Panel

    Figure 3-2 Record Viewer Hide/Show Column Panel

Sorting Records

The Record Viewer allows you to sort your records by the values in any given column. To sort a column, click on the title cell. To reverse the sort, click the title cell again. To return the records to their original order, click the row # column title. Figure 3-3 shows the same data as in Figure 3-1, sorted by the account length column.

Figure 3-3. Churn Data Sorted by Account Length

Figure 3-3 Churn Data Sorted by Account Length

Filtering Data

The Record Viewer allows you to filter your data so that you need only see the range of values that interests you. To filter your data, choose Filter panel (Figure 3-4) from the View menu. Figure 3-5 shows the cars data file filtered to show only those cars with engines larger than 400 cubic inches.

To remove the filtering, clear the expression in the expression window and click Apply or choose Remove filter from the Record Viewer View menu.

You may have as many filter panels open as you wish. To apply more than one filter at a time, first apply one, renumber the rows (see “Renumbering Rows”), then apply the next.


Note: Renumbering the rows cannot be undone. To return to your original data, you must reopen the file.

Figure 3-4. Filter Panel

Figure 3-4 Filter Panel

Figure 3-5. Cars Data Filtered by Cubic Inches

Figure 3-5 Cars Data Filtered by Cubic Inches

Renumbering Rows

The Record Viewer allows you to renumber the rows at any point. If you do this after sorting or filtering, the renumbering cannot be undone. To go back to your original data, you must reopen the file.

To renumber, choose Renumber rows from the View menu.

Searching in the Record Viewer

The Record Viewer allows you to search for a value in your data. To open the Search panel (Figure 3-6), choose Search panel from the View menu. To search, type in the value, highlight the columns you want to search in, and click Find Next or Find Previous.

Figure 3-6. Search Panel

Figure 3-6 Search Panel

Saving Data

The Record Viewer allows you to save your data, including any changes to the data that you may have made. You can save your file using either Save or Save As from the File menu.

If you use Save, your file is saved under the original name and format. If this is the first time you are saving the file, it is saved in MineSet binary format. Save As brings up the Save data screen (Figure 3-7), where you can enter the desired filename and the type of format you wish.

Figure 3-7. Save Data Screen

Figure 3-7 Save Data Screen

With Save As, you can save your data in four formats: binary, ASCII, HTML, or text. When you save in binary or ASCII format, both the data file and a schema file are saved. HTML format saves the file as an HTML table. Text format saves the file in tab-delimited form, with the column titles as the first row. Figure 3-8 shows the “Save as type” popup menu.

Figure 3-8. “Save as type” Popup Menu

Figure 3-8 “Save as type” Popup Menu