Tableau Data Types gives us information about the kind of data stored in the data source. There can be a text value, data value, time value, Boolean value, etc. Tableau supports Data Types such as Boolean, String, Date & Date time, and Number. Let’s discuss each of them, along with is a symbol. Before going into much detail about Tableau Data types, first, check the What is Tableau & its Applications.
There are mainly Seven Basic types in Tableau name as Text, Numeric, Boolean, Date, Date & Time, Geographic, and Mixed Data Types. Here we discussed the 5 main data types of Tableau.
Top 5 Essential Tableau Data Types
The following table shows the Data Types along with its icons:
The following is the explanation of different types of Tableau Data Types;
1. Text (String) Data Types
The arrangement of zero or more characters enclosed in a single inverted comma or double inverted comma is known as a string. The inverted comma can be incorporated in the string by placing it twice. The string can be of a single word or group of words.
Examples of the string are ‘Hello’, “Hello World”, etc.
String are divided into two types:
a. Char Data Type
In this type of Data Type, the length of the string is predetermined, and fixed spaces of memory allocation. If the user enters the string more than the fixed length, then an error is generated. It can store the alphanumeric data in this type of data type.
b. Varchar2 Data Type
In this type of Data Type, the length of the string is not predefined or fixed. Any number of characters can be entered in this type of string without worrying about the memory space allocation. This data type adjusts itself according to the string length entered. Alphanumeric data can be entered in this Data Type.
2. Date and Date & Time Data Types
Tableau understands almost all the date formats. The default date arrangement is “dd-mon-yy” or “dd-mon-yyyy.” I want to enter a date in string data type and want the string to understand that it is a date then place # symbol before typing the date — example #3 Oct 1992. Time Data Type is an extension of Date Data Type in Tableau. It is stored in the form of Century, Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, and Second.
3. Number Data Types
Number Data Type can either integers or floating-point. When the float is used, it might happen that we may not be able to accumulate the decimal points after a limit. Thus, integers are mostly used. Even if floats are used, then they are often rounded up to integer by using Round function.
4. Boolean Data Types
The boolean data type has only two logical values, either True or False.
5. Mixed Values
Tableau is capable of identifying the data type by itself. If the values added in the data field does not match the data type, Tableau handles it with one of the other ways as shown in the table below;
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Mapped Data Type
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Treatment of other Data Types in the field
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|---|---|
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String
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Dates and numbers are considered as text. A null value is not created.
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Dates
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Numbers are considered as dates in order of 1/1/1800. The text is null.
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|
Number
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The date is considered as the number of days. The text is null.
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Boolean
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Text, numbers, date, all are null.
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Mixed value often creates a problem when you analyze data. To overcome that, either create a column that does not contain mixed amounts or format the empty cells and fill it with the underlying data source.
Thus, we discussed the Data Types in Tableau in detail. The Data Types in Tableau are string, date, date & time, numerical, Boolean. We even discussed how a mixed data type effects in Tableau.