Data Cube - R Data Generator

This applies to: Managed Dashboards, Managed Reports

A data cube is a multidimensional model of your data that consists of measures, hierarchies, and metadata such as formatting. The R Data Generator transform lets you generate data by writing scripts using the R statistical programming language. This is similar to the R Language Analysis transform except that it does not accept input from a preceding transform and generates its own output directly from R.

R is both a programming language and an environment for statistical computing, graphics, and predictive analysis. You can use the R Data Generator transform to generate data for prototyping or developing proof-of-concepts, or if you are using R to access a data source.

To learn more about the R language, see The R Project for Statistical Computing.

You need to be a user with a Developer seat  to create or edit a data cube.

Create a data cube with an R Data Generator transform

  1. When creating a new data cube, you can add the R Data Generator transform to an empty canvas from the toolbar.

    • You can also create a new data cube from the main menu, and choose R Data Generator in the dialog of options that appears. The R Data Generator transform is added to the data cube and connected to a Process Result transform automatically.

    • You can also add the R Data Generator transform from the toolbar to an existing data cube process, and use a Union transform or another transform that combines data from multiple inputs.

  2. Configure your transform by selecting Configure from the right-click menu of the transform. Enter an R Script that sets an output variable.

  3. Set up Placeholders to insert into the script that pass in parameter values similar to when using a manual select. Insert the placeholder's Identifier (beginning and ending with the $ symbol) into your script to access the current parameter value. Type the $ symbol or right-click for a popup list of the current placeholders, then use the keyboard or mouse to select and insert it. You can also set up Parameters to directly filter this transform's output as with select transforms.

  4. The output of the R Data Generator depends on the script it is configured with. It can be a single value, a column of values, or multiple columns.

You can also add an R Data Generator input transform to an existing data cube as needed when structuring the ETL process in that data cube. For more information, see R Data Generator.