@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ picker appears, and choosing a type is always your action.
3232
3333The recommendation reads the shape of your query and its result: how many measures, dimensions and
3434time dimensions you selected, how many distinct values each dimension has, and how long the
35- category labels are. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is saved — the suggestion lasts for the
35+ category labels are. It is computed in your browser and is not saved — the suggestion lasts for the
3636current session only.
3737
3838Where a threshold is involved, it comes from
@@ -41,43 +41,54 @@ Design Knowledge as Constraints*, IEEE VIS 2018), which encodes established visu
4141as rules: a category axis becomes crowded past 12 values, a color or stacking channel saturates
4242past 10 series, and no axis reads past 30 values.
4343
44- One number is Cube's own rather than Draco's, and is tuned by us : a mean label length of ** 16
45- characters ** counts as long.
44+ One number is Cube's own rather than Draco's: a mean label length past ** 16 characters ** counts as
45+ long.
4646
4747The number of rows in the result is deliberately not a condition. It follows from the granularity
4848you chose rather than from the shape of the query, so counting it would recommend a different chart
4949for the same measure over the same time dimension simply because you switched from years to days.
5050
5151### The conditions
5252
53- Cube checks these in order and takes the first that matches.
53+ Cube first checks whether the query disqualifies every chart, and recommends the
54+ [ table] ( /docs/explore-analyze/charts/chart-types/table ) if it does:
55+
56+ | Recommendation | When |
57+ | -- | -- |
58+ | ** Table** | The query has no measure, two time dimensions, three or more dimensions, or a category past 30 values |
59+
60+ A query meeting any of these has no chart encoding that reads well, so the table is the honest
61+ answer. [ Maps] ( /docs/explore-analyze/charts/chart-types/map ) are the exception and are still
62+ recommended over the table — a map has no category axis to crowd, so a large number of plotted
63+ places is normal rather than unreadable.
64+
65+ Otherwise Cube checks these in order and takes the first that matches:
5466
5567| Recommendation | When |
5668| -- | -- |
5769| ** Map** | The query contains latitude and longitude |
5870| ** KPI** | One measure, no dimensions, and a single row |
5971| ** Line** | A measure over a time dimension, optionally split by one category of up to 10 values |
6072| ** Scatter** | Two or more measures with no time dimension — the shape for correlating them |
61- | ** Stacked bar** | One measure split by two categories, the first up to 12 values and the second up to 10 |
62- | ** Heatmap** | One measure split by two larger categories that fill enough of the grid to be worth drawing |
63- | ** Bar** | One measure across a few categories with short labels |
64- | ** Horizontal bar** | The same, where the labels are long or the categories too many for a vertical axis |
65- | ** Table** | The query has no measure, two time dimensions, three or more dimensions, or a category past 30 values |
73+ | ** Bar (stacked)** | One measure split by two categories, the first up to 12 values and the second up to 10 |
74+ | ** Heatmap** | One measure split by two categories past those bounds, whose combinations fill at least half the grid |
75+ | ** Bar** | One measure across up to 12 categories whose labels average 16 characters or fewer |
76+ | ** Bar (horizontal)** | The same, where the labels are longer or the categories run past 12 |
77+
78+ The two [ bar] ( /docs/explore-analyze/charts/chart-types/bar ) rows are variants of the same chart
79+ type, not separate ones.
6680
6781Pie is not recommended. Its shape — one measure across a few categories — is the same one Bar
6882answers, and a bar chart compares those values more accurately, so Cube recommends Bar and leaves
6983Pie to you. It remains available in the picker like any other chart type.
7084
71- Table's conditions are disqualifiers rather than a last preference: a query that meets any of them
72- has no chart encoding that reads well, so the table is the honest answer. Maps are the exception —
73- a map has no category axis to crowd, so a large number of plotted places is normal rather than
74- unreadable.
75-
7685### When nothing is recommended
7786
7887Cube suppresses the recommendation rather than guessing. You will see no outline when:
7988
8089- no rule matches the query cleanly;
90+ - a measure over time is split into 11 to 30 series — too many for a color channel, too few to give
91+ up on;
8192- a value it needs is still unknown, such as the number of distinct values in a dimension;
8293- the result was truncated by a row limit, so the counts it would read are incomplete;
8394- you have already picked a type by hand in the picker you are looking at.
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