What's New in SAS Visual Analytics 6.4 :: SAS(R) Visual Analytics 6.4: User's Guide

General Enhancements to SAS Visual Analytics

The enhancements to importing data include:

You can import data from 15 additional third-party vendor database servers.
Importing data from massively parallel processing databases has been enhanced. If the database is configured for SAS In-Database processing, then the rows are transferred in parallel to the SAS LASR Analytic Server. (This applies to Hadoop, Teradata, Greenplum, and Oracle databases that are not co-located with SAS LASR Analytic Server.)
The initial setup for importing Twitter data is simplified. When you first use the import feature, you are routed to a Twitter website to log on to your Twitter account. After you authenticate yourself and authorize SAS Visual Analytics, you can import tweets. SAS Visual Analytics never stores your Twitter password, it uses tokens that enable access to search tweets.

New and enhanced features on the home page include:

In the Common Actions section in the right pane, you can reorder the application links. You can hide applications that you do not use.
In the Links section in the right pane, you can hide or reorder links, including links that are provided by your administrator.
In the SAS Resources section in the right pane, you can hide or reorder links.
A new preference enables you to define which application opens a particular metadata type. For example, you can choose to open a report in the designer instead of in the viewer.

New and enhanced features for the data builder include:

You can edit LASR star schemas to choose a different fact table. In previous releases, the first table dropped onto the workspace was designated as the fact table. In this release, you can choose a different fact table.
Data queries are optimized when a single library is used for source tables and the output table. If a SAS/ACCESS engine is used for the data query and it supports pass-through, then some operations are performed in the database. This improves performance by avoiding data movement.
You can specify to create the output table for a data query as a SQL query view.

The Auto-Update option enables you to control whether your visualizations are updated automatically when you make changes.
Network diagrams have a spotlight tool that enables you to view the data tips for nodes that are within a circular area around the cursor.
Network diagrams enable you to adjust your node layout, and your node layout is saved with your exploration.
You can specify the forecasting confidence limits for line charts by using the Confidence option.
Decision trees have a simplified display mode when you zoom out.
You can display frequency for decision trees as a percentage by using the Frequency option.

You can preview a subset of your expression for a calculated data item.
You can expand and collapse your filters on the Filters tab.
The Filters tab is enhanced to enable you to resize the Global Filters and Local Filters areas.

You can reset the default report style if you have overridden the font and background color.
Your preferences for custom colors are saved between SAS Visual Analytics sessions. Your custom colors are displayed in the color palette.
The Add Data Source and Change Data Source windows enable you to import tables from database servers, in addition to the existing support for importing local files.
You can add, delete, and reorder sections in a report using the section manager on the Properties tab.
A new report-level option enables you to put all data queries on hold until you are ready to update the data for your reports. You can change multiple filter selections or data role assignments one at a time before manually refreshing specific report objects or all report objects.
You can cancel slow-running queries by positioning your mouse over the progress indicator for the report object and clicking the icon.
You can use the Styles tab to override the background color and the font for the report theme.
You can hide a report object on the Objects tab by using the pop-up menu.
When e-mailing a report to another person, you can select the To field in the E-mail window to select the person’s name from a list.
There is a Refresh Report menu item on the File menu, which enables you to reopen the current report and save any unsaved changes.
The Data tab automatically updates the information about the data source after you select a report object with a different data source.

A geo coordinate map is now available.
You can change the map provider for any geo map report object after you have placed it on the canvas.
The pop-up menus for report objects have options for Clear Selection and Select All to make it easier to select data or clear the selection of data in the report object.
Additional transparency options are available for graphs, except for treemaps, on the Styles tab. The transparency is controlled by a slider beside the Wall Background, Legend Background, and Header Background styles.
The Properties tab for treemaps includes Layout and Show level indicator properties.
Additional layouts are available for treemaps, which enable you to easily compare the sizes of multiple tiles.
The pie chart report object has a Show pie header check box on the Properties tab. Clear this check box to hide the measure label that is displayed at the top of the pie chart.
The auto-populate intervals have improved for gauge display rules.
A new Header value style option for gauges enables you to set the text color for the header.

Rank descriptions can be displayed for report objects that are imported from the explorer.

In the Calculated Item window, Preview and Preview Subexpression Results buttons are available.
Discrete filters have been enhanced to handle high cardinality.
You can add hierarchies based on a date, datetime, or time format automatically with one click.

Note: For details about new and enhanced features in administration, see the SAS Visual Analytics: Administration Guide.

New and enhanced features in the administration of SAS Visual Analytics include:

On the LASR Tables tab, you can filter the display by user ID.
The metadata option that enables logging for a SAS LASR Analytic Server is supported for a non-distributed server (as well as for a distributed server).
On the Authorization page, the icon for an explicit setting is a yellow diamond (instead of a yellow star).
New capabilities enable you to more granularly manage the availability of the self-service import functionality.
New configuration properties enable you to limit the size of self-service imports.