Datalore 2023.4 Help

Interactive controls

Interactive controls are a special cell type that helps you quickly customize the output without manually changing the code. Use one of the controls (dropdown, slider, text field, and checkbox) to provide values for one of the variables in your code and update the output on the fly.

We suggest that you go to this tutorial to see how you can use interactive controls. Click Edit copy in the upper right corner and try it for yourself.

Add a Dropdown control

The Dropdown control allows you to choose from a set of options that will be used as values for one of the variables in your code.

  1. Create an array or list to use as a source of values for your dropdown control. This step allows you to use a dynamic dataset based on the visualized DataFrame, as opposed to manually provided values. Follow the example below:

    [array_name] = [DataFrame_name].columns.values

    Use this array when selecting a set of variables for your dropdown control.

  2. Run this cell to make the array available for your dropdown control.

  3. Add a Dropdown cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select Dropdown.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  4. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  5. In the Dropdown dialog, do the following:

    1. Provide a name for the control.

    2. Provide a name for the variable. You will reference this variable in your code.

    3. Provide the values:

      • (Recommended) Use an array of values created earlier. Switch to the Dynamic tab to select a source of values. This is where you can select the array created in the first step.

      • Enter the values manually on the Static tab. Separate each entry with a comma.

      Dropdown control dialog
    4. Optionally, click Multiselect to allow selecting multiple options.

    5. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

  6. Edit the code by inserting the variable name from the previous step. For example, in the code below, the column variable is used to provide values for the X axis.

    from lets_plot import * ggplot() + geom_line(aes(x=columns, y="imdb_score"), data=df, sampling=sampling_systematic(n=5000)) + scale_x_log10()
  7. Use the added control to set a value for the specified variable and run the cell with the code to verify how it works.

    Dropdown in use

Add a Slider control

  1. Add a slider cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select Slider.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  2. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  3. In the Slider dialog, do the following:

    1. Provide a name for the control.

    2. Provide a name for the variable. You will reference this variable in your code.

    3. Fill in the Minimum value expression, Maximum value expression, and Step size expression (optional) fields. If the step size is not specified, the slider supports floating numbers.

      • Enter numerical values.

        Slider control dialog
      • Click the expand icon and choose a numeric variable from your code.

        Slider control dialog
    4. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

  4. Edit the code by inserting the variable name from the previous step. For example, in the code below, the num variable is used to define the number of rows to be displayed.

    df.iloc[:num]
  5. Use the added control to set a value for the specified variable and run the cell with the code to verify how it works.

    Slider in use

Add a Text control

  1. Add a text cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select Text.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  2. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  3. In the Text dialog, do the following:

    1. Provide a name for the control.

    2. Provide a name for the variable. You will reference this variable in your code.

    3. Select the Multiline input checkbox to enable multiple lines of input in the text field.

      Text control dialog
    4. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

  4. Add the variable name from the previous step to your code cell.

  5. Enter a text in the added text control and run the cell with the code to verify how it works.

    Slider in use

Add a Checkbox control

  1. Add a checkbox cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select Checkbox.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  2. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  3. In the Checkbox dialog, do the following:

    1. Provide a name for the control.

    2. Provide a name for the variable. You will reference this variable in your code.

      Checkbox control dialog
    3. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

  4. Edit the code by inserting the variable name from the previous step. For example, in the code below, the show_results variable is used to define whether the results dataframe content is displayed.

    results = pd.read_csv('libraries_by_python_version.csv') if show_results: print(results)
  5. Select the checkbox in the control that you added to verify how it works.

    Checkbox in use

Add a Datepicker

  1. Add a Datepicker cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select Datepicker.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  2. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  3. In the Datepicker dialog, do the following:

    1. Provide a name for the control.

    2. Provide a name for the variable. You will reference this variable in your code.

    3. Select the Range selector option to add a datepicker with a range selector.

      Datetime picker
    4. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

  4. Edit the code by inserting the variable name from the previous step. For example, in the code below, the date variable is used to specify contract expiry dates.

    print ('End of your contract: ' + date.strftime("%d/%m/%y"))
  5. Click the datepicker icon and select a date to verify how it works.

    Datepicker in use

Add a Button

Add a button control to your interactive report to run code that is excluded from linear execution. The associated code is only executed on a click on the button.

  1. Add a Button cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select Button.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  2. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  3. In the Button dialog, do the following:

    1. Provide a name for the control.

    2. Select the Show code if you want the associated code shown in the report.

    3. Select the Range selector option to add a datepicker with a range selector.

      Button
    4. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

  4. In the same cell, add the code that you want executed by clicking this button.

  5. Click the button to run the provided code and verify how it works.

    Button in use

Add a File uploader

Add a file uploader cell to allow users to upload their CSV, TXT or image files into the respective interactive report from their local machines to use as data sources. Once uploaded, such files are automatically added to the attached files of the notebook. Only one file can be uploaded.

  1. Add a Button cell:

    • Hover over the lower border of the previous cell, click More cell types, and select File uploader.

    • Use the cell context menu to add the required cell type.

  2. Hover over the control in the cell and click the settings icon.

  3. In the File uploader dialog, do the following:

    1. Specify allowed file types. Enter a type, press Enter or Space, add the next one.

    2. Provide a button name.

    3. Provide a name for the button.

    4. Provide a maximum size for uploaded files.

    5. Provide a specific name for an uploaded file, unless you want to keep original file names.

    6. Click Apply to close the dialog. The control is added to the notebook.

Last modified: 03 August 2023