The Data Builder¶
The Data Builder is a query tool for exploring, querying, and exporting data from the Daybreak datamart. Data Builder allows you to build queries in three different editing modes, save the queries, run them, and build dashboards with visualizations or download the results.
This article explains how to view and run queries, download the results of a query, and browse queries using Natural Language Answers, the structured query wizard, or the SQL builder interface. You do not need to have any existing knowledge of SQL to use Answers or the Query Wizard, but those using the SQL builder will need to understand that language in order to write query code.
The Data Builder Interface¶
To access the Data Builder, log in to the Daybreak app or click the Data Builder icon on the blue menu bar at the left of the screen if you are already logged into the app.
The Data Builder tool has two areas for interacting: a menu area and a query builder area.
Menu Area¶
The Menu Area has two areas: the icons to create new queries in each of the three modes and the saved and shared queries area.
New Query Icons¶
The new query icons area includes three icons to create a new query in each of the different modes.
Saved and Shared Queries¶
The saved and shared queries area allows you to search and browse previously saved queries, queries shared by other users with you, or pre-built queries designed for your Daybreak datamart. You can search the list and click on the name of a query in the results to open it in the editor area, or browse through the list manually.
Query Builder Area¶
The Query Builder Area is the main area for interacting with and building individual queries in the Daybreak app. The default mode for this area is Natural Language Answers. To create a query in this mode, simply enter a question in the search list and click "Answer" to see a query and results based on your question. After asking a question in Natural Language Answers, you will be taken to the structured query wizard to see the results of your question.
Alternatively, if you wish to create a query directly in the structured query wizard or SQL editor, click the "Use Query Wizard" or "Use SQL Editor" buttons to create a query in either of those modes.
Query Editing¶
The Query Wizard provides a convenient, guided tool for editing queries in a structured way using drop down menus.
Users can modify a query by adding or removing conditions, or changing the base table you are querying against. To learn more, read about the structured query wizard
Query Action Buttons¶
The Query Action buttons in the upper right corner of the screen enable you to save or run a query.
Clicking the "Run" button will execute your query and the resulting dataset will appear in the dataset display area at the bottom of the screen.
You can scroll through the resulting dataset in the dataset display area and page through results using the pager navigation buttons at the bottom of the dataset display area.
In most cases, you may want to download your data in some delimiter separated format for analysis or archiving. Clicking the "Download" button will bring up the dataset download dialog.
To prepare a dataset for download, you may:
- Select an export format. Currently supported formats are comma separated values (CSV), pipe (
|) separated values (PSV), tab separated values (TSV), and LDJSON. - In most cases, check the "Include Header" box to include field names in the first row.
- Add a dataset name
- Filter which fields to export using the "Ignore" and "Exported Columns" list.
Clicking the name of a field in one or the other list and using the left or right arrow buttons in the middle of the lists will move one or more fields between the two lists. Only those field names included in the "Exported Columns" list will be present in the downloaded file.
When you have configured the download options, simply click the "Request Download Link" button and Daybreak will prepare a dataset file for download. When this is finished, Daybreak will display a download button. Simply click this to begin downloading the dataset as a file to your local computer.
