Segmented control

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A segmented control is a linear strip of two or more named segments; each of the segments acts exactly like a radio button, selecting the matches and excluding other data records. When you have to make selections from a long list of values, segmented controls can be a better option because they provide a smaller subset of relevant values, a more economical dashboard layout, and a nicer overall experience for viewers.

You can use a segmented control as a multi-toggle to switch between alternative views of related content. For example, you can choose to view population data according to age groups: under 5, 5-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, ... , 100 and over.

There are two types of segmented controls:

Segmented control from a manually-entered list, including a preset list for date-type values; this is not completely arbitrary, because you must have values that select data on the target of the control.
Segmented control based on a column in the data source or workbook element; these controls can have a maximum of 5 distinct values, sorted on record count or alphabetically.

Create a segmented control

Follow these steps to create a segmented control.

For a working control, you must specify the target, and select the source of segments.

In your workbook, in edit mode, click Add element ().
On the left navigation panel, scroll to Control elements, and select Segmented control.
The new segmented control appears on the canvas.
Choose column-based or manual values from the control; see Value source.
Finally, specify what changes when the user interacts with the control; see Specify the target of the control.

To adapt the new segmented control for your use case, both from a functional and visual perspectives, see Configure settings.

Specify the target of the control

Follow these steps to connect the control to its target tables and visuals. This example demonstrates how to connect to the a table element on the page.

Click the Targets tab.
Under Targets, click + Add filter target.
Select the element that the new control changes.
Here, we select the Data element table PLUGS_ELECTRONICS_HANDS_ON_LAB_DATA. It is on the same page of the workbook as the control.
The table appears under Targets, and the count of targets for the filter increases to 1.
As you add other targets to this control, the count increases. For example, the control can also target a bar chart, a pivot table, and so on.
By default, the first column of the table is the target. Depending on the structure of your table, it is usually an identifier, and not as meaningful as some other attributes. In our example, the target column is the SKU Number of the product.
To change the target column, click the current column, scroll the list of columns, and choose the new target column. Here, we select the column Store State.
After you change the target column, the default name of the control changes.
Here, the initial name of the filter was New Control 1; it changed to Sku Number as we assigned the control to the target element, and then changed again to Store State when we updated the target column.

Configure settings

Depending on the choice of Value source attribute, the configuration is somewhat different.

Map of configuration steps for segmented control

Types of segmented control

There are two basic types of segmented controls:

Manual list

Add segment names that best characterize the data. There is no practical limit to the number of segments you can add; keeping it to a reasonable number leads to the best user experience. You can also use lists of pre-set values for date filtering: parts of day, months, and weekdays. See Manual lists and presets.

List from a column

After you select a source column, Sigma automatically builds a filter up to 5 segments, depending on the diversity and relative count of data in the column. This column can be either from a data source, or from a data element in the workbook. See Data sources and elements.

To configure the control behavior and appearance, click Settings, and choose the attributes of this segmented control.

Control type

This is a Segmented control.

If you want to change it to another type of control, click the value, scroll, and select one of the other control types.

Value source

Choose from a number of source options to identify the segments for the control:

Data sources

The segments of the control originate in the actual data source of the workbook.

You must choose the table and the column.
Sigma selects up to 5 values to create segments.

By default, it uses the most common segment values in your data.

Data elements

The segments of the control originate in one of the elements on the workbook. Commonly, it is identical to the target source of the workbook. See Specify the target of the control.

You must choose the table, and then the column.
Sigma selects up to 5 values to create segments.

By default, it uses the most common segment values in your data.

Create manual list

You can create a manual (custom) list to select specific values.
You still reference a data table or a data element. However, this time you can directly name the data sections you plan to investigate, regardless of their relative frequency in your the accumulated data.

There is no strict limit to the number of values you can use to create segments. To optimize the user experience, ensure that you use no more than the absolutely necessary number of segments.

Create list from preset

This option lets you chose from a common set of presets: Month names, Weekday names, and Date parts. After you select one of these options, your control is a manual list; you can change it, remove values, and add new values.

Manual lists and presets

Value type

This is the data type of the segment values that you add manually.

The options are Text (default), Number, Date, and Boolean.

If you use a preset source, it automatically sets the value type.

Values

The values for the manual segments appear here, after you choose either Manual list or Preset in the Value source.

Manual

When you enter the values manually, create new values by using the return key (Mac OS) or enter (Windows).

In the following example, the values represent all the states that comprise the New England region of the United states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

After examining your data, you may find that some values don't have matching data; you have a choice to remove that value from the segmented control. In this example, there are no stores in either Connecticut or Vermont. To delete individual values, hover over the value, and click the (delete) icon.

Delete a manually-entered value .

Preset

When using the preset, the action populates both the Values and the Value type.

This is an example of using the Weekdays preset list. Sigma populates the values, and the Value source becomes a Manual list.

You can also add and remove values if you populated the segment control from a preset list.

Values uses a switch: Set display values.

Set display values

This option lets you change the labels of the segments.

For example, if can replace a code value with something more accessible for the end-user. Similarly, you can replace a lengthy value by an accepted abbreviation.

The original value is at the top, and the value that appears in the segment is at the bottom; you can edit the bottom value.

This is an example of the preset list for weekdays, with changes for display values.

Display as card

This option formats the published version of the control as one of two options:

Default control that blends with the canvas
Control on white background

Required

Ensures that target elements load only after the user makes a selection.

Control ID

Sigma uses this automatically-generated value for internal references between controls and their targets.

Changing a control ID can break existing parameter reference that already use this ID. Note that you can change the control's label to improve clarity without changing its ID.

When you duplicate controls, the new control has the same behavior and formatting as the original, but it's own unique ID. See Duplicate controls.

When you sync controls, they share the same ID. See Synced controls.

Control label

You can change the tile of the segmented control to improve the user experience. For example, if you have a page with many visual elements and controls, you can choose to specify what the control changes.

If the nature of the control is obvious, the label may be redundant. You can de-select the option. Here is an example of the weekday control in published form, with and without the label.

Reset

Resets the control to the original default.

Data sources and elements

Source column

After you select the Value source, the Source column shows the first column of the data source.

Click the value, and scroll to select the column that you plan to use for segment values.

The limit is 5 values. Your data and your business scenario determines which 5 values must appear on the control. By default, segmented controls based on a data source use the 5 most frequent values in your data, or top 5 Descending by count. To change this, click the Sort widget, and select one the other options: Asceding by count, Ascending alpha-numeric, or Descending alpha-numeric.

Set display column

Depending on the structure of your data, you may choose to get the values from one column, and display another column. For example, if you use a data source made up of several joined tables, you may choose to pull the Store ID as the Source column, but display the Store name.