Find here all information about working with columns in Datameer.

Renaming Columns

To rename a column:

  1. Right-click a column name and select "Rename" or double-click a column name. The column name is marked as editable.
    INFO: To cancel column renaming, press the 'Escape' key.
     
  2. Enter the new column name.
    INFO: Column names must only contain standard, capital oder lower-case characters, numbers and/ or underscores. A column name cannot begin with a number.
    INFO: Column names in all workbook sheet types are case-sensitive, e.g. the column names 'Foo', 'fOO' etc. are unique columns within the same worksheet. 
     
  3. Confirm the entry with "Enter" key. Renaming is finished. 
     

Adding Columns

A column can only be added next to a column which has content. Added columns appear to the left of the outgoing column.

To add a column right-click a column name and select "Add Column". The new, empty column appears to the left. Adding a column is finished.


Reordering Columns

Resizing Columns

Splitting Columns

Encoding Columns

Column encoding performs ordinal, one-hot or binned encoding on column data which assigns a unique numeric value to each categorical or continuous value. Once applied, column encoding can be updated as needed until the desired results are achieved.

Columns with a high cardinality are not suited for ordinal/ binned encoding.

Column encoding provides a consistent view of prepared data which is especially helpful for teams working together on model building and testing activities.

Ordinal Encoding

For ordinal encoding:

  1. Right-click on a column header and select "Encoding" or click on the "Encode Column" icon from the toolbar. The 'Encode Column' dialog is displayed on the right. 
         or 
  2. If needed, change the column by entering the required column name in 'Column'. 
     
  3. Select the encoding type "Ordinal Encoding" from the drop-down. Further selection options adapt to the needs.
     
  4. Decide how to deal with unknown values by clicking the required statement.
    INFO: 'Drop Value' ignores values beyond the first 100 most frequent. 'Default Value' shows values, which can not be encoded. 
     
  5. View the top 32 values (by count).
     
  6. If needed, add a new value in the blank field, change the order of the top values or delete single values.
     
  7. Confirm with "Encode". The encoding result is displayed in a new encoding sheet within the workbook. Ordinal Encoding is finished. 
     

One-hot Encoding

For one-hot encoding:

  1. Right-click on a column header and select "Encoding" or click on the "Encode Column" icon from the toolbar. The 'Encode Column' dialog is displayed on the right. 
         or 
  2. If needed, change the column by entering the required column name in 'Column'.
     
  3. Select the encoding type "1-Hot Encoding" from the drop-down. Further selection options adapt to the needs.
     
  4. Decide how to deal with unknown values by clicking the required statement. 
    INFO: 'Drop Value' ignores values beyond the first 100 most frequent. 'Include at last column' adds a new element to the list that encodes together all values beyond the 100 most frequent. 

  5. Select the output format from the dropdown 'Output'.
    INFO: 'As List' keeps all binary pairs together in a single column. 'As Column' creates binary pairs each in their own column.

  6. View the top 32 values (by count).
     
  7. If needed, add a new value in the blank field, change the order of the top values or delete single values.
     
  8. Confirm with "Encode". The encoding result is displayed in a new encoding sheet within the workbook. One-hot encoding is finished.
     

Binned Encoding

For binned encoding:

  1. Right-click on a column header and select "Encoding" or click on the "Encode Column" icon from the toolbar. The 'Encode Column' dialog is displayed on the right. 
         or 
  2. If needed, change the column by entering the required column name in 'Column'.
     
  3. Select the encoding type "Binned Encoding" from the drop-down. Further selection options adapt to the needs.
     
  4. Select the output format from the dropdown 'Output'.
    INFO: 'As List' keeps all binary pairs together in a single column. 'Ordinal' encodes as ordinal numbers in a single column.
     
  5. View the default value distributions.
    INFO: The graph changes according to the amount of dividers. 
     
  6. Enter the required bin dividers.
    INFO: There are 3 deviders set as default, e.g. 'Devider 1' contains the 25% of the selected column values. 
  7. INFO: To delete a divider, click on "x" next to the required divider.
     
  8. If needed, add a new divider in the field 'Add new Divider'.
    INFO: The percentage of the other dividers adjusts with each new divider. 
     
  9. Confirm with "Encode". The encoding result is displayed in a new encoding sheet within the workbook. Binned encoding is finished. 
     

Formatting Columns

Hiding and Expanding Columns

Removing Columns