Creating Tableau Parameters and use them in Filters

Tableau Parameters plays a major role in creating Dynamic reports. For instance,

While creating Filters, We can replace the Constant value with the Parameter value. This will allow the user to set the Filter values dynamically as per his/her requirement.
While creating Calculated Fields (or Calculations), We can replace the Constant value with the Parameter value. This will allow the user to change the values as per his/her requirement.

In this article we will show you, How to Create Tableau Parameters with example. For this we are going to write the Custom SQL Query against the SQL Server Data Source so, Please visit Connecting Tableau to SQL Server article to understand the configurations. Custom SQL query we are going to use for this report is:

SQL Query

SELECT Cust.FirstName + ' '+ Cust.LastName AS [Full Name], 
       Cust.YearlyIncome, 
       Cust.EnglishOccupation, 
       Fact.OrderQuantity, 
       Fact.TotalProductCost, 
       Fact.SalesAmount, 
       Fact.TaxAmt, 
       Fact.OrderDate
FROM FactInternetSales AS Fact 
   INNER JOIN
     DimCustomer AS Cust ON Fact.CustomerKey = Cust.CustomerKey

Creating Tableau Parameters

In this example we will show you, How to create Tableau Parameters, Types of Parameters and How to use them as Filters in Tableau. First, Drag and Drop the Product Name from Dimension Region to Rows Shelf and Sales Amount Measures region to Columns Shelf. By default, tableau will generate the Bar Chart as shown below. Please remember, We have 130 Rows in our Tableau Report

In Tableau we can create Parameters in Multiple ways:

First Method, Click on the Drop down arrow in the upper right corner of the Dimensions region and select the Create parameter.. option from the Drop down menu as shown below

Second Method, Within the Data pane, Right Click on the Empty space will open the context menu. Please select the Create parameter.. option from the Context menu as shown below

Once you select the Create parameter.. option, a new window called Create parameter will be opened as shown below. Within the Name section, please specify the Unique name for the Parameter and provide the valid comment by clicking the comment button

Please select the valid Data Type name from the Drop down menu. For instance, if you select String data type from the menu then parameter can only accept string data. Here, we are selecting Integer Data Type

Display Format option allows you to format the parameter value. For example, if you want the parameter to show the range between 10 percent to 80 percent, you can use the Percentage otherwise, select Automatic

From the below screenshot you can observe that, we have three options in Allowable values. In this article, we will show you 3 possibilities with example. First, we are selecting the All option as Allowable values.

Next, we added filter condition on Product Name. To do this, Please drag and drop the Product Name from Dimension Region to Filters Shelf. Once you are done, a new window will be opened to write the condition. For now, we selected Top N products by Sum of Sales Amount and instead of writing constant number 10, we added our parameter value.

In some versions, parameter control may display automatically. If this is not the case, Please click on the Drop down arrow in the upper right corner of the parameter name and select the Show Parameter Control option from the context menu as shown below

Once you are done, you can see the parameter control. By default, Our report will display Top 10 records because we specified the Current value as 10 while creating parameter.

Let us change the value to Top 100. Notice that, our tableau report is displaying the Top 100 product names

Tableau Range Parameters

Let us see what will happen when we change the Allowable values from All to Range. To edit the existing parameter, Please click on the Drop down arrow in the upper right corner of the parameter name and select the Edit.. option from the context menu as shown below

TIP: You can create New parameter rather than editing this old one

Let us change the Allowable values from All to Range and add the Minimum and Maximum values as per your project requirement.

Minimum: Please specify the Minimum Range value. For now, we are adding 2 as minimum value.
Maximum: Please specify the Maximum Range value. Our report has 130 records so, we are adding 130 as maximum value.
Step Size: Scale step size. For now, we are adding 5 as Step Size because we have only 130 records. If your records are more, Please feel free to change this value to 50, 100 or thousand

Please change the parameter display option from Type In to Slider. In order to do this, Please click on the Drop down arrow in the upper right corner of the parameter name and select the Slider option from the context menu as shown below

Once you are done, you can use the Slider to filter the Data as shown below

Tableau List Parameters

Let us change the Allowable values from range to List and add the List of values as per your project requirement. For now, we are adding 4 values to the list.

Value: This is the value tableau will use for filter the data. For example if we set value as 10, report will display Top 10 records
Display As: This will be label name. you should use more meaning full name here