TERR Data Function Programming for Tibco Spotfire

Overview

Attendees will be taught how to build custom data function in TERR / R.  This will include how to interface R routines with Spotfire document properties and data tables, as well as the architecture and design of solutions, difficulties and limitations imposed by Spotfire, and how to work around them.

Students completing this one day primer, will be comfortable building TERR Data functions of low to intermediate complexity, running and debugging these functions, and implementing user interface elements in Spotfire to provide control in parameters to these data function.

Basic Course outline:

  • Basic TERR
    • Interfacing R with Spotfire
    • Data Tables, Columns, Data Limiting
    • Document Properties
    • Auto-Execution of Data Functions
  • Dealing with Circular Dependencies
  • Passing Large Numbers of parameters to and from Spotfire
    • Ironpython & TERR routines for encoded strings
  • Solution Architecture
    • Data Flow Diagrams
  • Object Oriented Design and its Importance for Complex Solutions
  • Error Handling in TERR
    • required vs optional parameters
    • defensive programming of null outputs
  • Writing Packages to Hold Shared Function Libraries
    • Building
    • Installing in Spotfire
  • Mini-Project
    • Students will be given an objective, and asked to build out a solution in TERR, that will test all or most of the concepts from the class

 

Attendee Requirements

Attendees should have the following hardware, software, and background.  Instructor will assume that attendees have the below prerequisites ready to go, so no time is wasted on installing / fixing software and hardware issues.  People experiencing issues with software installation can contact instructor via email or phone prior to class and receive advice on how to proceed.

  1. Laptop computer with R Installed.  It is free, open-source language, version 3.6.1 or newer, from here: https://www.r-project.org/
  2. RStudio Desktop, downloaded from here: https://rstudio.com/products/rstudio/  Follow directions to get it up and running.
  3. Working copy of Spotfire with minimum release Spotfire X;
  4. Pre-Requisite - attendees must have attended R Language Bootcamp, offered separately.
  5. Attendees should be comfortable with with basic numerical operations on a computer, like multiplication, division, raising numbers to powers, taking the log of numbers.  We will do exercises that show how to easily perform more advanced operations like linear regression, sorting, ranking, and gathering statistics from data files.  Attendees need not have any programming background, but need a basic understanding and comfort with simple numerical methods.
  6. Class is taught in English.