How to choose and set up the fields of a cube in Hubviz

Choose which columns from the source go into the cube, give each one a clear name and say what it is: a date, a value or a category. Measures and charts depend on this setup.

When to use it

• Right after you connect a data source and open the cube for the first time.
• When a chart treats a number as text, or a date as a category.
• When you want to swap technical names (dt_emissao) for names your team understands (“Issue date”).

Before you start, create the cube from a source, such as an Excel or CSV spreadsheet. The Field Mapping tab only opens after the cube has read the data at least once, or when it already has saved fields.

Choose the fields

When the cube reads the source, each column becomes a field, but none comes checked. Only checked fields go into the cube.

Each checked field becomes a row in the table below the list and a chip inside it. To take a field out of the cube, click the chip’s x or uncheck the field in the list.

In sources with nested data, such as a REST API, child fields show under their parent, with an arrow to open and close. Their friendly name shows the full path, such as customer > name.

Set up each field

The table shows one row per checked field. It has a search box at the top and shows 10 rows per page.

Column	What it is	Editable
Field Name	The technical name of the column in the source, lowercase and without accents (receita, lucro_bruto). Formulas use it.	No
User Friendly Name	The name shown in measures, charts and filters. It starts out equal to the column name in the source.	Yes
Description	A short sentence for whoever uses the cube later. It starts empty.	Yes
Field Type	The field’s role in the analysis. See the table below.	Yes
Field Value Type	The data format. The options change with the field type.	Yes
Actions	Order, hide, primary key, and edit or delete (calculated field).	Yes

The friendly name and the description are saved when you leave the field (click away or press Tab).

Field types

Hubviz picks a type for each column by looking at the first rows of data. Dates become Date, numbers and currencies become Value, and text and true/false become Category. Check them and fix what is off.

Type	What it is for	Value formats
Id	The unique identifier of each record. Only one field in the cube can be Id.	Text or Number
Date	Dates and times, such as issue, due or creation. Measures use a date to spread the value over time.	Date
Value	Numbers you sum, average or compare, such as revenue or quantity.	Text, Currency, Number, Decimal or Time
Category	Text with options that repeat, such as business unit, status or salesperson. Used to group and filter.	Text, Number, Single Choice or Boolean
Items	Lists of values inside a record, such as the tags of an order.	List, Single Choice, Multiple Choice or Currency
Object	Complex objects, such as a multi-level JSON. Usually the parent of child fields.	Single Choice
Relationships	Fields that come from another cube through a relationship. You don’t create this type by hand.	Text

When you change the field type, the value format switches to the first allowed format, unless the current one is also allowed. When you change a field to Value and its name starts with hora, duracao, tempo or minuto (Portuguese for hour, duration, time, minute), the format chosen is Time.

Row actions

The buttons in the Actions column change with the field.

Button	What it does
Up and down arrows	Change the field’s position. The order applies to the table, the chips and the cube’s field lists. The arrow is disabled on the first and last field.
Hide Field / Show Field	Hides the field from the project diagram and from the data table columns, without taking it out of the cube. Only on mapped fields.
Set as Primary Key / Remove Primary Key	Marks the field as the primary key. Only on mapped fields.
Edit Calculated Field	Opens the calculated field. Only on calculated fields.
Delete Calculated Field	Deletes the calculated field. Only on calculated fields.

Primary key

The primary key is the field that identifies each record. When you mark a field as the primary key, its type becomes Id and it stops being hidden. When you remove it, the type goes back to Value.

• Only one field can be the primary key. If another one exists, Hubviz opens the Change Primary Key window and asks you to confirm.
• The primary key’s type and visibility are locked. To change them, remove the primary key first.

When the cube has no date

If no field is of the date type, Hubviz shows a notice at the top of the tab with the Add date field button. It creates a calculated field called “Date”, with the formula NOW(), which holds the date and time at the moment the cube is processed. Use it when the data has no date of its own, because measures need a date field. To dismiss the notice, click the x.

Example: Aurora’s Sales cube

The Sales cube came from a CSV with the columns data, unidade, receita, custo and meta. After reading the file, the mapping looks like this:

Field	Friendly name	Field type	Value type
data	Date	Date	Date
unidade	Business unit	Category	Text
receita	Revenue	Value	Number
custo	Cost	Value	Number
meta	Target	Value	Number

Check the five fields, switch the format of receita, custo and meta to Currency if you want to see money values, and save. The next step is to create the calculated field lucro_bruto with calculated fields.

Messages and limits

Message	Cause and fix
The selected field type is not compatible with the associated data.	Hubviz looked at the data it read and it doesn’t fit the type. Value needs numbers, Date needs dates and Items needs lists. Pick another type or fix the column at the source.
Only one field can have the type ‘Id’.	There is already an Id field. Change the other field’s type first.
Primary key type cannot be changed.	Remove the primary key to change the type.
Primary key field cannot be hidden.	Remove the primary key to hide the field.
The cube has more than one field with the same name	Two columns became the same technical name. Rename one of them at the source. In databases, use aliases (AS) in the SQL query.
Cube not saved. Please save the cube first to create a measure.	Save the cube before opening the measures tab.

• The Field Mapping tab stays disabled while the cube hasn’t read the source and has no saved fields.
• If you read the source again and a column is gone, its field leaves the cube. Calculated and relationship fields stay.
• If a column in the file changes its name, Hubviz treats it as a new field. Check the new one and redo the measures that used the old one.

Next steps

• Create new columns from existing ones with calculated fields.
• Link this cube to another with relationships.
• Compute the dashboard numbers with measures.