Displayr's Cloud Drive can be used for saving a variety of files. These files include images, company logos, client data sets, custom fonts, and page and visualization templates. In addition, you can access a range of features like Data Stacking, Merging (Combine By Case/Variable), and data exporting/publishing. You can even share raw data files or R tables and charts between your company documents.
This article will cover how to save, share and import files to and from the Displayr Cloud Drive.
- Method - Accessing the Displayr Cloud Drive
- Method - Organizing the Displayr Cloud Drive
- Method - Saving to the Displayr Cloud Drive
- Method - Importing data from the Displayr Cloud Drive
- Referencing a file from the Displayr Cloud Drive in the Object Inspector
- Method - Downloading a file from the Displayr Cloud Drive
- Method - Sharing and unsharing a file from the Displayr Cloud Drive
- Method - Sharing R objects across documents
- Method - Sharing templates across documents
Requirements
A professional or Enterprise Displayr license.
Method
Accessing the Displayr Cloud Drive
1. From your account, you can access the cloud drive at the top right of the page via your Initials icon > Displayr Cloud Drive.
2. You will be presented with a table that lists all the files that are stored within your company's cloud drive.
This includes auditable information such as when it was last modified and what company document read it in. You can also work with files from the Displayr Cloud within custom R code: How to Access the Displayr Cloud Drive Using R.
Organizing the Displayr Cloud Drive
By default, folders are mirrored in your Documents view and the Displayr Cloud Drive. This means if you create a folder in either location, it will appear in both, and deleting the folder on your Documents page will also delete it from the Cloud Drive.
You can add a folder by clicking the + New Folder button at the top.
Saving to the Displayr Cloud Drive
1. In your document, click on your Initials icon > Displayr Cloud Drive.
2. Click the + Upload button and select the files you wish to upload. In this example, we have uploaded a logo and a data set that we want to use in our document.
3. Alternatively, if you already have your data sets loaded in your document, you can also add these individually via Share > Export Data > To Displayr Cloud Drive as SPSS File (.SAV) or To Displayr Cloud Drive as CSV File (.CSV), see How to Publish Data to the Displayr Cloud Drive.
Importing data from the Displayr Cloud Drive
1. Click Data Source > Plus (+) > Displayr Cloud Drive and choose the desired file. If your file is stored within a folder, you will need to additionally click through the appropriate folder menus to find your file.
2. [OPTIONAL] Set the desired update frequency using a schedule.
If you wish to manually update the data ahead of the scheduled refresh, simply click the data set in the Data Sources tree, and from the object inspector, click Update > Displayr Cloud Drive.
Note, if you move a file from Displayr's Cloud Drive into a different folder, this method will fail to update the next time new data is fetched, as it is no longer in the same location. You will instead need to point it to the new location to restart the automated process.
Referencing a file from the Displayr Cloud Drive in the Object Inspector
With some built-in outputs you may need to reference a file in your cloud drive in the object inspector. This includes when merging data i.e. Combine by Case/Combine by Variable and stacking data. You will need to specify the full path to the file in the object inspector with folders separated by one backslash \ , and the path is case-sensitive. So if our sav file from above was in a folder the path would be: Example folder\Demo.sav
Downloading a file from the Displayr Cloud Drive
Click the name of the file you wish to download and it will download directly via your browser.
Sharing and unsharing a file from the Displayr Cloud Drive
1. Select the file you want to share.
2. On the extreme right, click the symbol to view the share/unshare buttons.
3. Click Share to share the file.
Once the file has been shared, the URL is displayed where the file can be accessed.
4. OPTIONAL: This can be copied and then pasted if needed elsewhere.
5. Click OK.
If you no longer want the file to be publicly available, you can click Unshare. The following message will then be displayed:
Note, if you decide to share the file again, the link will be different than it was before.
Sharing R objects across documents
It is possible to share tables or visualizations created via Visualization with other documents using the Cloud Drive.
1. Select your table or visualization.
2. Go to Share > Export Objects > Export Object to Displayr Cloud Drive.
3. Name your file and then press Export.
Note that tables are saved as R files (*.rds) and visualizations are saved as R-rendered HTML widgets without the underlying data included. This means they can't be modified once imported via the usual built-in methods.
The way to import these objects into another document is to use some R code:
1. In the toolbar, click Calculation > Custom Code.
2. Click and draw the outline on the page where you wish to place the calculation.
3. Enter the below code but substituting file_name with the actual name of the file:
library(flipAPI)
QLoadData('file_name.rds')4. Press Calculate.
5. [OPTIONAL] While the tables and visualizations will import 'as is', as they import as an R calculation, you are still able to edit the code further and make modifications there.
See How to Access the Displayr Cloud Drive Using R for further details.
Sharing templates across documents
Users can save and load templates to and from the Cloud Drive for pages, multiple items within a page, visualizations, as well as custom analysis tools. See the below for details:
How to Create and Apply a Visualization Template
How to Create and Apply a Page Template
How to Share a Custom Analysis Tool Between Documents
Next
How to Access the Displayr Cloud Drive Using R
Create a Separate Data Preparation Document
How to Publish Data to the Displayr Cloud Drive
How to Use a PowerPoint Chart Style Template in a Displayr Export