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Common High-Quality Table Calculations

Professional LookML dashboards use table calculations to create context and solve common visualization hurdles. Use these patterns to enhance your tiles.

1. Partial Period Suppression​

Prevents trend lines from "crashing" to zero at the end of the chart when the current day/month is incomplete.

- table_calculation: trend_line
  label: Trend Line
  expression: "if(${created_date} <= now(), ${count}, null)"

2. Period-over-Period Variance​

Calculates the difference from the previous data point (e.g., Prior Week).

- table_calculation: pop_variance
  label: "vs Prior Period"
  expression: "${count} / offset(${count}, 1) - 1"
  value_format_name: percent_1

3. Return / Retention Rates​

Calculates the percentage of users returning relative to a starting cohort (index 1).

- table_calculation: return_rate
  label: Return Rate
  expression: "${user_count} / index(${user_count}, 1)"
  value_format_name: percent_1

4. Cumulative Growth vs Linear Goal​

Visualizes progress toward a linear target across a period.

# Cumulative Growth
- table_calculation: running_total
  expression: "running_total(${amount})"

# Linear Goal Line
- table_calculation: goal_line
  expression: "(row() / max(row())) * ${goal_amount}"

5. Relative Growth (Share of Wallet)​

Compares a specific segment's performance against the total.

- table_calculation: segment_share
  expression: "${segment_amount} / sum(${segment_amount})"