If you want to work with a data file previously created by the Tool Manager, select Data File from the tabbed list. The buttons in the Data Source panel change (see Figure 3-4), letting you specify the name of a .schema file (which describes some data file). To specify the name, choose either Client or Server.

If you want to access a data file created outside of Tool Manager, you must create a .schema file for it. This is a text file containing a configuration file “input” section, which gives the name of the data file and describes its layout. For a description of the input section, see the appendix for the tool you want to use.

If you clicked the Database tab, the DBMS button becomes active after you've logged in to the server. Before you choose a database, the DBMS button says None-Selected. When you click it, a menu of the database managers appears. Choose the one you want by clicking it. At this point, a dialog window pops up and asks you for your DBMS login name and password before the program grants access to the database. (Note that the login name and password for the DBMS are probably different from those for logging into the server.) After you enter them, the rest of the Data Source buttons become active.

The Tool Manager lets you connect to an Oracle, INFORMIX, or Sybase database. If you choose an Oracle database, the Database button remains inactive (grayed out) because an Oracle database has only one set of tables per database manager. If, however, you choose an INFORMIX or Sybase manager, the Database button becomes active because each of these managers can have several sub-databases. Click it for a menu of the databases, and choose the one you want to work with.

The Table Type popup menu lets you specify whether your data source is a table or view from the database (Single Table) or an SQL query (SQL Query).

Remove Column lets you delete columns by selecting the column name or names in the Current Columns panel, then clicking this button. The items in the Current Columns panel change to show the new table columns. To choose multiple contiguous columns for simultaneous removal, drag the mouse over the columns. To choose multiple non-contiguous columns for simultaneous removal, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting the additional columns.

Binning lets you sort the information from one or more columns into groups in a new column or columns (for example, with a range of ages, 0-18, 19-25, 26-35, and so on). Click Bin Column to get a dialog box that lets you specify the binning options (Figure 3-9).

This dialog box lets you

To specify binning options for one or more columns, select the column name(s), choose the appropriate options below, and click the Apply button at the bottom of the dialog box.

If you select only one column for binning, the name of the resulting binned column appears in the New column name box, and you can type in a new name if you like. In the example shown in Figure 3-9, Age_Bin is the name for the new column; in this case, it provides a range of ages. If you select more than one column for binning, New column name stays inactive.

Next to New column name is a check box labeled Delete original column. When chosen, this option automatically deletes the original column after binning. Click the check box to turn this function on or off.

In the middle of the Bin columns dialogue box are two tabs for choosing Automatic Thresholds or User Specified Thresholds. Choose Automatic Thresholds if you'd like the computer to suggest the bins or User Specified Thresholds if you'd like to specify the thresholds yourself.

Before describing the features and effects of the Aggregate button, this section provides an introduction to the concept of arrays and distribution as used in the aggregation feature.

Some databases store numerical values as strings. Oracle stores all numbers (both integers and real numbers) in a single format, which defaults to the data type double in the Tool Manager. You can use the Change Types button to ensure that these values are processed correctly. To change the types of one or more columns, click the Change Types button. A new dialog box appears (see Figure 3-12). This dialog box contains a window with a list of column headings and their respective types.

First select a column heading in the window. Then click the Column type button. This produces a popup list of the possible types (invalid types are grayed out), as shown in Figure 3-13.

After selecting a new type, click the OK button to have the change take effect.

Note that if you try to convert an inappropriate field (such as a name) to a number, the resulting values are all zeroes.

You can use the Add Column button to create a new column whose values are computed based on a mathematical expression. For example, you could add a new column whose values are the ratio of values from two existing columns. Click Add Column to get a dialog box that lets you specify the new column name and expression (Figure 3-14).

In the upper left of this dialog box is a field for entering the new column's name. Below this is a popup menu that lets you specify the column type (integer, string, floating point, and so on).

The right-hand side of the dialog contains a large text entry area where you can type in a definition of the expression (for a complete description of the expression definition language, see “The Configuration File” in Appendix A). As a shortcut to typing column names and operators, scrolled lists in the lower left of the dialog display all columns in the current table and all possible operators. To insert a column name or operator into the expression, either double-click it in its scrolled list, or select it and click the arrow button to the right of the scrolled list.

To check the syntax of the expression you have created, click the Check Expression button. If there is an error, a dialog box appears, indicating what the error is and where it occurred. When you click OK, the expression is automatically checked, and the dialog box is not removed unless the expression is correct.

The Apply Classifier button lets you use a previously created classifier (see the “Using Mining Tools” section) to label records in the current table. For example, if you created a classifier to determine the edibility of mushrooms based on their shape, size, smell, and so on, you could use Apply Classifier to determine edibility of mushrooms in a new table. Click Apply Classifier to access a dialog box that lets you apply previously created classifiers to the current table (Figure 3-15).

On the left of this dialog box is the list of all classifiers currently available on the server. If you select a classifier, the right-hand list is filled in with the column names and types required by that classifier. If these requirements match the current table, a message at the bottom states this, and the OK button is activated. If the current table does not have all the columns required for the selected classifier, the message at the bottom states this, the columns that are missing are selected in the list on the right, and the OK button is deactivated. Finally, a text field at the bottom lets you name the new column to be created by the classifier.

Table processing is a series of operations performed by using the buttons described above. To allow you to see this series of steps, and go back if you made a mistake, there are two Table History buttons at the bottom of the Table Processing panel (Figure 3-16). When you click the left arrow button, the columns window shows the table as it appeared at an earlier step. Clicking the right arrow button brings the table forward to its current state.

To the right of the history buttons is the information field Current view is, which counts the changes you've made and indicates which step you are viewing. The two integers in this field indicate which table view you're looking at, out of the total number of table views that exist. For example, if you've made two changes, you can view the original table (1 of 3), the table after the first change (2 of 3), or the table after the second change (3 of 3).

As you go back and forth using the Table History buttons to view earlier versions of the table, the Prev and Next fields (under the arrow buttons) help you keep track of where you are in the history of the table. For any table you view, the Prev: field tells you what the previous change was, and the Next: field tells you the next change.

If you choose the Viz Tool tab, the visualization tool panel appears under Data Destination.

Viz Tool is a popup menu that lets you choose among Tree Visualizer, Map Visualizer, Scatter Visualizer, and Text Editor to determine the type of visual representation you want for your data. The first three tools are described in their respective chapters. The Text Editor tool launches a text editor in a separate window for viewing the raw data file. The Text Editor has no requirements and no options. The specific editor that is launched defaults to jot. If the user has the WINEDITOR environment variable, that editor is used. If WINEDITOR has not been set, but EDITOR has, that editor is used.

Each tool's requirements are listed individually in the Visual Elements pane. This pane lets you map a table column to a requirement. To do this,

The Viz Tool panel now shows the Visual Element and the column to which it has been mapped (see Figure 3-19).

You can clear the mapping at any time by selecting the requirement that has the mapping you want to change, then clicking the Clear Selected button. You can clear all mappings using the Clear All button.

If you want to specify other details to fine-tune your mappings or to change the settings so that the data representations more clearly reflect your intentions, click the Tool Options button. A dialog box specific to each MineSet tool appears, where you can manually specify the options to use.

The MineSet Classifiers are described in Chapter 8, “MineSet Inducers and Classifiers,” Chapter 9, “Inducing and Visualizing the Decision Tree Classifier,” and Chapter 10, “Inducing and Visualizing the Evidence Classifier.” Column importance is described in Chapter 11.

The Tool Manager lets you save the manipulated table for future use in a data file on the client or server. If you click the Data Files tab, the panel shown in Figure 3-23 appears.

The two toggle buttons in this panel let you specify whether the file is to be saved on the server or your client machine. The selected name for the client file appears next to the Client checkbox. If you select Client, the Choose new client file button brings up a dialog for you to choose the name for the client file. If you select Server, you can type the server filename directly into the adjacent text field.

The File menu lets you choose what to do with your current session, which is one complete session with a tool. This includes choosing the server, data source and table, all the table manipulations, and the mapping or classifying of the data.

The File menu provides five functions:

The Options menu has only one item: Database Explorer. Choosing this item brings up the Database Explorer (Figure 3-25), a tool to help you find out about the information in database tables. For example, it can be used to find maximums, minimums, averages, sums, and distinct values.

The Database Explorer has three panels: the top lets you select the table and columns, the middle provides summary information, and the bottom provides summary results. The upper left shows a list of all the tables in the current database. Selecting any of these tables causes the columns of that table to appear in the list to the right. To get summary information, select one or more column names, and click the desired operations in the center panel. When you click the Submit Query button in the middle panel, the summary information is computed for the specified columns (this can take a long time for large tables). Results are output at the bottom. Note that min, max, average, and sum can be applied to number-valued columns only.

The Visual Tool menu allows you to invoke any of the visual tools directly:

If you've created a file that runs within one of these tools and you want to go back to it, click the tool. From within the tool, use File Open to open the data file.

The Help menu provides information about the elements of the Tool Manager and how they work:

If only one color is to be chosen (for example a grid color), a single color swatch appears (Figure 3-26).

Clicking the swatch brings up a Color Browser that lets you change the color of that swatch (Figure 3-27). The Color Browser is described in more detail in the “Using the Color Browser” section, shown in Figure 3-27.

If a list of color swatches is to be chosen, the list of swatches appears (these can be empty initially), as shown in Figure 3-28.

To edit the color, click a swatch with the left mouse button. This also selects the swatch for making changes to the colors with the buttons. If you click with the swatch with the middle mouse button, the swatch is selected, but the color chooser does not appear.

Next to the list of swatches are four buttons. First is the odd button, labeled with a plus sign (+), adds a new color at the end of the list. A swatch is added, and the color chooser appears, where you can select the color of that swatch. The add button is disabled if the maximum number of colors is already in the list.

Next to the add button is a delete button, labeled with a minus sign (-). This button deletes the selected color. It is disabled if no swatch is selected, or if the list already has the minimum number of colors.

Next to the delete button are two buttons to shift the selected color right and left. These buttons are disabled if no swatch is selected, or if the swatch is already at the end of the list.

If there are more colors in the list than room to display them, scroll arrows are added at each end of the list (Figure 3-29).

If the hardware runs out of colors, the color swatches are replaced with text labels showing the color in X notation (Figure 3-30).

The Color Browser (Figure 3-27) appears when you click a color swatch or the add button in the Colors panel of the visualizer's Configuration Options panel.

To select a color using the Color Browser: