Azure Synapse Analytics is a powerful integrated analytics service that delivers insights from real-time analytics and rich data discovery. It brings together big data and data warehousing into an enterprise-scale, integrated solution. One of the most crucial aspects of leveraging Azure Synapse effectively is learning how to explore and visualize data using the Azure Synapse SQL results pane.
Azure Synapse SQL Results Pane – An Overview
The Azure Synapse SQL Results pane is an in-browser solution that allows data engineers to visualize query results immediately after execution. These visualizations can be in the form of various charts, like area, bar, line, pie and table, to serve diverse analytical needs.
Exploring Data with Azure Synapse SQL Results Pane
Exploring data using Azure Synapse involves examining the output data after executing a SQL script. For an easier understanding of these outputs, Azure Synapse SQL offers a highly friendly and intuitive results pane. To view data in the results pane, follow the below steps:
- Execute your script in SSMS or Azure Data Studio.
- Select the option to visualize data in the results pane.
- Once the query is completed, the results are immediately displayed in grid format.
Users can then examine the results in various forms such as CSV, JSON, or Excel, making it easier to glean insights from complex datasets.
Visualizing Data with Azure Synapse SQL Results Pane
The Azure Synapse SQL results pane doesn’t just deliver raw data. It is also designed to automatically plot data on a line, pie, bar, map, or scatter chart, making data comprehension much easier.
For instance, if you have a dataset providing sales data over a period and want to view the trend line. Run the SQL script to fetch this data, and then select ‘Line chart’ to plot the sales data, with time on the x-axis and sales figures on the y-axis.
A simple example of the SQL script:
SELECT OrderDate, TotalDue
FROM SalesOrderHeader
ORDER BY OrderDate
This visualization capability aids tremendously in revealing the patterns, trends and correlations that might go unnoticed in the text-based data.
Other Features
Azure Synapse SQL also provides several other features to further manipulate and deal with your data:
- Filtering and Sorting: Users can quickly sort and filter the result sets within the results pane.
- Save and Load Results: You can save results for later analysis or load results from a previous analysis in CSV format.
- Aggregates: You can calculate quick aggregates like MIN, MAX, AVG, SUM, and COUNT by selecting columns.
- Joins: You can create a join view to visualize the result of a join query.
Conclusion
The Azure Synapse SQL Results Pane is an excellent tool that extends the capabilities of traditional SQL querying. Its ability to visualize data right from the results pane, without the need for any additional tools, is a novel feature that hastens the data exploration and visualization process by leaps and bounds. For anyone preparing for the DP-500 Designing and Implementing Enterprise-Scale Analytics Solutions Using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI exam, mastering the use of Azure Synapse SQL results pane is crucial to handle and visualize data effectively.
Practice Test
True or False: Azure Synapse SQL results pane can be used to visualize data but not to explore it.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Synapse SQL results pane allows both exploration and visualization of data.
Multiple Select: Which of the following types of visualizations are supported in Azure Synapse SQL results pane?
- A) Bar Chart
- B) Line Chart
- C) Scatter Plot
- D) Heatmap
- E) Pie Chart
Answer: A, B, C, E
Explanation: Azure Synapse SQL results pane supports Bar Chart, Line Chart, Scatter Plot, and Pie Chart visualizations. Heatmaps are not directly supported.
True or False: The Azure Synapse SQL results pane allows you to export data to CSV.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: The results pane does offer the functionality to export data to CSV file.
Single Select: What is the maximum number of rows that can displayed in the Azure Synapse SQL results pane?
- A) 50,000
- B) 100,000
- C) 150,000
- D) 200,000
Answer: B. 100,000
Explanation: The results pane in Azure Synapse Analytics can show up to 100,000 rows.
True or False: It’s possible to perform real-time analytics using Azure Synapse SQL results pane.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The Azure Synapse SQL results pane is great for exploring and visualising data, but it does not support real-time analytics.
Multiple Select: In Azure Synapse SQL results pane, which of the following operations can you perform?
- A) Sort
- B) Filter
- C) Group
- D) Calculate averages
Answer: A, B, C
Explanation: In Azure Synapse SQL results pane, you can perform operations like sort, filter, and grouping. There are no functions to calculate averages directly from this pane.
Single Select: Can the Azure Synapse SQL results pane visualize geospatial data?
- A) Yes
- B) No
Answer: B. No
Explanation: The Azure Synapse SQL results pane does not currently support geospatial data visualization.
True or False: You can change the chart type in Azure Synapse SQL results pane after the initial creation of a chart.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Chart type can be changed after initial creation for a more suitable data representation.
Multiple Select: Which of the following visualizations in Azure Synapse SQL results pane provides the best representation for showing trends over time?
- A) Bar Chart
- B) Line Chart
- C) Scatter Plot
- D) Pie Chart
Answer: B. Line Chart
Explanation: Line charts are generally used to represent trends over time due to their continuous nature.
True or False: Azure Synapse SQL results pane only works with structured data.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Synapse can handle both structured and semi-structured data. Although structured data may be easier to represent in charts, semi-structured data can also be explored.
Interview Questions
What is Azure Synapse SQL and how does it contribute to the process of data exploration and visualization?
Azure Synapse SQL is an analytics service that allows you to analyze large amounts of data effectively within Azure Synapse Studio. It supports on-demand or provisioned resources and allows you to use familiar SQL language to explore, clean, transform, and visualize your data.
What is the Results tab in Azure Synapse SQL?
The Results tab in the Azure Synapse SQL results pane displays the output from the executed SQL script. This tab helps in visualizing and understanding the data. It presents the data in the form of a table after executing the SQL scripts.
Can results from Azure Synapse SQL queries be exported?
Yes, the results from Azure Synapse SQL queries can be exported. The data can be downloaded in CSV file format that can be useful for further offline data analysis.
What is the Charting feature in Azure Synapse SQL and how can it be used?
Charting is an additional feature in Azure Synapse SQL that enables visual representation of your query results. By clicking on the ‘Chart’ button in the results pane, you can choose from a variety of chart types like bar, pie, line, scatter, etc. to better visualize your data.
Can you manipulate data in the Azure Synapse SQL results pane?
No, Azure Synapse SQL results pane is read-only. It only allows you to visualize the output data from the SQL script execution but it doesn’t provide any direct means of manipulating or modifying the data.
How does the Copy feature work in the Results pane?
The Copy feature allows you to quickly get data from a SQL query result into your clipboard. You only need to select the rows you want to copy and then click on the ‘Copy’ button. The data can then be pasted into any application that accepts text.
Can you visualize live data using Azure Synapse SQL results pane?
When a SQL script is executed, the data in the Results pane is not live but a snapshot at the time of execution. However, re-execution of the script will reflect the current state of data.
What are the limitations of Charting in Azure Synapse SQL?
The Charting feature of Azure Synapse SQL is primarily intended for a quick overview of the result data. It is limited in its configuration and customization options compared to specialized data visualization tools like Power BI.
Can Azure Synapse SQL be integrated with other tools for advanced analytics?
Yes, Azure Synapse SQL can be easily integrated with popular data analytics tools like Power BI, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Data Factory, etc. for more sophisticated analysis and data visualization.
How does the Top command affect the results in Azure Synapse SQL?
The TOP command in SQL is used to limit the number of rows in the results pane. This can be used to get a quick sample or overview of the data without loading the full dataset, which can be time-consuming for large databases.
Can you save the results from Azure Synapse SQL queries?
Yes, the results of a query can be saved by exporting to a CSV file. This allows for further analysis or manipulation of the data using other tools or software.
Can multiple SQL Scripts be run simultaneously in Azure Synapse SQL?
Yes, you can run multiple SQL scripts at the same time within Azure Synapse SQL, but each executed script will have its separate Results pane.
What is the purpose of the “Refresh” button in the Azure Synapse SQL results pane?
The “Refresh” button is used to display the most recent output in the Results pane. It is useful when you want to view the most up-to-date results after making changes to the script or data.
Can Azure Synapse SQL handle large volumes of data?
Yes, Azure Synapse SQL is designed to handle and process large volumes of data quickly and efficiently. It’s a part of Azure’s fully integrated, scalable analytics service.
How can Azure Synapse SQL be used to optimize data visualizations?
Azure Synapse SQL can be used to pre-process and transform the data into a suitable format for visualizations. Running SQL queries can help to aggregate, sort, and filter the data, making it more manageable for creating visualizations.