Cut'n'Paste matters

The primary use case we've been targeting is where users want to build a repeatable process which involves pulling data from a reliable external source (it may need to be done again and again) and massaging it, perhaps w/ some other data, and then doing something w/ that data (loading it to a database, calling a web service, sending emails,...). Now our focus is shifting to how do we get users to be more productive once they have their data in PAW.

Filtering has been made simple, more than the auto-filter capability in spreadsheet tools. Choosing fields and changing their order was another must-have when you're analyzing data with lots of columns. And then finally, there's cut-n-paste.

Cut and paste is actually the primary mechanism users use to move data around, typically small bits of data, maybe used as a reference table for mapping or some departmental data needing slicing and dicing. We now allow the user to create a new table with the data or to paste it into an existing table.




First you paste your data and specify what table to load the data into. Then you map the fields to existing columns or specify new fields and their types.




And voila - you're done!


We've made the feature as simple as can be, but underlying it needs to ensure all the fields can be converted correctly. Pasting into an existing table is just as simple. I am looking forward to feedback on how this feature change what types of data you work with on PAW.