How to change view for a visualization

[Bulat119]

Hello everyone!
I am interesting if it is possible to change source for a visualization. For example I have ready visualization that based on certain view. I would like to copy it and change source for it - use another view instead. Could you please advice if it is possible and how?
Thank you!

[GavinW]

Assuming that you are talking about Looker (rather than Looker Studio), then be aware that the explore environment (and the visualisations built on them) are at the 'explore' level, rather than the 'view' level. So, unless the explore has all the same fields available and they are coming from views that are joined in the same way, then it wouldn't really make sense to copy  a visualization and apply it to a different source.

Having said that, the visualisation you create in the explore environment is actually encoded and available as a URL - you can see it if you go to the cog wheel on the top right of the explore page, click on 'share' and then get the 'Expanded URL'. The URL you will see is long and confusing, but if you pop it into something like this URL decoder tool you can see that it has all the data needed to configure your visualization. You can see an example of a decoded URL in the image below. In the image below, 'thelook' is the name of the model this visualization is built from, and 'order_items' is the explore. These are what you would change if you wanted this visualization to pull from a different model/explore - but if it does not have the same fields available, it will of course not work!

[Bulat119]

Dear GavinW,
Yes it was what I am searching for. One more question, please - I've got decoded URL, changed 'thelook' to 'thelook_2' and how to use it further? Should I  put into browser (not worked) or something else? Sorry for stupid questions, I am fully novice in Looker.
Many thanks,
Bulat

[Bulat119]

Dear GavinW,

Thanks for your understanding issue and offered solution. It is what I was searching.
One more question, please - Should I put received and changed URL to browser? I have tried, but unfortunately it doesn't worked. I copied visualization, copied view like thelook to thelook_2, changed in URL thelook to thelook_2 and put changed URL to browser, and have got empty page. Was it correct sequence of steps?

Many thanks,
Bulat

[GavinW]

'thelook' in the example is the name of the model, and 'order_items' is the name of the explore. In principle, if you were trying to change the change the source for a visualization, you would need to change each of these to the model and explore you want to get the data from. But, as I said above, you would need to have the same fields available, otherwise you will get errors.

As a side note, I'm not sure this is something that will be very useful in reality, but it's an interesting technical question!

Oh, and one more clarification - this info relates to Looker, not Looker Studio.