In DataTile we can put string (text) variables on a control and select them as options to display.
Also, you can link them to a logical proxy to assign them as a filter to narrow down the base for calculations.
How to use string variables in a control
Click the ‘Create control’ button;
In the control editor, select the ‘All’ option in categories and drop a string variable in the control field;
Choose the ‘Dropdown’ control type - it may be single or multiple depending on your purposes;
Assign control to widgets: you can put it on rows/columns (but not split) in the chart. In this case, you get shares of the selected variants from the entire base. Also, you can assign the control as ‘Filter’.
In VIEW mode enter keywords in a search bar of the dropdown control and select the options.
If we use a categorical variable, the entire list of options in the newly created control would be viewable, but here we run into the first limitation of a string variable: we can't see the entire list, because it's essentially raw data divided by rows, some studies have several thousand rows. To select the necessary string variables, you should use the search bar.
How to use logical proxy for string variables
If the research requires comparing the selected options against each other, it's essential to assign them as a filter to narrow the base for calculations. However, this can't be done directly since they are already assigned to rows or columns. To achieve this, you need to follow these steps:
Create a proxy control;
Assign the selected options to the proxy control;
Assign the proxy control as a filter for the chart.
Now the base for the calculation is narrowed down to the selected options and we can compare their shares with each other.