London, United Kingdom – friedEgg Limited today announced the release of version 1.7 of friedEgg Touch, an interactive data analysis tool for Mac OS X. The major focus of this update is to improve usability. Charts can now be created by just assigning three data columns as dimensions, at any level, as the label dimension is now optional. The data view, key panel, printed reports and exported data are automatically configured to include the label if present, but ignore it when not available.

Changes in chart objects selected at one step are now automatically reflected in subsequent steps and Quicklook automatically displays a summary of the greatest valid step within the saved file icon. Chart objects and images have been updated to higher resolution, for clearer presentation on Retina displays. Gesture support has also been enhanced, including pinch to zoom and swiping left/right through the analysis steps.

The reliability of the analysis process has been improved by ensuring that files are always saved as packages. The files containing data tables can be linked using bookmarks, which maintains the links even when files are moved, or they can be copied into the package. Furthermore, files created in earlier versions are automatically migrated to be saved as packages when first used.

In addition, there have been several improvements to focus on increasing performance plus supporting modern technologies including 64 bit, ARC memory management and the use of SQLite in place of binary file formats. This is reflected in the increase of the minimum system requirement to OS X 10.8. The input tables are now expected to be CSV format (easily exported from Numbers or Excel). Further improvements include the updating of the Automator actions and Applescript dictionary to work within the Sandbox.

friedEgg Touch differs from other basic charting tools in that it allows the user to interact with their data by directly manipulating a chart. This enables complex analysis, across many dimensions, in a few simple steps. Using the provided Automator actions, friedEgg Touch is easily integrated into an analysis workflow.

Consider an analysis process with a traditional spreadsheet – A table of data is prepared and filtered with expressions or by selecting items from a list. This is either presented as another table of numbers or as a simple chart. If the user wants to change the chart, this requires changes to either the expressions or items selected in the lists, followed by the re-generation of the chart.

friedEgg Touch revolutionises this process. Charts are created and changed by simply dragging symbols representing the data columns to the chart dimensions. The user changes the filters directly in the charts, by either clicking on objects or by dragging a filter panel across either of the three chart dimensions. The selected data is then available for another step of the analysis, maybe applying different data columns to the chart dimensions. By visually indicating when an item is selected, the user has more control over what is being filtered.

Large multi-column data tables can be viewed and analysed. By using additional analysis steps, maybe assigning different data columns to a chart dimension, the user can drill down on the information they need. This simple approach allows non-technical users to mine their data on their own desktop, without the the overhead of more complex and expensive tools.

Common analysis steps can be saved as templates, to apply against similar structured data tables. Both the selected data and the chart image can then be exported to other applications.

The major activities in creating and saving an analysis, together with the exporting of data and chart images, are supported by a number of Automator actions that are provided with friedEgg Touch. These, together with the AppleScript support, make it even easier to integrate friedEgg Touch in an analysis workflow.

System Requirements:
* Mac OS X 10.8 or later
* 14.8 MB

Pricing and Availability:
friedEgg Touch 1.7 is $14.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Business category. A sample data table is included with the application to enable users to explore the key features.

friedEgg Touch 1.7
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friedEgg Limited is a UK based Mac developer, dedicated to providing the most easy to use data analysis tools for non-technical small business and educational users. Copyright 2014 friedEgg Limited All Rights Reserved. Apple, and the Apple logo are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.