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Should the nvd "Big Table" results be integrated into a fancy Excel file? #41

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@nrminor

NVD v3.4 brings with it sophisticated new results tables, cheekily called "Big Tables". Raw BLAST results, where there will be ~5 hits per query sequence, are used to derive the query big table, with one row per query sequence. The query big table is then aggregated into a taxon big table, with one row per unique taxon. (Both tables are produced per-sample, with all-sample big tables being considered the main review artifacts other than v3.4's multiQC HTML.)

Ultimately, the experience we want to provide with these results is one of exploration. We achieve this to an extent on our LabKey LIMS. But would it be possible to produce a rich Excel file artifact, complete with preloaded filters, sorting, and functional links between sub-sheets, that could achieve this same exploratory experience? Could it include some conditional formatting like color-coding? Could it include additional derivative sub-sheets highlighting different aspects of the data?

What we're considering here is Excel as a data exploration platform and how to use it for presentation. Plenty of prior art to explore here. Such a thing should be possible with a python script using the right library to bring all the constituent tables together.

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