Personalization¶

From the Personalization dialog you can configure the aspect of the Data Catalog and the available features in its interface. It is organized in the following tabs:

Elements. The features related to the elements of the catalog are configured here.
Information. In this tab, you will find the features related to the information of the catalog.
Export. In this tab you configure which options are available to export the results of a query.
Connection. From this tab you can customize the connection URLs and decide where to show them.
Usage statistics. You can enable the usage statistics in this tab and which options are available.
Data preparation. This tab allows you to configure the strategy for loading data in a data preparation session.
Theme. You will find here a dialog to redefine the visual aspect of the Data Catalog.

Elements¶

In the Search and browse section you configure the following settings:

Select the elements that will be shown to the users. You can specify if the users only have access to views, to web services or to both of them. In addition to searching and browsing, this setting will affect the home page and the saved queries.
Choose how the elements will be displayed by default. Select the display mode of the elements by default: list or grid.
Allow users to browse by Databases/Folders. If disabled, the Browse menu will not show the Databases / Folders option.
Show only views and web services belonging to any category. In case the browsing by database and folders is disabled, you can decide if the Data Catalog will show all elements in the server when searching or browsing, or only those elements with a category.
Show the elements belonging to the selected category or any of its subcategories. If enabled, the search in Browse > Categories will show the elements belonging to the categories selected or its subcategories.
Allow logical names for view fields. If enabled, users will see the logical field name column in the views Schema tab. In addition, users will be able to search views containing certain logical field names in metadata search when the search filter Field name is applied.

Search and browse section in the Elements tab¶

In the Queries section you can configure the following settings:

Allow saving queries (show “My queries” menu). If disabled, users are not allowed to save queries, and the My queries menu will not be shown.
Show generic error messages. If enabled, you can configure the generic error message to be shown when an error occurs while users execute or export queries.
Allow copy results to clipboard. If disabled, users are not allowed to copy the displayed query results to the clipboard in the VQL Shell.

In addition, you can configure some options regarding recommendations about filters and derived fields used to build queries:

Collect data on executed queries to make smart recommendations. If enabled, the information required to suggest recommendations is collected when users execute queries in Data Catalog, even if the smart recommendations are not enabled.
Enable smart recommendations. If enabled, the Data Preparation wizard, the Query wizard and the VQL Shell will display smart recommendations about filters and derived fields to build queries.
Delete old recommendations. With this option, you can delete recommended filters and derived fields not used in any query since the specified date.

Note

Recommendations about filters and derived fields feature is only available with the AI & Recommendations FeaturePack. To find out the subscription bundle you have, open the About dialog of the Data Catalog.

Queries section in the Elements tab¶

In the HTML section, with the Enable HTML descriptions and properties you decide if HTML is supported in descriptions for databases, views, web services, categories or tags; and if a property group supports HTML type properties. If disabled:

Element descriptions will always be displayed as plain text,
Existing HTML type properties will be converted to type Long text, and
Property groups will not allow to create properties of type HTML.

HTML section in the Elements tab¶

Information¶

In the Informative message section you can configure an informative message that will be displayed to users as a modal pop-up before they log in the Data Catalog. It can be used to display a welcome message, inform users when the service is expected to be down for maintenance, legal disclaimers, etc.

Informative message shown before a user logs in the Data Catalog¶

In the editor you can enter plain text or HTML text with the help of the toolbar. Use the code icon in the toolbar to enter HTML code in the editor.

Dialog to configure the informative message¶

In the Others section, with the Enable community resources you decide if the related documentation resources will be displayed in the modal pop-up when the documentation icon is clicked. If disabled, only the documentation link will be displayed.

Others section in the Information tab¶

Export¶

In the General section you can configure the following settings about the exportation of the query results of views and web services:

The available export formats, between CSV, HTML, Excel, Tableau (.tde) and Tableau (.hyper). By default, all formats are enabled.

See also

The section Enabling Exports to Tableau explains how to configure the Denodo Platform to enable the exports to Tableau.
If only users with the data_catalog_exporter role in Virtual DataPort can export the results of the queries using each of the available exporters.
If Data Catalog should generate these files with a header by default. This setting only applies to CSV, HTML and Excel files. Exporting to Tableau (.tde) and Tableau (.hyper) always include the header.
Data Catalog allows BOM configurable for exported query CSV file.
The maximum number of rows that will be exported using each of the available formats. First, you need to check the Limit maximum number of rows to export option and then provide a value in the corresponding Maximum numbers of rows field.
The field delimiter character used when exporting to a CSV file. You can choose between Comma, Pipeline, Semicolon, Space and Tab; or click the button and enter a user-defined delimiter character.

Note

The double quote character (") cannot be set as a delimiter character.

General section in the Export tab¶

In the Excel section you can configure how numeric and date values are exported to Excel. The following settings can be configured:

Export numbers as. Choose the Excel format that should be used to export numeric values between the options:
- General
- Number. If you choose this option, you should specify in the field Number of decimals how many decimals will be displayed in the cell for decimal values.
- Text
Note

If you export numbers with General or Number formats, Excel will only store the 15 most significant figures. If you want to preserve all figures, you should export them as Text.
Date pattern. The pattern to be applied to values of type localdate if results are not internationalized or if you choose an i18n map not defining a value for the field datesubtypepattern.
Time pattern. The pattern to be applied to values of type time if results are not internationalized or if you choose an i18n map not defining a value for the field timesubtypepattern.
Timestamp pattern. The pattern to be applied to values of type timestamp if results are not internationalized or if you choose an i18n map not defining a value for the field datepattern.

Note

The syntax used in date, time and timestamp patterns is the same as the Java date patterns detailed in the section Date and Time Pattern Strings.

Excel section in the Export tab¶

Enabling Exports to Tableau¶

To enable the feature of exporting data to Tableau, you need to install the Tableau Data Extract API (for .tde format) or Extract API 2.0 (for .hyper format) in the host where the Denodo Platform is installed.

To configure Tableau libraries, follow these steps:

Go to the directory <DENODO_HOME>/resources/data-catalog/tableau.
Extract the content of the compressed file in the Tableau_Data_Extract_API folder to configure Tableau Data Extract API or in the Extract_API_2.0 folder to configure Extract API 2.0.
If the Denodo server runs on Windows, copy the files from the recently decompressed bin folder to <DENODO_HOME>/jre/bin.
If the Denodo server runs on Linux:
1. Copy all the .so files from lib64/dataextract (for .tde format) or lib64/tableausdk (for .hyper format) in the decompressed folder to <DENODO_HOME>/jre/bin. Remember to verify that the files just copied have the necessary permissions.
2. Copy the files from bin (for .tde format) or bin/hyper (for .hyper format) in the decompressed folder to <DENODO_HOME>/jre/bin.
Restart the Data Catalog.

Important

According to your specific Linux distribution, you should follow the next considerations:

Red Hat and Ubuntu distributions. It is necessary to copy all the .so files mentioned in section 4.1 to /lib directory of the Linux root folder with the appropriate permissions.
CentOS distributions. It is necessary to copy all the .so files mentioned in section 4.1 to /lib64 directory of the Linux root folder with the appropriate permissions.

It is necessary to have the libncurses5 library installed, so it is recommended to check if this library is installed on the system. If a later version of this library is installed, it is necessary to make a symbolic link like the one indicated below since the Tableau libraries need that specific version to work.

ln -s libtinfo.so.<version> libtinfo.so.5

(e.g. If the installed library is libncurses6 then the command to use would be ln -s libtinfo.so.6 libtinfo.so.5)

Take into account that there is a limitation in Linux environments that prevents the Tableau libraries for both formats from being installed at the same time. In these environments it is only allowed to configure libraries for one format (.tde or .hyper) in Data Catalog.

Connection¶

You can choose whether to display the Connection URLs button or not in the Summary tab of databases, views and web services. If you choose to show it, you can customize several parameters:

Introduction text of the connections panel. This value will be shown in the panel instead of the default introduction.
URL patterns. These values describe how to access the databases and views of the server through JDBC, ODBC, REST, OData and GraphQL; and the URL for accessing web services. You may use the following variables in the pattern definitions: $protocol, $vdp_host, $vdp_port, $odbc_port, $webcontainer_port, $user_name, $database_name and $view_name. These variables will be replaced by the appropriate values when showing the URLs to the user.

Dialog to configure the connection URLs for databases, views and web services¶

In the External Tools section you can configure the integration with third-party applications.

Power BI. Enable this option to show the Power BI button in the Summary tab of views, which generates a data source file to query the view from Power BI.
- DSN. By default, a DSN-less connection string with the data of the server the user is connected to in the Data Catalog is used. It is also possible to specify a custom DSN or a DSN-less connection string. For details about the DSN-less connection string format go to Denodo Power BI Custom Connector.

Dialog to configure the integration with Power BI¶

Tableau. Enable this option to show the Tableau button in the Summary tab of views, which generates a data source to query the view from Tableau.
- Connector. The connector to use to create the connection. Denodo, that uses ODBC, or Denodo JDBC.
- Connection. Parameters needed to create the connection. By default, the data of the server the user is connected to in the Data Catalog is used. It is also possible to specify different values by selecting Use custom connection parameters.
- JDBC connection parameters. Additional connection parameters. Only for the Denodo JDBC connector.

Dialog to configure the integration with Tableau¶

Usage Statistics¶

The Data Catalog allows showing usage statistics of the views and web services by analyzing the usage data collected by Denodo Virtual DataPort. This feature requires some preparation steps, that will be explained later on this section.

When this feature is enabled, the details page for views and web services includes a new tab called Usage that shows some statistics about its usage.

Steps to Configure the Gathering of Statistics¶

Important

To configure the Gathering of Statistics in the Data Catalog it is necessary that both Denodo Monitor and VDP Server are configured with the same time zone.

In order to show the Usage tab in the details page of views and web services, a user with administration privileges has to perform the following steps:

Configure the Denodo Monitor to store the requests log in a database (for instance, a table in Oracle). By default, Denodo Monitor saves the log information to a file. You need to modify this to use a database instead the log file.

Edit <DENODO_HOME>/tools/monitor/denodo-monitor/conf/ConfigurationParameters.properties, search for the following text and follow the instructions of the file.
```
# ================================================================================
# Settings to store the output of the Virtual DataPort query monitor in a database
# ================================================================================
```
As an alternative, you can configure the Denodo Monitor from the Solution Manager to store the requests log in a database. Take into account that a view or web service may exist on several environments at the same time. According to your preferences on how Data Catalog should compute usage statistics, you must configure the Denodo Monitor in one of the following ways:
- If you want Data Catalog to compute usage statistics globally, the requests of all your environments must be stored in the same table. For that purpose it is enough to define the global monitoring configuration in Solution Manager.
- If you want to separate out usage statistics by environment, the requests of each environment must be stored in a different table. Therefore, you need a specific monitoring configuration for each environment pointing to a different table.
Do the following steps in Virtual DataPort:

Note

Due to license restrictions, you cannot use the Virtual DataPort server included in the Solution Manager.
1. Create a database called denodo_logs. Although you could use a different name, if you do, you will have to modify the properties file of the Scheduler project that you will import in step #4.
2. Create a JDBC data source that points to the database where Denodo Monitor will store the log of requests. If you already have this data source, you do not need to create a new one.
3. Create a base view over the table request_notification of this data source. This is the table in which Denodo Monitor will store the requests log.
  
  This base view has to be called request_notification. Do not modify the names of the fields.
4. Check that the cache engine of Virtual DataPort is enabled.
5. Edit the file <DENODO_HOME>/resources/data-catalog/statistics/usage-statistics.properties and do these changes:
  - The properties ending with URL have to point to the Data Catalog. You may need to change them if the Tomcat server where the Data Catalog is running is not listening on the default port and/or is not resolvable as localhost from Virtual DataPort.
  - The properties ending with USER and PASSWORD.SECRET indicate the user name and password that will be used to call the REST API of the Data Catalog. They have to be configured to use an appropriate user with the right permissions.
  - The properties ending with TIMEOUT indicate the timeout (in milliseconds) of the calls to the Data Catalog API.
6. Import the file <DENODO_HOME>/resources/data-catalog/statistics/usage-statistics.vql along with the properties files you just modified, into database denodo_logs.
  
  This will create a new full cache view, usage_statistics_src and associated objects.
Enable the usage statistics in the Data Catalog. Follow these steps:
- Configure the period to compute the usage statistics: Previous day, Previous 30 days or All time.
- Configure the elements over which to calculate the usage statistics: User, User Agent (Applications) or Query.
- Configure the connection details to the Virtual DataPort server containing the views over the Denodo Monitor requests log (needed to calculate the usage statistics), as explained before.
  - Database. The database where the views were created. If no value is specified in this field, the database of the Connection URL will be used.
  - View name. The name of the view to query the usage statistics. The default value usage_statistics_src will be used if no value is specified in this field.
Usage Statistics¶
Compute the statistics.

At this point, the statistics need to be computed so Data Catalog can display them in the Usage tab of the Data Catalog. To do this, there are two options:
- Scheduled with Denodo Scheduler. Import the file <DENODO_HOME>/resources/data-catalog/statistics/data_catalog_statistics_scheduler.zip into Scheduler. It creates a project named data_catalog_statistics, which contains:
  - A VDP data source. Edit it so it points to the VDP server and database configured in the step #2 (make sure, that after loading the project into Scheduler and using the Scheduler graphical interface, you configure it with a user with sufficient privileges on that server and database. Change the user and password by default).
  - A Scheduler job called load_cache_and_update_statistics. This is a job of type VDP that executes a view over the Data Catalog API to incrementally load the cache of the view usage_statistics_src and compute the usage statistics. Schedule this job to run periodically. We recommend scheduling it to run at least once a day (or more times if you desire to refresh the usage statistics more frequently).
- Manually from the Data Catalog. You can compute the usage statistics by clicking the Compute usage statistics button in the Data Catalog. The action dispatched with this button loads the cache with new data since the last time the cache was refreshed, and then computes the statistics (as Denodo Scheduler does, but in a scheduled way).

Note

The recommended option to keep your statistics up to date is by using the Denodo Scheduler. You can modify the scheduling triggers according to your needs.

Data Preparation¶

A data preparation session starts loading data from a view. Not all the view data set, but a representative subset of the view data. This data is manipulated in real-time by the user to build a query. This is achieved by executing queries on the original data every time the user applies any action that modifies the data.

There are several strategies to build this representative subset of view data. You have to choose the most appropriate strategy for your environment, since it may have a great impact in performance.

In the Data preparation section you can configure how this representative subset of data is built, with the following options:

Number of results to show in the data preparation table. Number of rows to display in the table of a data preparation session. Note that the number of displayed rows may be lower than this value in the situations below:
- When the view is smaller than the number specified.
- If fewer rows match the filters applied to the data.
Query the view / Use the complete dataset. Executes a query on the view when loading the data and after each action performed in the data preparation table. Take into account that querying the view for each action may be slow and will put unnecessary load in the data source.
Use a sample of the dataset. Builds a sample of the view data when the Load data button is clicked to start the data preparation session. This sample is stored in Virtual DataPort as a temporary table. All actions done later will query the temporary table with the sample instead of the view. This is the recommended option for most environments.

To configure the sampling strategy, you have to define the following parameters:
- Number of results of the sampling. The number of results from the view that will be considered for the sample.
- Sampling method. The method to decide which data retrieve from the view. You have the options below:
  - Take the first results. The sample will contain the first results of querying the view.
  - Random. The data to build the sample will be retrieved in a random order from the view.
Note

Take into account the following considerations when the sampling strategy is selected:
- To use temporary tables in Virtual DataPort, the cache has to be enabled.
- Users need the data_catalog_data_preparation role to build queries with data preparation. This role grants privileges to create temporary tables in Virtual DataPort, so there is no need for the create_temporary_table role.
  
  Check the Temporary Tables page for more information.

Theme¶

You can customize the interface of the Data Catalog to adapt it to the branding of your company. You can change the following settings:

The colors. You can also invert the colors of some elements (i.e. the page header), this will allow you to build a dark theme.
The border and shadows of the dialogs and forms.
The fonts.
The logo, header and other images of the application.

Note

The maximum size for uploaded images is 5MB.

Dialog to configure the theme of the Data Catalog¶

Click on the Apply theme if you want to test your changes before persist them. The changes will only be applied for the current tab of your browser. Other tabs or other browsers will ignore these changes.

If you want to persist your changes, click the Save button. You need to restart the Data Catalog for your changes to take effect.

You can always go back to the original settings by clicking the Restore defaults button.

If you want to save your settings to a file, use the Export button. To load the settings from a file, use the Import button.

USER MANUALS