Denodo Tableau Exporter - User Manual

Last modified on: 07 Sep 2023

Download original document


What is the Tableau Exporter?

The Tableau exporter is a custom exporter designed to allow Denodo Scheduler Server to export data from different sources into a hyper file according to the version of Tableau.  

Hyper are data file format used by Tableau, a business intelligence software that helps people see and understand their data.

How to install the Tableau Exporter

You have to download Tableau Exporter from the Denodo Support Site. Once uncompressed, connect to the Scheduler Server via the Scheduler WebAdmin Tool and log in.

Once connected, click on Configuration → Plugins in order to access the Plugins Configuration section.

Click on the New Plugin button in order to access the new plugin input form.

Select the Tableau Exporter’s jar with dependencies file, which will be called something similar to denodo-tableau-exporter-[denodo_version]-[exporter_version]-jar-with-dependencies.jar (version numbers might change), and click on the Accept button, and after the success page, you will see your new exporter in the Plugins section.

Additionally you haver to install Tableau Hyper API. See the How to install Tableau Hyper API. Old versions don't support Tableau Hyper API 2.0

How to install the Tableau Hyper API

The Tableau Hyper  API is available on the Tableau website. Go to the https://tableau.github.io/hyper-db/docs/releases page and choose the appropriate version for your platform. The programming language must be Java.

Note that the data extract process takes part in the Scheduler Server and therefore this is the server that must be configured.

Windows systems

  1. Go to the web site of the Tableau Tableau Hyper  API.
  2. In this page, sign in and download the package Java version for Windows.
  3. Decompress the downloaded file.
  4. Create the folder HyperAPI in $DENODO_HOME/lib/scheduler-extensions.
  5. Add the following libraries from the lib directory of the unzipped Hyper API package to the created folder: tableauhyperapi.jar, tableauhyperapi-windows.jar.
  6. Copy the hyper folder from the lib directory of the unzipped Hyper API package to the created folder.

Linux systems

For Linux, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the web site of the Tableau Tableau Hyper  API.
  2. In this page, sign in and download the package Java version for Linux.
  3. Decompress the downloaded file.
  4. Create the folder HyperAPI in $DENODO_HOME/lib/scheduler-extensions.
  5. Add the following libraries from the lib directory of the unzipped Hyper API package to the created folder: tableauhyperapi.jar, tableauhyperapi-linux.jar.
  6. Copy the hyper folder from the lib directory of the unzipped Hyper API package to the created folder.

! Note

If you want to avoid the automatic unpacking for security policies, you can configure the system property jna.nounpack to true. Follow the instructions that are in the section Java Native Access Library in this link.

Using the Tableau Exporter

The exporter offers some configuration parameters:

Mandatory

  • Output folder (String): It specifies the folder where the output files will be generated.

  • Output file name (String): Name of the generated file. The extension of the file has to be .hyper and if it is not included the extension in the file name, it will be added automatically. It offers support for placeholders that will be filled with execution parameters. The supported parameters are:

  • @{projectName}: name of the project
  • @{jobName}: name of the particular job.
  • @{jobID}: id of the particular job
  • @{jobTime}: time of execution of the job, in the format yyyyMMdd-HHmmss

NOTE: adding @{jobTime} to the output file name is normally a good idea to avoid file name collision, which might result in previous output files being deleted. For example, a useful output name could be: or @{projectName}_@{jobName}_@{jobTime}.hyper

Optional

  • Remove file first if it already exists (Boolean): If true the file specified will be removed if it already exists. Default: "false"
  • Append content if the file already exists (Boolean): If true the new content will be added to the existing file. Default: "false"

Creating a Tableau file

Select a job and edit it to add a new Tableau exporter.

Click on Edit Job → Exporters Section → New Exporter → TableauSchedulerExporter.

Fill, at least, the mandatory fields. For example:

  • Output folder: C:\Temp
  • Output file name: @{jobName}_output_file.hyper

Execute the job, and the client_export_output_file.hyper will be created into the selected folder. You can see the data by opening the file using Tableau Desktop and build views as you can see below:

Limitations

  • Tableau Exporter only was tested with the version of Tableau Hyper API v0.0.17537.

  • Hyper files is only supported by Denodo Platform 7.0 and later.