Tag Archives: URL parameters

Tableau Server

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Also see the Output and Export wiki, and the Peformance wiki, and maybe even the Dashboards wiki.

http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/forum/topic/url-parameter-report-pdf-format#comment-44996

http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/forum/topic/there-way-expand-columns-width-tabcmd-get-export#comment-44861

http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/using-tabcmd

Different outputs (PDF, etc.)

http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/forum/topic/undocumented-url-parameter-format#comment-44383

Automated printing

http://www.tableausoftware.com/support/forum/topic/tabcmd-printing-cached-view#comment-44458

Scheduling emails (for 7.0 and earlier)

http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/109923

Another email option:

http://community.tableausoftware.com/groups/dev-community/blog/2013/06/13/extending-tabcmd-add-email-sending-functionality

Specify size for tabcmd export

http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/119835

List of a tabadmin commands by Toby Erkson:
http://community.tableausoftware.com/docs/DOC-5141

Custom shapes

http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/116189

Performance

http://reports4u.co.uk/tableau-server-extract-slow-to-refresh/

Exclude filters kill query performance

http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/117702

See also the Performance Wiki.

Extracting and exporting data from the Postgres Database

http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/185965#185965

Show toolbar on top:

Show toolbar on top in embedded view on Tableau Server. add following line to the link [?:embed=y:toolbar=top ]

Embed YouTube video

http://community.tableausoftware.com/thread/119828

Adding Google Analytics to Tableau Server

https://www.interworks.com/blogs/bsullins/2013/01/14/adding-google-analytics-your-tableau-server

Embed filters in URL

http://vizwiz.blogspot.com/2012/11/tableau-tip-passing-filters-in-url-to.html

Can embed Tableau parameters into the URL parameters as well.

Aliases and URL parameters

If a dimension or Tableau parameter is using aliases and you embed the dimension or Tableau parameter into a URL, the URL parameter uses the alias, not the underlying value. So, for example, if the integer value 1 has the alias East, East will be passed in the URL. The options are to deal with it on the receiving end or to create a calculated field in the sending workbook that doesn’t have an alias.

Boolean parameters that aren’t aliased use true/false, True or False cause a Tableau Server internal error.

SlideShare from Russell Christopher on URL and Javascript

http://www.slideshare.net/russellchristopher/embedding-with-tableau-server

v8 force rendering in browser or server:

To control whether a viz is rendered by the server or browser, you can add the flag :render=true for browser rendering and :render=false for server rendering to the url. For example, the url to an embedded viz with server rendering might be http://host.com/workbook_name/view_name?:embed=yes&:render=false

VizWiz: Embed a dynamically updating image from Tableau Server into PowerPoint (Windows only)

http://vizwiz.blogspot.com/2012/10/tableau-tip-embedding-dynamically.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&m=1

VizWiz: Passing filters in a URL (to create a dynamic report in PowerPoint)

http://vizwiz.blogspot.com/2012/11/tableau-tip-passing-filters-in-url-to.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&m=1

Some thoughts on update frequency from Russel Christopher:
http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/221992#221992

Javascript API

Tableau game by Michael Kovner:

http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/208782#208782

Animating via using filters/parameter:
http://community.tableausoftware.com/message/222418#222418

Hacking Tableau Server

Tableau Rest API

https://github.com/ratneshsinghparihar/TableauRestAPI

https://tableaurestapi.codeplex.com/

Using Powershell to automate Tableau Server

https://www.interworks.com/blogs/trhymer/2013/07/08/powershell-how-encrypt-and-store-credentials-securely-use-automation-script

https://www.interworks.com/blogs/mroberts/2013/07/09/creating-email-notifications-complete-tableau-extractsGetting started with Powershell: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/adventuresinsql/2010/05/06/where-do-i-start-with-powershell_3F00_/

Web service authentication in C# http://community.tableausoftware.com/docs/DOC-5251

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Unexpected Results: Aliases in URL Parameters

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Fellow Tableau Zen Master Andy Kriebel writes great tutorials, like this one on passing filters in a URL. I was using those instructions to build URLs to pass from one Tableau workbook to another and things were going swimmingly in trials until I got to my data, where I found not one, but two undocumented features of Tableau’s URL parameters.

Aliases in URL Parameters

When we set up a URL Action in Tableau and add fields to the action, if the field is a Tableau parameter or a discrete dimension that has an alias assigned, when generating the URL parameters Tableau will use the alias and not the original value. So, for example, if your field is an integer such as 201 with a string alias of MS4, Tableau will pass MS4 and not 201, like in the image above. If you have a mix of some aliases and some not, Tableau will use the aliases where they exist.

Tableau Parameters used in URL Parameters Affect Parameters in Target Worksheet

The documentation doesn’t explicitly state that Tableau can use a Tableau parameter in a URL Parameter, but we can. And one of the interesting effects is that if the target of the URL is another Tableau workbook and there is a Tableau parameter of the same name in that workbook, then Tableau will set the value of target’s parameter to the passed value. This is a useful feature for making parameters truly global. The one caveat is the issue above, if the parameter is using an alias then the alias is passed to the target, not the original value of the parameter.

There are a three ways I’ve come up with so far to deal with this:

  1. Stop using aliases and set up the parameter or field with the desired values.
  2. Set up the target to handle the aliases.
  3. Instead of using the parameter or discrete field with the alias as the parameter, use a calculated field that just has [myParameterOrField] as the formula so it will just have the value and not any alias.

I’m using #1. This is a bit of a letdown for me, in reading up on improving performance there are big gains to sticking with numbers and using aliases instead of strings, and having to add extra columns to the data in the case of #3 to avoid this seems to partially defeat the purpose. If you have others, let me know!