Tableau OCF Connector: Overview¶

The Tableau OCF Connector which can be used for Tableau Server or Tableau Online (Cloud) was developed by Alation and is available as a Zip file that can be uploaded and installed in Manage Connectors. Create a ticket with Alation Support about receiving the Tableau connector package.

This connector should be used to catalog Tableau as a BI source in Alation. It extracts Tableau objects such as sites, projects, workbooks, sheets (view, worksheet), dashboard), fields, datasource, datasource Fields, databases, and tables. Users will be able to search and find Tableau objects, curate Tableau object pages, and understand the business transformation (lineage) of their data from the Alation user interface.

Team¶

The following administrators are required to install this connector:

Alation Server Admin:

Installs the connector

Creates a Tableau BI source

Provisions Alation API tokens

Tableau administrator with the site administrator privilege:

Enables the Metadata API

Scope¶

The table below shows what features are covered by this connector:

Feature	Scope	Availability
Tableau online instance	Catalog a Tableau instance in the cloud environment	Yes
Tableau server	Catalog a Tableau server	Yes
Sites	Catalog sites in Tableau server and online	Yes
Filter sites	Ability to include or exclude specific sites	Yes *
Projects	Catalog projects in a site	Yes
Filter projects	Ability to include or exclude specific projects	Yes
Views	Catalog reports in a site	Yes
Reports - sheets and dashboards	Catalog sheets and dashboards in reports	Yes
Reports objects	Catalog report objects such as charts and tables	Yes
Report columns - dimensions, measures, measure expressions	Catalog dimensions, measures, and measure expressions of report objects	Yes
Report object data sources	Catalog data sources used by report objects	Yes
Report lineage	Catalog the lineage of a report object	Yes
Filter reports	Ability to include or exclude specific Reports	No
Report owner	Owners or authors who created a report	No
Workbook	Catalog workbooks in a site	Yes
Dashboards	Catalog dashboards in a site	Yes
Dashboard object Measures and dimensions	Catalog dimensions and measure of a dashboard object	No
Applications	Catalog applications	No
Filter applications	Ability to include or exclude specific application	No
Dataflows	Catalog dataflows	No
Datasets	Catalog datasets	Yes
Image Preview	Ability to show a thumbnail image of reports and workbooks	Yes
Datasource/Published datasources	Catalog datasources/published datasources	Yes
Embedded datasources/ Unpublished datasources	Catalog embedded datasources/unpublished datasources	Yes
Datasource columns and fields	Catalog columns and fields in datasource	Yes
Databases and tables	Catalog databases and tables	Yes
Popularity	Popularity of reports/views	Yes
Security replication	Replicate access control to reports and dashboards	Yes
Source Comments	Catalog source comments/description	Yes **

* This is not applicable for Tableau Server

** Descriptions/Source comments are supported for Project, Workbook, Published Data Sources, Report Columns, and Datasource Columns from version 2022.3.

Tableau Object Hierarchy¶

The following diagram shows the hierarchy of Tableau objects and how they are cataloged in Alation:

Tableau API Methods¶

The table below lists the Tableau API methods used by this connector to extract metadata from the Tableau server:

Type	API Endpoint	Description
Authentication	POST /api/{api-version}/auth/signin POST /api/{api-version}/auth/signout	Signs you in as a user on the specified site on Tableau Server or Tableau Online. This call returns a credentials token that you use in subsequent calls to the server.
Sites Extraction	GET /api/{api-version}/sites GET /api/{api-version}/sites/site-id	Returns a list of the sites on the server that the caller of this method has access to. This method is not available for Tableau Online and alation users must supply the site IDs in an input field on the Settings page. Returns information about the specified site.
Projects Extraction	GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ projects GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ projects?filter=name:eq:[names] GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ projects/{project-id}	Returns a list of projects on the specified site Returns projects whose names match the list of names provided in the filter Gets a specific project when getting original project while certifying the workbook
Preview Extraction	GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ workbooks/{workbook-id}/views/{view-id}/ previewImage GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ views/{view-id}/image?resolution=high	Returns the thumbnail image for the specified view Returns an image of the specified view with high resolution
Extract Sample View Data	GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ views/{view-id}/data	Returns a specified view rendered as data in comma-separated-value (CSV) format
Groups and Users Extraction	GET api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ groups?filter=domainName:in:[domain1, domain2] GET api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ groups/{group-id}/users	Returns a list of groups on the specified site, whose domain matches the list of domains provided by the Alation user Gets a list of users in the specified group
Permissions Extraction	GET /api/api-version/sites/site-id/ datasources/datasource-id/permissions GET /api/api-version/sites/site-id/ projects/project-id/permissions GET /api/api-version/sites/site-id/ views/view-id/permissions GET /api/api-version/sites/site-id/ workbooks/workbook-id/permissions	Returns a list of permissions for a specific data source Returns information about the set of permissions allowed or denied for the groups and the users in a project Returns a list of permissions for a specific view Returns a list of permissions for a specific workbook
Certifying Workbook	GET /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ workbooks/{workbook-id} PUT /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ workbooks/{workbook-id}	Returns information about the specified workbook which is used in the certification process Update the workbook by placing it in the Alation Certified post-fixed tableau project to indicate the workbook is certified
Certify Published Datasource	PUT /api/{api-version}/sites/{site-id}/ datasources/{datasource-id}	Update certification status of the specified data source. Note Only published datasources can be certified and not the embedded/unpublished datasources. REST API version 3.4 is used to make sure that the certification does not fail on lower versions.
Create Project for Certified Datasource/Workbook	POST /api/{api-version}/sites/site-id/ projects PUT /api/{api-version}/sites/site-id/ projects/project-id	Create or update project housing the certified workbook. Project is post-fixed with the Alation Certified or some other option as specified in the BI source Settings page.

Refer to API Reference - All Methods for more information.

Tableau Metadata API Queries¶

The table below lists the Tableau Metadata API Queries used by this connector to extract metadata from the Tableau server:

Workbooks, Dashboards, Sheets, Embedded Datasource ViewFields (Report Columns), and Embeddded Datasource Columns (Datasource Columns).

Query:

query GetWorkbooksAfter($projectNames: [String]!, $first:Int!, $after: String){
    workbooksConnection (filter : {projectNameWithin : $projectNames}, first: $first, after: $after){
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes{
            id
            luid
            projectName
            name
            description
            site {
                id
                luid
                id
                name
            }
            projectVizportalUrlId
            vizportalUrlId
            sheets {
                id
                name
                luid
                path
                createdAt
                updatedAt
                sheetFieldInstances {
                    name
                    id
                    isHidden
                }
                upstreamDatasources {
                    name
                    id
                }
                containedInDashboards {
                    id
                    luid
                    name
                }
                tagsConnection {
                    nodes {
                        name
                    }
                }
            }
            dashboards {
                id
                luid
                name
                createdAt
                updatedAt
                upstreamDatasources {
                    name
                    id
                }
                upstreamSheetFieldInstances {
                    id
                    isHidden
                    name
                }

                tagsConnection {
                    nodes {
                        name
                    }
                }
            }
            embeddedDatasources {
                id
                name
                hasExtracts

                fields {
                    name
                    id
                    __typename

                    upstreamColumns {
                        id
                        name
                        luid
                    }
                }
            }
            viewsConnection {
                nodes {
                    name
                    id
                    path
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Published Datasources.

Query:

query GetPublishedDatasourcesAfter ($projectNames: [String]!, $first:Int!, $after:String) {
    publishedDatasourcesConnection (filter : {projectNameWithin : $projectNames}, first:$first, after:$after) {
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes{
            id
            luid
            name
            isCertified
            projectName
            vizportalUrlId
            projectVizportalUrlId
            extractLastUpdateTime
            site {
                id
                name
                luid
            }
            certificationNote
            certifierDisplayName
            description
            owner {
                id
                name
                luid
            }
            fields {
                name
                id
                __typename

                upstreamColumns {
                    id
                    name
                    luid
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Database Servers (Enrich BI Connections)

Query:

query GetDatabaseServers ($first:Int!, $after: String){
    databaseServersConnection (first:$first, after:$after) {
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes {
            id
            name
            connectionType
            isEmbedded
            extendedConnectionType
            hostName
            port
            description
            tables {
                id
                name
                schema
            }
        }

    }
}

Database Tables (BI Connections)

Query:

query GetDatabaseTables($first:Int!, $after: String){
    databaseTablesConnection (first:$first, after:$after) {
    pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes{
            id
            luid
            name
            schema
            database {
                id
                luid
                name
                connectionType
                downstreamDatasources {
                    id
                    name
                }
                downstreamWorkbooks {
                    id
                    luid
                    name
                }
            }
            columns {
                id
                luid
                remoteType
                name
            }
        }
    }
}

Calculated Fields

Query:

query GetCalculatedFields ($first:Int!, $after:String){
    calculatedFieldsConnection (first:$first, after:$after) {
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes {
            name
            id
            formula
            dataType
            dataCategory
            role
            datasource {
                name
            }
            fields {
                id
                name
            }
        }
    }
}

Column Fields

Query:

query GetColumnFields ($first:Int!, $after:String){
    columnFieldsConnection (first:$first, after:$after) {
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes{
            name
            id
            dataCategory
            dataType
            role
            description
            datasource  {
                id
                name
            }
        }
    }
}

Group Fields

Query:

query GetGroupFields ($first:Int!, $after:String){
    groupFieldsConnection (first:$first, after:$after) {
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes{
            id
            name
            dataType
            dataCategory
            role
            datasource  {
                id
                name
            }
        }
    }
}

Get Projects Info (used to map project names to workbook LUIDs)

Query:

query GetProjectInfoAfter ($projectNames: [String]!, $first: Int!, $after: String) {
    workbooksConnection (filter : {projectNameWithin : $projectNames}, first: $first, after: $after){
        pageInfo {
            hasNextPage
            endCursor
        }

        totalCount

        nodes{
            projectVizportalUrlId
            projectName
        }
    }
}

Get Sites (used to verify API availability)

Query:

query GetSites{
    tableauSites {
        id
        luid
        name
        uri
    }
}

Tableau OCF Connector: Overview¶

Team¶

Scope¶

Tableau Object Hierarchy¶

Tableau API Methods¶

Tableau Metadata API Queries¶

Alation Documentation PDF