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Previously internal product knowledge now available for you to explore!

  • 1,744 Topics
  • 406 Replies

1744 Topics

david.chiaramonte
Looker Staff
david.chiaramonteLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Pull Production Failed Failed: Cannot pull into a repository with state: MERGING_RESOLVEDKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 20, 2019 How did I get into this state?The most typical scenario that this error appears is as follows:Two developers working on the same [shared] branch The first developer changes something on a given file (lets say fileA.txt) The second developer on its local repo rename the fileA.txt to fileAAA.txt The first developer commit and push the changes The second developer commit and pull The second developer then has a merge CONFLICT to be resolvedHow do I fix it?As a troubleshooting measure, make an arbitrary change to your LookML (like add a comment "#"), save and try to pull again. This tends to resolve the error.Otherwise, the easiest way to fix this would be to log into Github/other git provider and complete the pull and merge outside of Looker to fix the error. Alternatively, you can save changes to the LookML externally (in a Word doc or Notes file), revert to production, and copy the changes back in. This content is subject to limited support.                 

33510
david.chiaramonte
Looker Staff
1 year ago
david.chiaramonte
Looker Staff
david.chiaramonteLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I use custom filters to get a YoY of the last X complete days within the same month?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 23, 2019 Use this awesome filter:(extract_months(${date}) = extract_months(now())) AND extract_days((${date})) <= extract_days(now())-1ANDextract_days((${date})) >= extract_days(now())-xAND(extract_years(${sources.date_date}) = (extract_years(now()))OR extract_years(${sources.date_date}) = (extract_years(now())-1))We'd want to replace the "x" at the end of extract_days((${date})) >= extract_days(now())-x with the number of days you want. For example, if we want a YoY for the last 5 complete days, we'd replace the x with 5. Note: This will only work if we're trying to select days from the same month. This calc relies on the extract_days function and subtraction. So for example if it's May 2nd and we want the last 30 days, the filter won't work.This is because `extract_days((${date})) >= extract_days(now())-30` would yield:-28, -27, -26, ..., 0, 1 and 5/-28 isn't a date. This content is subject to limited support.                 

1030
david.chiaramonte
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Default Explore/Drill Sort (Order By) BehaviorKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 15, 2021 In the explore and drill menus, Looker chooses a default field to sort on: The first date dimension, descending. If no date dimension exists... The first measure, descending. If no measure exists... The first added dimension (ascending) As of Looker 4.10, these defaults cannot be edited for either the explore or drill menu.There is a feature request at https://feedback.us.pendo.io/app/#/case/17670.If you're interested in a workaround, see an example using the liquid link variable below: measure: returned_count { type: count_distinct sql: ${id} ;; filters: { field: is_returned value: "yes" } drill_fields: [detail*] link: {label: "Explore Top 20 Results" url: "{{ returned_count._link}}&sorts=order_items.sale_price+desc&limit=20" } } This content is subject to limited support.                  

18751
hannah_r
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I have more rows in my drill table than my count_distinct measure indicates?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 15, 2021 If multiple rows have the same value in the column which is being aggregated with a count distinct, you could see this behavior. The drill will show distinct combinations of the dimensions you've indicated in that measure's drill_fields parameter, which might be more numerous than the distinct values counted by your count distinct aggregation.Example:If you have a count distinct on ID that shows 1 in the column, and if more fields are selected in the drill down, you could have this:id value1 A1 B1 CThere is 1 distinct ID, but is getting expanded in the drill.Also, in cases where count is being filtered using a CASE WHEN statement in the sql parameter of the field you're trying to drill into, this CASE WHEN condition doesn't get factored in to the drill filters, which can also cause a discrepancy. This Community post describes using a filtered measure instead of a CASE WHEN to resolve this issue.  This content is subject to limited support.                  

6831
divya_bennett
5 months ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

CASE WHEN in table calcsKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 22, 2021Though a case when in table calcs is currently a feature request (see https://feedback.us.pendo.io/app/#/case/32191), you can make it work with nested if statements. If you use coalesce, it becomes even more readable:coalesce( if(${field} < 1, "Less than 1", null), if(${field} =< 2, "1 - 2", null), if(${field} =< 3, "2 - 3", null), if(${field} =< 4, "3 - 4", null), if(${field} =< 5, "4 - 5", null), "More than 5")  This content is subject to limited support.                  

1020
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I skip setting up a git server for my LookML?Knowledge Drops

 Last Tested: March 7, 2021Yes - there is an option to use a bare repository  (aka “bare repo”) if you don't want to use a Git provider like GitHub.Instead of backing up files to a remote provider like Github, the bare repo implementation creates a separate folder on the Looker server which serves as the "remote". In this case, the files are only stored on the Looker server. Some things to note when using bare repos:You cannot enable Pull Requests for a LookML Project using a bare repo. If your Looker instance is customer-hosted, and you upgrade from a single node instance to a clustered instance, any bare repositories will break. (However, if you are already running a clustered instance it's totally fine to start using bare repos.) This content is subject to limited support.                  

5750
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does "clear cache and refresh" bust Datagroup cache?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 21, 2021 No. If we define a caching policy with a datagroup in our Explore or model file and we select "clear cache and refresh", it will only clear the cache for that query.  This content is subject to limited support.                  

620
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Google Auth Redirect LoopKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Oct 24, 2019  This basically means that Google Auth is failing to log in that user for one reason or another. Try and figure out whether it is happening to all users or just one user.In summary, If a single user cannot log in: Have the user that can't log in check that their GSuite name matches their user name Ensure the email domain is listed in the admin > google domain list (ex: looker.com, google.com) Check that the user hasn't blocked the looker application on their google chrome account (more on how to navigate to that here) Check if the user is logged into G+ and make sure they have a first and last name there. (Google Auth will check the user's G+ account first.) If it is just one user, this is generally because the user is missing either a first or last name. You can verify in the logs for this by checking for something like: [WARN|18a53|google] :: User authentication failed: User info is missing first or last nameSometimes the GSuite Admin from the custo

8020
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can LookML dashboards be moved to another folder?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 22, 2021No. LookML dashboards can only live in the LookML dashboard folder. There is this product feedback to allow functionality to move them out of the LookML dashboard folder so that they can live in other folders.As a workaround, when viewing a LookML dashboard, we can click "Copy from LookML into a folder" (documentation) from the gear menu. This will make a UDD copy of that dashboard in the folder we choose. This content is subject to limited support.                  

14342
C
10 months ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I delete branches in the Looker UI?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 22, 2021As of 5.12, it is possible to delete certain git branches in the Looker UI in the project settings interface of the lookml project, under Branch Management. You cannot delete the following branches: The production branch Your current branch A Looker developer’s personal branch There is a feature request for the ability to delete personal development branches - please add your +1 if you'd like to see this feature considered in the future. This content is subject to limited support.                  

19110
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
molly.lippsett
Looker Staff
molly.lippsettLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Where does LookML live? (Git Square)Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: May 21, 2019 ​Local Dev Branch These can be found on the Looker server. Inside the `looker` folder, you'll see several folders named `models-user-X`. These are each users' local dev files; X corresponds to their Looker user ID. Inside each of these folders is a folder for each project that that user has access to. The local dev versions of the files can be found in those project folders. Note: Looker-hosted customers don't have access to their Looker server.Local Prod Branch These can be found on the Looker server. Inside the `looker` folder, you'll see a folder named `models`. Inside this folder is a folder for each project that exists in production. The local prod versions of the files can be found in those project folders. Note: Looker-hosted customers don't have access to their Looker server.Remote Dev Branch These can be found on the remote git provider. For example, you can go to the Github repo, change your branch, and see a list of files. Remote Prod Branch These c

2190
molly.lippsett
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How can I extend a model file?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: April 2, 2020  You cannot include a model file in another model file, but if you want to share Explores between models you can create a separate Explore file, then use include to reuse or extend Explores in different models.ExampleLet's say you want to extend the salesforce_account_summary Explore from the finance model into the marketing model. Pull out the explore into a new explore file that has no connection defined. Delete it from finance . File base.explore.lkml:explore: salesforce_account_summary { ... } Include this base file into the finance model. File finance.model.lkml:connection: "thelook" include: base.explore.lkml Include the base file into the marketing model and then extend the explore. File marketing.model.lkml:connection: "thelook" include: base.explore.lkml explore: firmagraphics { extends: [salesforce_account_summary] view_name: salesforce_account_summary }   This content is subject to limited support.                  

4280
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
molly.lippsett
Looker Staff
molly.lippsettLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Where can I see a visualization's configuration?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 22, 2021  If you command+shift+click the gear icon for the visualization edit menu in an Explore, you can grab a JSON dump of the vis config: This can help for debugging issues with the visualization edit settings! This content is subject to limited support.                  

610
molly.lippsett
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I migrate dashboards between instances?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 21, 2021Here are three options: Make all the UDDs into LookML dashboards, connect the Git repo to the new instance, and then make the LookML dashboards back into UDDs. This Help Center article outlines the manual steps. Use Gazer, a command line tool that migrates content between instances.Please note that this tool is open source and it is not supported by Looker’s normal support channels. It may be possible to purchase support from Looker’s Professional Services team. We are hoping that a community will grow around this tool, however, and support/enhance it further. Issues can be logged at https://github.com/deangelo-llooker/gzr/issues. Clone the instance's internal database completely. This brings in and overwrites all dashboards, Looks, users, folders, and everything that's stored in the internal database. It's recommended to only use this option when you want to migrate all the content and metadata from one instance to another. One use case for this is when

15483
adityab
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Max or Min Date Measure Showing NullsKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 21, 2021  Why is this happening?Looker's min and max types only allows for numerical values. Everything else will show a null.How do I fix it?Make a measure of type "date" and apply the "max" aggregate in the SQL. This Help Center article article provides the following example on how we can implement this.## Suppose we have a type: time dimension group, called updated defined as:dimension_group: updated { type: time timeframes: [time, date, week, month, raw] sql: ${TABLE}.updated_at ;;}## We can create a measure to capture the maximum date of this dimension group as follows:measure: last_updated_date { type: date sql: MAX(${updated_raw}) ;; convert_tz: no}This content is subject to limited support.                  

8954
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I exclude views instead of include them?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 21, 2021 In general, it's best practice to include files rather than exclude files. If you have a good naming system, you can do things like:include: "sales.*.view.lkml"include: "users.*.view.lkml"This is more clear and will speed up the LookML Validator since you're only including files that are needed. See our Help Center article on best practices for performance.Workaround for Excluding Files: Glob ExclusionThere is a workaround using the glob syntax, you can write:include: "[!s]*.view.lkml"explore: games {}explore: sales {}In the above "!" doesn't mean "exclude", it means "include everything but" files that begin with "s., this would include the games view but not sales. If include: "*.view.lkml" was also present sales would still be included.IMPORTANT NOTE: include: "[!orders]*.view.lkml" would not "include everything but files that begin with order" it  is actually including all the view files that do not begin with "o", "r","d","e","r", and "s" as individual c

3450
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I allow external users that don't use [LDAP/SAML/Google Auth/OpenID] to log in?Knowledge Drop

Yes. Just make sure that all of the following conditions are met: In the admin panel section for saml/ldap/etc, "Alternate Login for Specified Users" is enabled The user is an Admin or has the login_special_email permission AND has been set up with a valid email credential On the login screen, they click the "Alternate Login" link below the "Authenticate" button. If the above conditions are not met, external users may experience the following: Can successfully log in the first time, but not after that. The password reset email never arrives. If an admin resends the registration email, they simply get directed to the main login page (with the "Authenticate" button), which doesn't allow them to reset the password. For more information, check the documentation for Looker integration with SAML, LDAP, Google Auth and OpenID.  This content is subject to limited support.                  

860
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Error: "Failed deploy REJECTED_OTHER_REASON: protected branch hook declined"Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019Github and GitLab (and possibly other Git providers) have a notion of "Protected Branches", which are more restricted and are not supported with Looker.An admin on your Git repo can disable this feature.Example: Github UI This content is subject to limited support.                 

4070
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

"Auth Fail" Git errorKnowledge Drop

Last tested: March 11, 2021 Auth fail means either a) that git repo isn’t open to the network so Looker can't SSH to it at all, no matter the key or b) the key is wrong.Things to CheckTry resetting the connection/key and, if hosting your own Looker instance, making sure port 22 is open on the instance per outbound port req's doc.Additionally, if hosting your own Looker instance:Check the contents of the ~/.ssh/config file in the Looker instance account directory. If the config file contains an "Identityfile" section, this has been found to cause "Auth Fail" errors in git connection testing. Cause is not well understood, but deleting the "Identityfile" section from the ./ssh/config file resolves the auth error for Looker.(If Looker hosts your instance on Kubernetes, the identity file is likely not the issue!)This error can also occur when 2FA is set up with the Git provider when using HTTPS to connect. The way around this would be to use your access token instead of a password or use th

17070
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I link to another dashboard and keep my applied filters?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: May 12, 2020 Yes! You can use the _filters notation, documented here. You'll need to use one filter parameter for each filter you want to bring over.It works like this:dimension: name { link: { label: "Business Pulse By State Dashboard" url: "https://learn.looker.com/dashboards/694?State={{ _filters['users.state'] | url_encode }}&Age={{ _filters['users.age'] | url_encode }}" }}Notice that State and Age are the names of the dashboard-level filters on the new dashboard, whereas users.state and users.age are actual fields that were being filtered on in the old dashboard. This content is subject to limited support.                  

6860
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I limit the options available in a filter field?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 12, 2021Not really!WorkaroundsToggling off "Allow multiple filter values" on a dashboard filter will limit the filter to "is equal to" and "matches user attribute". This option is located in the "Customize Filter" section of the dashboard filter settings.Doc on this here.Another workaround is to use a parameter field and specify several allowed_valueparameters. For limiting the options in a date filter with this approach, there's an awesome Help Center article explaining that here!Feature RequestsThere are two relevant feature requests: Restrict Filter Values Control Over Filter Options   This content is subject to limited support.                

14140
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I push changes from branch to branch, rather than just to production?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 7, 2021You must define one branch to use as your production branch; however, with Advanced Deploy Mode, you can deploy from any branch (and any commit) to that production branch.   This content is subject to limited support.                

420
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does Looker support Git "Squash and Merge"?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Feb 14, 2019  "Squash and Merge" is an option on Github and some other Git providers. It is not supported with Looker, so we recommend disabling it at the repository level. Example from Github UIExample from Github UI   This content is subject to limited support.                  

950
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I revert committed changes to only a single LookML file?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 7, 2021 There is not a way to revert changes to only certain files in Looker's UI, or really in Git itself. Git thinks in terms of commits, not individual files.Go to the git repo itself; it should have versioning on each file. Copy the version of the file that you want and paste that into Looker's UI.  This content is subject to limited support.                  

1580
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why are my dashboard tiles blank?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 10, 2021 There's probably an error stopping the query from coming through. Click "Explore from here" from the "Tree Dots" menu of one of the tiles to see if there is any error.One reason is that the user might not have the permission to see the data. This could be either Permissions set or Model access.Another reason is if access filter user attributes are unset.  This content is subject to limited support.                  

4260
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago

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