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Technical Tips & Tricks

Previously internal product knowledge now available for you to explore!

  • 1,744 Topics
  • 406 Replies

1744 Topics

sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you pull someone's dev branch code without them having to push to production?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021 You can create a shared branch from someone's personal branch and use that! This content is subject to limited support.                

3210
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you edit a user's name or email?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 2019  Generally, yes. You can edit a user's information at Admin > User > Edit.Because Looker uses User IDs, other information about the user can be safely changed.If you are using SAML, the information will have to be changed on the SAML side instead. This content is subject to limited support.                

4210
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why aren't my new LDAP/SAML Users Showing up in Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 2019 Those users still need to log in. Looker does not automatically create their account when they get added in the LDAP/SAML application. Rather, Looker creates the users when they first authenticate into Looker.Reference the Docs for: SAML, LDAP, Google Auth and OpenID. This content is subject to limited support.                

360
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I compare dates in table calcs?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: June 2020There are two methods for date comparison in table calcs. Use diff_days or any of the other diff_ functions (docs). For example, to say "${date_a} > $[date_b}", just do diff_days(${date_b},${date_a}) > 0. The extract_ familiy of functions can be useful since they let you extract a numeric value (year, month, day, etc) from a date or timestamp. Docs on that. If you need something simple like "date is after January 1, 2017", then just do extract_years(${date}) > 2017. This content is subject to limited support.                

7190
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I have multiple (or zero) copies of my LookML dashboard?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020 You'll get a copy of the LookML dashboard for every model you include the dashboard in. If you don't see your LookML dashboard, you need to include it in some model. Lines like include *.dashboard can lead to models including unintended dashboards! This content is subject to limited support.                

110
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to calculate and filter on last day of month (EOM)Knowledge Drop

Last tested: June 2020This can be done with custom filters:extract_days(add_days(1,${date})) = 1The logic is “tomorrow’s day of month is 1”. That is, the day after the last day of the month will always be the 1st of a month. This content is subject to limited support.                

18470
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I save merged results?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021You can save merge results to dashboards, but not as a Look.Keep in mind that the merged tiles will not behave the same as other tiles or looks. Filters that are applied at the dashboard level will not be applied to the merged tile, and merged tiles cannot yet be exported as JSON. This content is subject to limited support.                

6440
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you set datagroups to clear cache at a certain time of day?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021Yes! Since datagroups use SQL triggers, you can use the exact same queries as in our docs on `sql_trigger_value`.In particular, you can use `SELECT FLOOR((UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW()) - 60*60*3)/(60*60*24))`, where "3" is the UTC hour of day you'd like to clear cache. This content is subject to limited support.                

1300
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I escape commas when using liquid {{value}}?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020You can use {{ filterable_value }} as shown in the liquid docs. This content is subject to limited support.                

460
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is it possible to change the default cache length?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020The default cache length in Looker is one hour.This default is not configurable, however you can get close by defining datagroups or persist_for parameters at the model level for each model you want to override the default for. This content is subject to limited support.                

430
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I render HTML from a field in my database?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: July 2020ExplanationIt is not possible to render HTML tags from the database, mostly because it opens up security risks. The html will just be displayed as plaintext.The only html that will be rendered is html that a developer writes in LookML. The html docs explain what can be written into LookML.Using Links is OKIf you have a URL in your database, it can be exposed as a link in Looker with this syntax:link: {label: "{{ value }}"url: "{{ value }}"}or alternativelyhtml: <a href="https://{{ value }}">text you want</a>;;Novel workaroundThere is a novel workaround by formatting links in the database as markdown  [Link_text](url) and then using liquid to parse them out. This allows multiple links and other text to be included as well.dimension: field_name { type: string sql: ${TABLE}.field_name ;; html: {% assign array = value | split: " " %} {% for word in array %} {% if word contains '[' and word contains ']' and word contains '(' and word

8590
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I reference a column from the database table of another view?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020 No, you can only reference LookML fields from other views. This is why we recommend making a base dimension for each field in the database.ExampleIn the first view, make a dimension that references the database table.view: orders {... dimension: id { type: string sql: ${TABLE}.id ;;}In the second view, reference that dimension.dimension: order_id { type: string sql: ${orders.id} ;;}This content is subject to limited support.                

6200
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I filter into the future?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: May 2020 You can do this with matches advanced filters. You can write natural language filters like next week, next month, and tomorrow.If you need something more granular, then these definitions might help as a starting point:next week: 0 days ago for 7 days tomorrow: 0 hours ago for 24 hours 71 days from today for 10 days: 71 days from now for 10 days   This content is subject to limited support.                

4430
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What are the allowed Liquid functions?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020 You can find the list of Looker-supported liquid variables in docs. You can also take a look at the full list of Liquid variables, tags and filters in the Shopify docs too and experiment. There is a chance that the liquid is going to be safe. This content is subject to limited support.                

1110
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does Content Validator check all content, regardless of access?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020  No. The Content Validator only checks the content that the user who runs it has access to.This means that a developer might break someone else's content, and the Content Validator would not complain for them.For this reason, we recommend that an Admin be the one to run the Content Validator to make sure that they can catch everything. You might build this into a PR process where the Admin switches to the the developer's branch (rather than sudo and assume their permissions) and then run the Content Validator before approving the PR. This content is subject to limited support.                

340
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Liquid Operators and parenthesesKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Nov 16, 2017 Liquid formatting supports these operators listed here: https://help.shopify.com/themes/liquid/basics/operators.Note that Liquid does not support not but it does support !Furthermore, parentheses may not be used to govern the order of operation. In tags with more than one and or or operator, operators are checked in order from right to left. You cannot change the order of operations using parentheses — parentheses are invalid characters in Liquid and will prevent your tags from working. This content is subject to limited support.                   

1510
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you create a top-level folder other than the shared folder?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 6, 2019 No, the shared folder will always be the root folder, and there isn't a way to change that at the moment.Best practice is to make the shared folder view-only so that you can add accessibility as you go down the tree. See docs for open and closed folders. This content is subject to limited support.                 

790
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Will closing the window/tab of a loading dashboard kill the tile queries?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020Yes, it should. You can see this killing happen in the Admin > Queries panel if you are an Admin.This content is subject to limited support.                

230
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

I see a warning: ["view_name.field name" no longer exists on explore_name, and will be ignored], what happened?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jun 24, 2019 This yellow warning message can pop up on an Explore page or on a Look page. At its basic it is just a warning indicating fields ('columns') you had previously selected and/or saved for the explore are now no longer available due to view-centric changes. This message can be triggered because:The field(s) only exist in dev, and you're viewing the page in prod. Or vice versa. A join was removed from the explore, therefore removing the corresponding view_name.field_name being referenced. A change was made to the view_name. A view that was once known as 'customer' was changed to 'user'. For example: explore: customer {view_name: user} The error may say: ["customer.name" no longer exists on Companies, and will be ignored] because the customer view no longer exists within the explore.There can be a number of reasons why this warning comes up. Questions typically to ask yourself is what recent edits did you make? Did you change a view name, did you edit a join, etc.H

1840
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I use/reference a `parameter:` of type: number in a liquid statement?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Nov 6, 2020 Yes, you can do this using the assign Liquid syntax.For example:parameter: parameter_value_to_pass {type: number} measure: my_measure {type: sumsql: ${TABLE}.<FIELD>;;html: {% assign var=_filters['parameter_value_to_pass'] | plus: 0 %}{% if value < var %}<div style="color: blue">{{ value }}</div>{% else %}<div style="color: orange">{{ value }}</div>{% endif %} ;;} Where | plus: 0 casts the var value from String to Integer. You could could also use | times: 1.ex.html: {% assign var=_filters['parameter_value_to_pass'] | times: 1 %} There is also an alternate option for this which is to pass the parameter through a dimension and then reference the dimension in the { } liquid.You can also use type: unquoted.ex.parameter: threshold {type: unquoteddefault_value: "5"} dimension: over_threshold {type: yesnosql: ${FIELD} > {% parameter threshold %} ;;} This content is subject to limited support.                 

2270
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why Would you use LDAP with Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jun 24, 2019 It's Standardized:LDAP is a language with which you can speak to an Active Directory (AD). An AD has information regarding the user, much like a no-SQL database (though it is distinctly different). LDAP talks with the Active Directory – LDAP is a set of guidelines to send and receive information (like usernames and passwords) to an Active Directory. LDAP is an open standard protocol, meaning it’s a standardized language that most applications can understand and speak with.  It's Ubiquitous in Larger Companies:LDAP is a critical component of most large enterprises and Internet-scale companies already, so using it with Looker just makes sense - they’ve got this Active Directory set up already, and using it to auth into looker fits with how they use other SAAS products. Also, LDAP isn’t only used for authentication, it also allows IT departments to gather information on users and change permissions on a group level. Great use case of that here: https://stackoverf

1970
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Copying another user's dashboard also copies the looksKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jul 3, 2018 If you copy a dashboard from a different user, especially in the shared space, you may see copies of looks in the shared space being created.Any looks that are needed by a copied dashboard will be copied to your user account so that you are self-sufficient. This is so in case the user who originally created the dashboard has their account disabled or deleted you don't lose dashboard function on your copy. This content is subject to limited support.                  

5190
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I make OR filters when using Filters on Measures?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 6, 2019 This is outlined in a Help Center article. For a single field with multiple values, you can put them all into the filter string:measure: count_field {type: countsql: ${TABLE}.total_orders ;;filters: {field: ordersvalue: "1, 4, null"}} Where we end up filtering WHERE orders = 1 OR orders = 4 OR orders IS NULL.If you want OR logic between two different fields, put the conditions into the SQL of a yesno dimension and filter on the yesno being "yes".dimension: this_or_that {type: yesnosql: ${fish} = 'red' OR ${eggs} = 'green' ;;} This content is subject to limited support.                   

15330
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why isn't Clear Cache and Refresh working?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 Possible reasons that queries might still appear to pull from cache even when using Clear Cache and Refresh:You have caching set up at the database level. Example: Redshift You are trying to clear cache and refresh for embed content. This article covers how to clear cache and refresh for embed content, including dashboard Clear Cache functionality (starting from 7.10). This content is subject to limited support.                 

12040
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Are Trash and Unused Content spaces only available to Admins?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 Yes, only Admin users will be able to see the Trash and Unused Content Spaces/folders.Here are the docs for further reading. This content is subject to limited support.                   

360
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago

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