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Technical Tips & Tricks

Previously internal product knowledge now available for you to explore!

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samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why does`type: min`or `type: max` on a raw time field return NULL?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021The min and max type only work for numbers. You will want to use a `date` type and do the aggregation in SQL. measure: last_updated_date { type: date sql: MAX(${updated_raw}) convert_tz: no} This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I apply a filter for a whole view, regardless of what explore it's used in?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021 You might want the behavior of sql_always_where to apply the view level rather than the explore level.In that case, you can: Build a derived table with the desired WHERE clause, or use a sql_table_name like: sql_table_name: (SELECT * FROM table WHERE X != 0) ;;It is a feature request to be able to do this natively/with a parameter. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I filter on a list of numbers in user attributes?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020 Yes, you need to use the “number advanced” filter rather than simple number filter. Then you can enter a comma separated list of numbers like you would in a matches (advanced) filter with a Looker filter expression. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I see a 404 in Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last updated: May 2020 There are a few reasons you can see a 404 in Looker. The URL is misspelled or malformed. Check to make sure you're using a valid URL. You don't have permissions to do anything in Looker. This commonly happens when a new user is set up in Looker - you'll want to make sure that they have access to the Shared Space, for example. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Modifying / Specifying Tooltip Contents (aka hover text)Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Apr 3, 2019 Currently, the only way to modify a tooltip is to use html on the fields that would normally appear in the tooltip (Help Center). You can reference other fields this way.There is a feature request for making this possible without HTML. This may also be requested as custom hover text in a visualization. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I get a measure to listen to one filter and not another?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: June 2020 If you use a filter field, then you can specify which measures should listen to that filter field using templated filters.This Help Center Article explains it well; here are the code examples from that article.filter: status_filter { type: string}dimension: status_satisfies_filter { type: yesno hidden: yes sql: {% condition status_filter %} ${status} {% endcondition %} ;;}measure: count_dynamic_status { type: count filters: { field: status_satisfies_filter value: "yes" }}This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do you reference a yesno dimension field value?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021Looker’s “yesno” dimensions return boolean values (TRUE or FALSE) rather than a string “yes” or “no”. For this reason, when SQL is involved, you don’t need to write “field == yes”, you can simply write “field”, as this will return TRUE or FALSE by itself. Here are specific examples depending on where you’d like to reference it: SQL:You can treat it as a boolean.sql: CASE WHEN ${field} THEN ...Filtered Measure: measure: first_purchase_count { type: count filters:[is_first_purchase:"Yes"]Liquid HTML{% if value == 'Yes' %} will do it.Note: it is case sensitive.Templated filter:We put a boolean in between the condition, like:derived_table: {sql:SELECT murder FROM public.rawhere {% condition filter %} murder=10 {% endcondition %} ;; }dimension: filter {type: yesnosql: ${TABLE}.murder=10;;} cite docs for type yesno , docs for filtered measures and docs for liquid variables This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

If a user is assigned multiple user attributes via groups, which value takes precedence?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: March 2021 From docs: When a value is assigned to multiple groups you’ll need to decide which group should take precedence, in case a user belongs to multiple groups. To do so, drag the groups into the order that should apply; each group takes precedence over the groups listed below it.There is a workaround to merge user attributes from different groups together. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Connecting to Multiple Snowflake DatabasesKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Dec 18, 2020 Setting Up Connection to Support Multiple Databases- Nothing extra required. Connect to Snowflake as normal and communication with all DB's within the warehouse is supported by default.But the Connection Requires Me to Specify a Database Name- This is still need because Looker needs to know the location of where to store Persisted Derived Tables. Specify the database that either has the most tables in it, or where you're most comfortable storing PDTs.- If you're referencing databases that aren't what was chosen above, you will need to make sure you specify the db name you want to connect to. Within the sql_table_name: tag in Looker, fully qualify the table name. Format is [database].[schema].[table]- Looker will only auto-generate views at project creation for the database in the connection, but you can use "create view from table" once the project is created to generate tables individually for tables in the other database(s)- The sidebar in SQL Runner will on

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I show only one table calculation column when using a pivot field?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 17, 2019 Users may end up using Table Calculations when pivoting and this leads to a table like:|| Col_1_Pivot | Col_1_Table_Calc | Col_2_Pivot | Col_2_Table_Calc ||Users will then only want to show the table calculation column(s). This is possible, but we will have to use the pivot_index function within table calculations. See the documentation page here.The pivot_index function can be used in table calculations to get the value of a pivoted column based on its index.Syntaxpivot_index(expression, pivot_index)Example: pivot_index(${monthly_change}, 2) The pivot_index function evaluates expression in the context of the pivot column at the position pivot_index (1 for first pivot, 2 second pivot, etc.) The function returns null for unpivoted results. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I temporarily stop or pause a scheduled look or dashboard from going out?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Oct 2, 2020 Not natively in the product, but there is a feature request.Basic WorkaroundIn order to stop a scheduled look or dashboard, the user has to delete it entirely from the schedules tab in the admin pane. They would then need to recreate the schedule when they want it back.Alternative Basic WorkaroundThrough the update_schedule_plan() endpoint, we can set the "enabled'"parameter to "false". This disables the schedule, without fully deleting it. It tells Looker to skip over any possible runs for this schedule - the only nuance with this method is that if we did skip over any runs while it was disabled, when we enable this again it will run once (no matter how many skipped runs happen) right away.Other WorkaroundIf you host your own instance, you can restart looker with startup flag options to stop schedules ---scheduler-threads=0 will disable the scheduler -BUT once you bring it back, the backlogged schedules will need to runAnother workaround we can try is using a

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I see a list of all User Attributes in System Activity?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 4, 2019 No, User attributes are encrypted and at this time we do not have access to them in system activity. There is a request for this to be made available. Here is a neat API workaround on Community. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I get an image or gif on my dashboard's text tile or project readme?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: May 15, 2020 Option 1: IF YOU HAVE A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE URL TO THE IMAGEYou can do this by using html in the title, subtitle, or body parameter of your text tile. Note, that the image you'd like to display needs to be on the public internet (practically speaking, what this means is that if you can open a new incognito window and go to the image's direct link, you can reach it). Note, if an image is in a Github repo and the Github repo is public, you can always add `?raw=true` to the end of the image url to get the direct link for embedding.You can use the template below, changing out the value of the img src attribute:<img src="INSERT DIRECT LINK OF IMAGE OR GIF" width="100%" height="25%" border="0" /> Option 2: IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE URL TO THE IMAGEIf the image you want to display isn't currently on the public internet, you'll need to upload it to some publicly accessible location.One quick way to do this is to upload the image file to imgur.com a

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why can't admins see data when we implement User Attributes with Access Filters?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Apr 29, 2019 Even Admins Must Have Filter Values Set in the UIEvery user who accesses an explore that uses access_filter must have a value in the referenced user attribute. This even applies to Admins, despite the fact that they can see all data. Users who don’t have a user attribute value set will receive an error when trying to view the explore.As discussed in this section of Looker Docs, to give an admin or other user access to:all values of a string field, use a % all values of a number field, use >0 or NOT NULL. For more information about using access filters with user attributes, see this section of the User Attributes documentation for Admins. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What happens when a non-admin user is given `see_users` on a closed system?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jul 3, 2018 A user granted this permission can see all users in all groups on an instance, even on a closed system. Non-admins with the see_users permission can see ALL users in the system, not just those in their same user group. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Do log levels persist through a restart?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: May 20, 2020 Starting in Looker 7.6, log severity levels are persisted through Looker restarts. Prior to 7.6, an instance restart would reset the log levels to the default values. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What's the difference between sql_where and sql_always_where?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jul 3, 2018 sql_always_where is at the Explore level and will always appear in the where clause. sql_where is set at the join level and will only appear in the where clause if the join is made.Reference our documentation: https://docs.looker.com/reference/explore-params/sql_where This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why isn't my Conditional Formatting rule applying to my Percent values in table visuals/table calculations?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 This can happen if you are applying a Default Format option or a value_format OR value_format_name on your Table Calculation or LookML fields, respectively. For example:Table Calculation Expression${products.count}/sum(${products.count})This will typically produce a value on the scale of 0.0 to 1.0, where 0.75 represents 75%. In the UI you can apply a format option from the format dropdown like "Percent( 1 ) -- 123,456.7%" to always show 75%. However any conditional format rules still need to apply to values in the 0.0 to 1.0 range. Measure / LookML Fieldmeasure: percent_calc {type: numbersql: ${order_amount} / ${sum_all_orders} ;;value_format_name: percent_1}This is a similar scenario as above. The values in the Explore table will show full ##.#% values, but any calculations or conditional formats will need to apply to the raw value range, typically 0.0 to 1.0 when working with percents. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to search for a newline symbol (\n) in LookMLKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Mar 9, 2018 As LookML treats these as single spaces, you can search for empty lines either in terminal or any text editor using this:grep '^$' filegrep '^[[:space:]]*$' file # include white spaces There's also a Chrome extension for Regex search.For some insight from Stack Overflow, see this link. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you remove a front end sort (^, v) from an explore or look column?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 No, once you click the column header you'll only then be able to toggle between DESC and ASC (v, ^ ). Only way to 'remove' the sort is to start over. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

YTD, MTD ComparisonKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 21, 2018 This assumes date dimensions already exist in view.Essentially, you'll want to create a yesno dimension that returns YES if date is before todayMTD Comparison (MySQL):dimension: is_before_mtd {type: yesnosql: EXTRACT(Month from ${date_date}) < EXTRACT(Month from CURRENT_DATE);;} YTD Comparison (MySQL):dimension: is_before_ytd {type: yesnosql: DAYOFYEAR(${date_date}) < DAYOFYEAR(CURRENT_DATE);;} This will return YES when dates are before the current date.You can then filter on the YES to do analysis. Make sure to include the month timeframe!Same concept can be carried out for YTD comparison. For more information check out this community article! This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why Would you use Google OAuth with Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jun 12, 2019 It's User-Friendly:Google OAuth is a single-sign-on (SSO) authentication method - this means the user has to sign in only once, and then they have access to all the applications on which G OAuth is set up, automatically. They don't need to be added to any external platform, and don't need to be maintained in any way as long as they've got a first name, last name, and email that matches the GSuite domain set up on the application (in this case looker).It's Easy to Set Up:Compared to the likes of LDAP, SAML and OIDC, Google OAuth is very simple to set up on your instance. All you need is a GSuite account, a domain controlled by your organization, and an email address in that domain.It's Free:If you've got a GSuite account, using G OAuth is free! What's better than free? Some Caveats -It's Only As Secure as the Provider Makes it:Google OAuth keeps most of your user information away from the application using it. The application just asks G OAuth whether you're go

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I use Table Calcs to find the total number of rows in my result set? (max)Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 Yes, you can use the formula below to see the max number of rows in your result set.max(row()) This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

If I have multiple instances (prod, staging), are user accounts with the same email tied across instances?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Sep 6, 2019 No! Even if using the same email address, a user account on Instance A is not the same as the user account on Instance B. Even when a user has multiple instances (i.e. company.looker.com, company-staging.looker.com, companyonprem.looker.com)Same goes for passwords. User could have set up different passwords for each instance.Pro Tip: If a user does want standardized credentials across instances, you should consider another authentication provider like SAML or LDAP. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is it expected that Looker will round very large numbers? (lose precision)Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jul 3, 2018 Yes, the limitation will happen at around 16-17 digits and it will round the additional integers into "0"s. For example:5820847388981125942 becomes5820847388981126000Overall it is a precision limit of javascript.WorkaroundsUse {{ rendered_value }}dimension: id {primary_key: yestype: numbersql: ${TABLE}.id ;;html: {{ rendered_value }} ;;} Use two dimensions- dimension: string_valuetype: stringsql: ${TABLE}.myfieldorder_by_field: int_value - dimension: int_valuetype: numbersql: ${TABLE}.myfield SQL RunnerSQL Runner will also render the lost precision numbers. The workaround for SQL Runner is to have the value casted as a STRING in the query itself. This can vary dialect to dialect. This content is subject to limited support.

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