Track Downloads in System Activity (workaround)

Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 26, 2020
 

It's currently not possible to track download events in i__looker / System Activity. Be sure to give a +1 to the request: https://portal.feedback.us.pendo.io/app/#/case/17696

Workaround: You'll need to piece together different explore results so it's admittedly not as straightforward as running one report.

The "event_attribute" explore in the system__activity model can report all downloads when the renderer is not invoked (i.e.: the format is not PDF or an image). The history_id attribute value can be related back to results in the internal "history" explore:

 

https://<LOOKER_HOST_HERE>/explore/system__activity/event_attribute?fields=event.created_time,user.name,event_attribute.event_id,event_attribute.name,event_attribute.value&f[event.category]=query&f[event.created_date]=30+days&f[event.name]=export%5E_query&sorts=event.created_time&limit=5000&query_timezone=America%2FNew_York&vis=%7B%7D&filter_config=%7B%22event.category%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22%3D%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%22query%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A0%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%2C%22event.created_date%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22past%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%2230%22%2C%22unit%22%3A%22day%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A2%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%2C%22event.name%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22%3D%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%22export_query%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A4%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%7D&dynamic_fields=%5B%5D&origin=share-expanded

Next, the "history" explore can provide explore, model, fields, connection, user, and time for a download event. Relating values from this explore to (1) should get you everything that you need regarding the source of the content:

 

https://<LOOKER_HOST_HERE>/explore/system__activity/history?fields=history.created_time,history.id,user.name,history.connection_name,history.source,history.status,query.model,query.view,query.formatted_fields,query.formatted_filters,query.link&sorts=history.created_time+desc&limit=500&query_timezone=America%2FNew_York&vis=%7B%7D&filter_config=%7B%7D&dynamic_fields=%5B%5D&origin=share-expanded

Finally, the "event_attribute" explore can also report all the times during which the renderer is invoked, and indicate if a PDF or PNG / etc. was pulled:

 

https://<LOOKER_HOST_HERE>/explore/system__activity/event_attribute?fields=event.created_time,user.name,event_attribute.event_id,event_attribute.name,event_attribute.value&f[event.category]=render&f[event.created_date]=30+days&f[event.name]=&sorts=event.created_time&limit=5000&query_timezone=America%2FNew_York&vis=%7B%7D&filter_config=%7B%22event.category%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22%3D%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%22render%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A0%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%2C%22event.created_date%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22past%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%2230%22%2C%22unit%22%3A%22day%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A2%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%2C%22event.name%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22%3D%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%22%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A4%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%7D&dynamic_fields=%5B%5D&origin=share-expanded

This content is subject to limited support.                

Comments
dean_abate-1634
New Member

Does this workaround still work? I can’t seem to identify a join relationship between “event_attribute” and “history” using <history_id>. (Lots of NULLs)

Thanks!

IanT
Participant V

It’s really disappointing that the system activity model can not be extended to allow people to cope for their specific use cases.

This specific scenario should perhaps already be possible with what is prebuilt but it’s still more than valid the many questions people want and need to answer and they cannot because the ability to make use of Lookers modelling ability is restricted. The workaround (ETL it and then re-model it from scratch) is also unreasonable!

Version history
Last update:
‎07-07-2021 01:15 PM
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