Will a PDT build for each model that includes it?

Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 8, 2020
 

In most cases if one PDT view is included in multiple models which all share the same connection, the PDT is built once and is shared by multiple models.

There are some cases where a PDT will be built for each model even when those models share a connection. Some reasons that warrant multiple builds:

  1. The PDT is included in multiple models that have different connections.
  2. The PDT uses a datagroup that is defined differently in different models.
  3. The PDT is included in multiple models- with different case sensitivity settings
  4. Differences in a dependency PDT between one model and another.

    Note: Admin > PDT will list out all the models that the PDT is shared between (the models have the same datagroup definition and the same connection). 

However, as mentioned above, the PDT is built only once for one model and the rest of the models will just use that build. That is why, in the system activity PDT_builds explore, you'll see that the PDT belongs to only one of the models

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Comments
mitchellposluns
Explorer

hey thomas.banghart hoping you might be able to assist here…

We have a PDT set on a SQL trigger that builds everyday at 9am. The view is included in multiple models that have different connections. We see that the PDT is built on both models in both the PDT pane and the system activity logs. However, we can see that when running a query with the PDT on an explore using the second connection to build, it returns stale data. Is it possible Looker might be getting confused, using the stale version of the PDT on the second connection instead of the new one?

This problem remedies itself when we run a manually rebuild derived tables from the explore link using the second connection...

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Last update:
‎05-07-2021 09:48 AM
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