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The Kitchen Table

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LanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why does it take a long time to remove access of a user from Shared Folder?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 26, 2021 To summarize: After the DELETE /api/internal/core/3.1/content_metadata_access/331, {}, Looker runs several queries as below (note: not all queries are listed here -- I am pasting some examples to illustrate the process):Step 1: Confirm the permission of the user performing the action:SELECT * FROM "USER" WHERE ("ID" = 70) LIMIT 1SELECT * FROM "SESSION" WHERE ("TOKEN" = '[FILTERED]') LIMIT 1 Step 2: Get the ID of Looks, Dashboards, Spaces, etc inside the Shared Folder:SELECT * FROM "LOOK" WHERE ("LOOK"."ID" IN (1, 11))SELECT * FROM "DASHBOARD" WHERE ("DASHBOARD"."ID" IN (1, 2, 3, 41, 52, 65, 91, 93, 97, 105, 109, 110))SELECT * FROM "CONTENT_METADATA" WHERE ("CONTENT_METADATA"."PARENT_ID" = 37)Step 3: Looker inserts the action into the "Event" and commit "transaction" to remove accessINSERT INTO "EVENT" ("NAME", "CATEGORY", "CREATED_AT", "USER_ID", "SUDO_USER_ID", "IS_LOOKER_EMPLOYEE", "IS_ADMIN", "IS_API_CALL") VALUES ('delete_content_metadata_access', 'content

LanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can we use created_hour (and other dimension group timeframe) to drill to a dashboard?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 7, 2020 The answer is YES, but because the filter value in Looker only designs to display "is on the date" or "is in the year" so part of the value will be cut offThe workaround is to convert the dimension timeframe to string and use it as a filter instead This content is subject to limited support.

LanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What happens to a schedule of a user after the permission `send to email` is taken out from that user?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 22, 2021 Scenario: "Someone has the permission and sets up an alert, now the permission is taken away, and we want to know if the alert will be working".After the permission send_to_integration is removed from the user, the schedule will not be sent. There will be an error "User missing permission to send to specified destination." for that schedule job in Admin > Schedules History The schedule will not be stopped, it will be triggered to be sent out. However, every time it will show an error in Admin > Schedules HistoryThe reason for the behavior is that every time Looker is sending out a schedule, it will run both a query to a "Schedule" table inside the database to "trigger" a schedule, and then another query to the "User" table to check for permission.Examples from checking the schedule to move it to different stages{"duration":"0.000059","sql":"SELECT * FROM \"SCHEDULED_JOB_STAGE\" WHERE (\"SCHEDULED_JOB_STAGE\".\"SCHEDULED_JOB_ID\" = 12603)","t":"2021-02-22

LanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Make a fake dimension (hard code value) in SQL ServerKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 2, 2020 In many cases, we want to make a fake dimension, so it could act as a variable for table calc.dimension: name { type: number sql: 1 ;; } This works perfectly in MySQL yet it will run into an issue with SQL Server, so we would need to twist the syntax a bitdimension: name { type: number sql: CASE WHEN id IS NOT NULL THEN 0.003300 ELSE 0 END ;; } This content is subject to limited support.

LanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can we do merged results on system activity queries?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Dec 16, 2020Yes, but only people with appropriate permission could view the query. This content is subject to limited support.

mandy.chanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I turn a dimension of type string into a measure?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 6, 2020 In some cases, users want to turn their dimension of type string into a measure (to put into a pivot, for example).To turn a dimension of type string into a measure, we can create a measure of type string and put an aggregation into the sql parameter so that it doesn't throw the GROUP BY/ AGGREGATION error, like so:measure: gender {type: stringsql: max(${table}.gender);;} This content is subject to limited support.

leticia.esparzaLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Will Lookerbot still be responsive if Heroku is not running?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 27, 2017No. The Heroku app needs to be running in order for Lookerbot to be responsive. Heroku can, however, be set up for continuous running, but this is something that needs to be addressed on Heroku's end. This content is subject to limited support.

mandy.chanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Illegal circular project dependency referenceKnowledge Drop

Last tested: May 6, 2020 This error occurs when, for example, we have project import where Project A references a view file in Project B and Project B references a view file in Project A.Local dependencies should go unilateral so we'll hit this error if we're referencing both ways.The workaround is to make it one way - so if Project A is referencing view files from Project B, make copies of the view files from Project A in Project B. This content is subject to limited support.

mandy.chanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I see `No Results` after installing a Marketplace block?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 1, 2020 After a user has added a marketplace block and try to run the query, they may see No Results when querying.One thing to check is to see if the schema name is correct. To find the schema name, you can look under the connection listed in the Update Configurations modal and search for the specific dataset. When you run Select 10 against the table, it should append the schema to the table name and you'll be able to compare schema names. This content is subject to limited support.

mandy.chanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Cannot use stable views in schemaKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 14, 2020 This error shows up when we're using the publish_as_db_view parameter and the Looker database user doesn't have the permission to create views on the scratch schema.If the Looker database user doesn't have permission to create views, we will either need to grant them permission to create views or remove the publish_as_db_view (because when the new PDT is built, the old view is dropped and the new view with the stable name is placed onto the scratch schema).If this warning is seen when we're testing the connection in the Connections page, this warning can be ignored as long as long as we're not trying to use stable views. This content is subject to limited support.

margaret.abercrombieLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Filling is not Allowed in Queries with Limit Exceeding 30000Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 24, 2019 This is error is in reference to a scheduled job failure. Instead of receiving the schedule, the schedule owner receives an email that the scheduled job has failed with the error message:Error: Missing values for 'view_name.date_field' were not filled because filling is not allowed in queries with limit exceeding 30000 This is may be due to a pivoted date field with "Fill in Missing Dates" (default) enabled. Even if the displayed data is less than 200 rows and/or column limit is enabled, the schedule will still fail. By selecting "Remove Filled in Dates" from the dimension options, the schedule will send. This content is subject to limited support.

mandy.chanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Stable PDT name not showing up with publish_as_db_viewKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 23, 2020 Did you add the publish_as_db_view parameter after the table has been built and pushed to production?If so, the stable name will not show up.It'll only show up once the table has been rebuilt, so setting the publish_as_db_view_parameter as yes is not enough. You will either have to make a change to the sql code to get the regenerator to rebuild table or hit the Rebuilt Derived Table and Run button in the Explore.Creating the PDT with publish_as_db_view for the first time will allow for the stable view, but adding the publish_as_db_view onto a PDT that is already built won’t until the next rebuilt. This content is subject to limited support.

margaret.abercrombieLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Selectively highlight data points in visualization using a filterKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 6, 2019 The ProblemQuite frequently, a sea of values need to be displayed in a visualization to capture the whole story, such as company growth over time and how different products compare to one another. Sometimes, to answer a specific question, a particular value needs to stand out from the rest. If the value is static, we can always use the filter parameter in the LookML; however, if we want the users to be able to edit the filter to their particular question, we need to use a parameter and a duplicate field.The SolutionThe process is a variation of our doc on using Liquid ParametersCreate a parameter in the view. https://docs.looker.com/reference/field-params/parameter The parameter will function if allowed_value is not added. If the user still wants to auto-populate the parameter, but has a massive amount of allowed values, they can instead use the suggest_dimension parameter to achieve the same functionality. Warning: If you will be working in an explore where

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Error: Misconfigured proxy in front of your Looker serverKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 7, 2018 ErrorThere appears to be a misconfigured proxy in front of your Looker server. HTTP DELETE to Looker are failing.HTTP PATCH to Looker are failing.HTTP PUT to Looker are failing.HTTP POST to Looker are failing. Possible SolutionCheck to see if you have the ublock origin browser extension. This can cause problems with Looker. This content is subject to limited support.

margaret.abercrombieLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Convert Seconds to HoursKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 11, 2019 The ProblemSome data is best displayed in smaller time units, such as seconds, but with aggregation of large datasets, the seconds value gets so large it is relatively meaningless. In that regards, it would be easier to display the data in another format.The SolutionWe can use the value format parameter as listed in this document, but to properly use the Excel style formatting for time we need to first divide our aggregation by the number of seconds within a day.https://community.looker.com/lookml-5/readable-times-from-seconds-1587On either the raw measure or on a duplicate for formatting purposesDivide your sql parameter by the number of seconds in a day (60sec/min *60min/hr *24hrs/day) = 86400.0 Adding the decimal creates a floating point that accommodates for the decimals. Add the value_format parameter to your field and use the appropriate level of detail. The most conservative option is [hh]:[mm]:ss If you only need to the minutes level: [mm]:ss Viola!

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

BIGQUERY (HowTo): How do you escape a table or field name in BigQuery?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 10, 2018 In BQ Standard SQL, you can escape names by enclosing it in backticks:SELECT `schema.table`.`field` AS table1.field FROM public.`schema.table` AS table1 In BQ Legacy SQL, you can escape names by enclosing it in brackets:SELECT [schema.table.field] AS table1.field FROM [project:schema.table] AS table1 In Legacy SQL, this is only relevant if you have dashes in the name, which would cause an error without the brackets.Source: BigQuery documentationChat tip: Escaping the table name this way in the sql_table_name parameter can resolve errors like Aliases referenced in the from clause must refer to preceding scans This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I soft-delete content from the API?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 7, 2019 You can soft-delete a look using the update_look() API to change the look's deleted property to true. In the Ruby SDK, this looks like this:update_look(lookid, {deleted: true})You can soft-delete a dashboard the same way, using update_dashboard().Soft-deleted content can be undeleted by updating deleted to false.Soft-delete means that it the row still resides in the Looker db, but (as of Looker 6.16) is excluded from all_looks and search_looks unless you specifically ask for deleted=true. This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

If someone loses their ability to save_content, what happens to their looks and schedules?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 4, 2018 Their Looks remain intact but they lose the ability to delete or edit those Looks.Their schedules also remain intact if you remove the save_content permission (or even the schedule_look_email permission). This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I get the last n characters of a string in table calculations?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 19, 2017 You can take a substring from the end of a string by using the length function to calculate the starting point. Let n be the number of characters at the end you want to get:substring(${field_name}, length(${field_name}) - (n-1), n) If I want to get the last 4 digits of the license key for example:substring(${license_key}, length(${license_key}) - 3, 4) This works regardless of the length of the string.Chat Tip: Many use cases for table calcs require multiple functions, combined in interesting ways. Think about how you can use the pieces you have to do what you want. This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I stream downloads from the API?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Dec 19, 2017 The Looker API can stream to a client, but the client cannot control what size each chunk is and if they are not using the Ruby SDK, they will have to write their own code to handle streaming. We have examples for streaming using the Ruby SDK."Streaming" can mean different things in different contexts. For video playback, streaming usually means the ability to view the video as it is being downloaded from a server, with no requirement to save to disk first. This also requires that the data be consumed linearly from start to finish, with no "seeking" to a different position in the data, forward or back.Internal to the Looker instance, we refer to streaming as being able to pass data through the Looker instance with little or no buffering or post-processing - just relaying the data from the db to the API caller. (See "Streaming")For the API caller, streaming usually means being able to receive large data in a series of small chunks, so that the client app can pr

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What happens to a schedule if someone with the schedule_external_email permission creates the schedule and adds an external email address, but then they lose that permission?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 4, 2018 If the user loses their schedule_external_email permission, then any schedules they have which are being sent to external emails will throw an error. The error can be found in Admin > Scheduler History and usually looks like this:If the schedule has any emails that are not external on the schedule, it will still fail. Users will get an email with the error: This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I get raw/JSON responses from the Ruby SDK?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 18, 2018 You can tell the SDK client object to only return raw responses by setting the raw_responses attribute to true when you first set up authentication.This isn't always a good idea, but it can be useful when you don't need to utilize any of the features that come with Sawyer. require 'looker-sdk' looker = LookerSDK::Client.new({:client_id => ENV['LOOKER_ID'],:client_seccret => ENV['LOOKER_SECRET'],:api_endpoint => ENV['LOOKER_URL'],:raw_responses => true}) This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How long do async query results last for?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 12, 2018 If Instant Dashboards are enabled, then async query results are kept for 30 days.Otherwise, the default time-to-live (TTL) for an async query result set is 5 minutes. This can be changed by setting the --async-results-cache-time startup flag to the number of seconds that results should stay in cache:--async-results-cache-time=3600# set result TTL to 1 hour This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does Looker support IAM Roles based authentication for Athena in Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 14, 2017 This isn't possible at the moment. User will need to enter the ID and secret for the role in the connection instead. This content is subject to limited support.

maxcorbinLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Error starting Looker: Table/Column already existsKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 7, 2017 This error sometimes shows up in the logs when a migration is halted before it completes and Looker starts the migration over again upon net startup:[ERROR | <threadid> | main] :: Error starting Looker: Java::JavaSql::SQLSyntaxErrorException: Table '<tablename>'/ Column '<column_name>' already existsYou need to restore from a backup when this happens. This content is subject to limited support.

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