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The Kitchen Table

The Kitchen Table

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shivanisankarNew Member

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why are my Quick Start Pivots not Showing Up?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 9, 2021 Even if you have a value in the pivot subparameter of your query parameter, queries with pivots need to have the pivot defined in both pivots AND in dimensions.Example:query: orders_by_brand_name { dimensions: [products.brand, products.category] measures: [products.count, order_items.order_count] pivots: [products.category] description: "Orders by brand name" limit: 500} You can see that products.category is included in both the dimensions and pivots subparameter. This content is subject to limited support.

Nicholas_AlexanderModerator

published in Common Account Questions

Can I enable SAML on my instance?

Looking to create some added/different security to your Looker instance via SAML? Looker is well equipped for that, and multiple customers have enabled this for peace of mind, to fit their use case, or various other reasons! Have a look at this intuitive doc, on how to get started, the setup needed, and how to work with us to get this enabled! Question on this process? Feel free to comment below

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What System Activity explore query will give me the same info as the Admin --> Queries panel?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 25, 2020 Yes! We can use the following System Activity query appended to our hostname to get (almost) all of the same information:/explore/system__activity/history?fields=history.created_time,history.status,history.connection_name,user.name,history.source,query.id,query.model,query.view,history.id,history.runtime,query.link,query.formatted_fields&f[query.created_time]=NOT+NULL&sorts=history.created_time+desc&limit=500&column_limit=50&vis=%7B%22x_axis_gridlines%22%3Afalse%2C%22y_axis_gridlines%22%3Atrue%2C%22show_view_names%22%3Afalse%2C%22show_y_axis_labels%22%3Atrue%2C%22show_y_axis_ticks%22%3Atrue%2C%22y_axis_tick_density%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22y_axis_tick_density_custom%22%3A5%2C%22show_x_axis_label%22%3Atrue%2C%22show_x_axis_ticks%22%3Atrue%2C%22y_axis_scale_mode%22%3A%22linear%22%2C%22x_axis_reversed%22%3Afalse%2C%22y_axis_reversed%22%3Afalse%2C%22plot_size_by_field%22%3Afalse%2C%22trellis%22%3A%22%22%2C%22stacking%22%3A%22%22%2C%22limit_displ

romain.ducarrougeLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I dynamically get the max index for a pivot?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 6, 2018 pivot_index(${pivotted_measure}, max(pivot_row(pivot_column()))) This content is subject to limited support.

romain.ducarrougeLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

JMX monitoring when using --no-daemonise flagKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 5, 2017 You will need to change all of the JMX-related startup flags by removing com.sun.akuma.jvmarg.like this:-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote \-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=9910 \ -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false \ -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=false \ -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true \ -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.access.file=${HOME}/.lookerjmx/jmxremote.access \-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.password.file=${HOME}/.lookerjmx/jmxremote.password \ These were a workaround to keep the daemonizer from grabbing the JMX ports, which kept the child process from starting. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you manually assign a role to a user that is not determined by the [SAML/LDAP] Group to Role mapping?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 2019 No. Roles will be overwritten for a user any time that user logs in with [SAML/LDAP]. So while it's technically possible to manually assign some roles while the user is currently logged in, those changes will be wiped each time the user logs in. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Schedule a System Activity report that sends when other scheduled reports failKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 7, 2020 Using System Activity you can tell if a scheduled report was successfully sent. Schedule this System Activity explore as an hourly report, by adding the Advanced Send this schedule if there are results and you'll be notified if another schedule failed. https://[HOSTNAME]/explore/system__activity/scheduled_plan?fields=scheduled_job.created_date,scheduled_job.status_detail,scheduled_job.status,dashboard.title,look.title,scheduled_plan_destination.address&f[scheduled_plan.run_once]=No&f[scheduled_job.created_date]=1+days&f[scheduled_job.status]=failure&sorts=scheduled_job.status_detail&limit=500&column_limit=50&query_timezone=America%2FLos_Angeles&vis=%7B%22hidden_fields%22%3A%5B%22scheduled_job.status%22%5D%7D&filter_config=%7B%22scheduled_plan.run_once%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%22No%22%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A0%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%2C%22scheduled_job.created_date%22%3A%5B%7B%22

Aleksandrs_VedernikoLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to test if Fileshare (NFS/EFS/GFS) is correctly mounted and accessible from all nodes in the clusterKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 3, 2020 run ps -ef|grep java|grep looker from CL on each node. Verify that --shared-storage-dir path is the same on each node. Test the ability for nodes to write and other nodes to read from the shared storage using path found in step 1. You can do this by creating a file from node1 with touch /mount_path/file.txt For example, if the path to the shared storage directory from step 1 is /lookershare/modelshare , then command will be touch /lookershare/modelshare/file.txt Once you have created a file from node1, try to see in node2 & all other nodes in the cluster can read it with ls -ltr /mount_path/file.txt Loop through all nodes in the cluster This content is subject to limited support.

adina.katzLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why don't I see the gear menu next to the Run button or the three dot menu at the top right corner of the tiles in an embed dashboard?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 22, 2019When the embed user has no permissions for anything that would appear in that menu, the menu is left out. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Blog Archives

How to overcome the restrictions of multi-pass SQL

This content, written by Ani Jain, was initially posted in Looker Blog on May 14, 2020. The content is subject to limited support.There is often a misconception that multi-pass SQL queries result in faster performance. Multi-pass SQL by itself is not necessarily a good or a bad feature. It all depends on the analytics solution’s architecture and whether it requires multi-pass SQL to achieve certain results. In legacy analytics tools, the common paradigm is to run multi-SQL queries (in a ‘pass’) and then join the results based on some common dimensions. Data warehouse tables are often offered at some level of dimensionality to produce reports. These legacy analytics tools were designed for older, expensive databases, so most of the analysis/query processing was handled by the analytical tool. Some aging tools use a ROLAP (Relational Online Analytical Processing) engine that executes SQL directly against a relational database. This allows users to take advantage of an underlying data mod

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

For scheduled PDFs, why do some PDFs timeout < 30 mins but others can successfully run after 60+ mins?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 26, 2017 You can see this behaviour because the render timeout (in most cases) will only run after the underlying query runs and completes.For example:Underlying query runs and completes in 20mins After 20 minutes, the PDF Renderer has 30 minutes to successfully complete. In Total, when viewing Plans in Admin, the PDF schedule can say successfully run in ~ 45 mins, where total time is [Query time] + [Render time]So, the entire schedule can compete or fail and the overall time can be >30 mins.And, then in unique scenarios:If dashboard has a default filter Underlying query does not run PDF render starts running In total, when viewing Plans in Admin, the total time is based on Render time onlySo the entire schedule can complete or fail, but the overall time will be < 30 mins. This content is subject to limited support.

Eric_LyonsLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Send Look to SFTP Server Via Python SDKKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Jun 18, 2020 If someone wants to send content to an SFTP server, but does not want to want to use the UI, they can use the API.import looker_sdkimport csvimport pysftp#SET SFTP CREDENTIALS HERE. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO SET THEM IN ANOTHER FILE AND IMPORT THEM SECURELYmyHostname = "DOMAIN"myUsername = "user"myPassword = "PASSWORD" ####Initialize API/SDK for more info go here: https://pypi.org/project/looker-sdk/#### IN THE SAME DIRECTORY CREATE AN INI FILE TO STORE API CREDENTIALS## INITIALIZE THE APIfrom looker_sdk import methods31, modelssdk = looker_sdk.init31() # or init40() for v4.0 APIme = sdk.me()### GET THE LOOK BY PASSING THE LOOK ID### WE ALSO WRITE THE FILE TO THE LOCAL DIRECTORY AS A CSVlook = sdk.run_look(look_id=12, result_format = "csv")file = open('read.csv', 'w') file.write(look)file.close() ### HERE WE SEND THE CSV TO THE SFTP SERVERwith pysftp.Connection(host=myHostname, username=myUsername, password=myPassword) as sftp:print("Connection succesfully stablish

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can the PDT scratch schema exist in a different db host than the original tables used to create it?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: April 2021 No. Even PDT Override doesn't allow for this.The challenge here is that Looker would have to issue a multi part query: first to the database with the PDTs, and then to the database with the actual tables. Writing a coherent query with joins and such that involves two different databases is outside the scope of our product at this time. The closest we can get is to "join" two different queries on the frontend using Merged Results. This content is subject to limited support.

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I edit a commit message after it's been committed?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 14, 2020 This is possible, but not from Looker's UI.You would need to do this on the command line, following these Github instructions. Then you need to make sure to hit the deploy webhook to get Looker to sync the changes done outside of Looker's UI. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How does an empty view_label (view_label: "") or label appear in the new field picker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 19, 2021 Prior to the new explore field picker (in 7.18 and previous), using an empty view_label (e.g. view_label: "") on a join or field would default to the the name (or label) of the Explore.In the new field picker (in 7.20 and forward), any fields from a join or field that has a view_label: "" appear to be missing from the field picker, as they now default to be hidden from the field picker, rather than nested under the label of the Explore name / main view name. The fields are still accessible by searching in the field picker search bar, but this isn't intuitive to users since we cannot see them.This change will remain as is, as it now aligns the behavior between a blank view_label and a blank field label.To work around this, users should update their view_label: parameters to reflect the actual label/name of the view they'd like for these fields to be nested under in the field picker. This content is subject to limited support.

quinn.morrisonLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

"Variable not found" when dynamically querying derived tables using parametersKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 26, 2020 Are you using the method outlined in Dynamically Query Tables Using Parameters with derived tables and hitting a pesky "Variable not found" error message in the LookML Validator?While derived tables in the format ${derived_table_or_view_name.SQL_TABLE_NAME} don't need to be joined (see If you reference a derived table in the SQL of another derived table, using ${viewname.SQL_TABLE_NAME}, do you have to join those views at the explore level?), they need to be joined if we're using a parameter. This is because the views must be joined in order to "listen" to the parameter.Example:view: selected_table {sql_table_name:{% if timeframe_selection._parameter_value == 'weekly' %}${weekly_view.SQL_TABLE_NAME}{% elsif timeframe_selection._parameter_value == 'daily' %}${daily_view.SQL_TABLE_NAME}{ % else % }${full_view.SQL_TABLE_NAME}{ % endif % } ;;parameter: timeframe_selection {type: unquotedallowed_value: {label: "Weekly"value: "weekly"}allowed_value: {label: "Daily"v

molly.lippsettLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I force a user to use a filter but allow them to change which filter they use?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 21, 2018 Yes! You can use the conditionally_filter parameter on your explore, which allows you to specify a filter that can be overridden with other filters that you also specify.Doc This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why Would you Use SAML with Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jun 24, 2019 It's Standardized:Loads of applications will understand it, regardless of the provider because there’s a standardized protocol that all SAML works off of (think of a world where there’s one SQL dialect instead of several slightly different ones that work off the same ideas).It's Secure:SAML is used to provide a single point of authentication at a secure identity provider, meaning that user credentials never leave the firewall boundary, and then SAML is used to assert the identity to others. This means there are fewer places for identities to be breached or stolen. SAML also provides a strong layer of security by leveraging Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to protect the asserted identities against attempted attacks.It's User-Friendly:SAML provides the ability for users to securely access multiple applications with a single set of credentials entered once. This is the foundation of federation and also of single sign-on (SSO). Using SAML, users can seamlessly acc

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Custom liquid formatting isn't displaying in visualizationKnowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 DCL tip: To display custom liquid formatting, use {{ rendered_value }} instead of {{ value}}{{ value }} The output displays the standard result from querying your database. Used when datatypes don't matter Output of the code below will be only display the raw query data. (ie. 12345)measure: total_sales {type: sumsql: ${TABLE}.Total_Sale ;;html:<p style="font-size:50px;font-family:monotype;>{{value}}</p>;; value_format_name: usd_0}{{ rendered_value }} Output displays the results from querying your database with formatting applied to it. Used when datatypes do matter Output of the code below will display the query data with formatting applied to it. (ie. $12,345) *font size and family change carried to visualization*measure: total_sales {type: sumsql: ${TABLE}.Total_Sale ;;html:<p style="font-size:50px;font-family:monotype;>{{rendered_value}}</p>;; value_format_name: usd_0 } For more in-depth information about liquid variables check out

romain.ducarrougeLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Get the second max value with table calcKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Jun 1, 2018 We can use the approach below to exclude the max value using and if() then applying a max on the remaining valuesmax(if(${orders.count}!=max(${orders.count}), ${orders.count}, null)) (and so on for 3rd max...) For pivoted results:max(pivot_row(if(pivot_index(${orders.count},pivot_column())!=max(pivot_row(${orders.count})), ${orders.count}, null))) This content is subject to limited support.

mandy.chanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why is there a delay in alert notifications?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 27, 2020 Let's say an alert is being triggered and met in the Alert panel, but the alert email that was supposed at, for example, 10AM is instead being sent out at 10:50AM, so there is a 50 minute delay.One likely reason for this is possibly a backed up alert or render queue. The rest of the instance is probably backed up with schedules/renders as well.Right now the default is 10 threads per instance for schedules and 3 for alerts as you can see on this documentation.You'll need to balance the resources and adjust as needed, so instead of scheduling the reports/ alerts at the same time, space them out evenly. This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Japanese character is garbled when we run the queryKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 18, 2020 The ProblemThere was an issue that the query which is filtered with Japanese character returned no result even though there is. We realized that Japanese character is garbled when we run the query with Japanese character as the following screenshot. Therefore none of the data matched with the filter value.Also, they set the global character set as "latin1" and created the database. This character set could be caused the character garbled issue.A SolutionNote: This is a solution which we solved with Amazon Aurora Database.Check the global character parameter set in RDS console. A.Check which parameter group is assigned to your database B.Check if the following five parameters are set to utf8mb4. If not, change them to utf8mb4. •character_set_client •character_set_connection •character_set_database •character_set_results •character_set_server C.Restart the RDS in order to reflect the new setting. Double check with the following command if the global character

LanLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to drill and open link in the same tab / different tabKnowledge Drop

Last tested: May 18, 2020 <a type="button"target="_blank" ### <-- new tabhref="/dashboards/10?Filter%20application=123&run=1"class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block">Block level button</a> For same tab, use: target="_self" This content is subject to limited support.

Department of Customer LoveModerator

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.

VincentLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why wouldn’t a value_format_name or value_format apply to my field?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Dec 5, 2019 Without a type parameter, a field type defaults to string. You need to add type: number in most cases where this happens.You should change this:measure: ratio_of_cases_to_accounts {value_format_name: decimal_1sql: 1.0 * ${count} / ${accounts.count} ;;} to this:measure: ratio_of_cases_to_accounts {value_format_name: decimal_1type: numbersql: 1.0 * ${count} / ${accounts.count} ;;} This content is subject to limited support.

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