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The Kitchen Table

Explore the product knowledge we've built up together

2115 Topics

Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What are some benefits to using OIDC?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jun 14, 2019 It's Secure:It's more secure than OAuth alone, since it has more robust authentication methods built on top of OAuth 2.0 authorization methods. It's OAuth + the stuff you'd need to make OAuth a good authentication client, all in one! Out of the box!It's Flexible:There are some nifty tricks in ODIC. One example of this is that in the API call, one of the values returned for each key is a key id (kid) which can be used to quickly determine if the crypto key has changed - basically, this gives us automatic key rotation.There are also different ways to pass information (front end vs back end), and you can choose which you want to use based on how your application is set up! More on that here: https://www.onelogin.com/blog/openid-connect-explained-in-plain-english   This content is subject to limited support.                  

860
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Download Without Limit via the APIKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 11, 2019As indicated in What are all the Row Limits in Looker?, we can download without limit via the API. We can accomplish this by using the appropriate Run call (Run Inline Query or Run Look) with its limit parameter set to negative one, where negative one is the number that Looker uses to represent unlimited results. This content is subject to limited support.                 

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I see `DOCTYPE html` from the startup script when trying to start Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 3, 2018 Most likely it means that you downloaded the html version of the startup script, as opposed to the actual startup script. Instead download the actual startup script.Another startup error on a windows machine is if you download it on a windows host and then copy it to your looker linux host. In that case you'll see-bash: ./looker: /bin/sh^M: bad interpreter: No such file or directory In that case, you'll want to make sure you downloaded it directly on your linux host. This content is subject to limited support.                   

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I write an SSO Embed script in AngularJS or any other language?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jun 22, 2018 Yes, you can, as long as the language has a library capable of doing the signing part.Please note that putting those secrets to into any code that will run in other peoples' browsers is a very very bad idea for security reasons. This content is subject to limited support.                  

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Scheduler Error: Job is no longer processing @ executeKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 27, 2020 If you run into this error, first check this Help Center article: https://help.looker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043197413-Scheduler-Errors-Job-is-no-longer-processing-Job-was-expected-to-dequeueIf the scheduled job fails with this error immediately or fairly quickly and hasn't been enqueued for a long time, then you can follow the steps below if your Looker instance is self-hosted and you have access to the logs.In the logs you should see something like this:2020-07-27 06:27:56.178 +0000 [WARN|a5236|scheduler] :: Custodian: ScheduledJobStage [354428|123853] was not processing - finalizing this job with an error Try grepping for those two id's, do you see the typical render job error message (`Error occurred while generating this dashboard - contact administrator (error: Render job XXX failed [query failed: Invalid filter: X]) in a thread pointing to one of those id's ?It is likely that the initial error message is a cover up for what is actually the issue. If y

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is there a way to set the default page for embed users?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 20, 2018 Not natively in the product, but it's definitely very feasible from the parent app. There is a feature request here for an embed URL for the homepage, please add your use case and +1! This content is subject to limited support.                   

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Hide the title of an embedded lookKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 18, 2017 To hide the title of an embedded look you can pass the show_title parameter in the url like so:https://myinstance.looker.com/login/embed/%2Fembed%2Flooks%2F<lookid>%3Fshow_title%3Dfalse This content is subject to limited support.                  

4031
R
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

DATABASE (Concept): Data Normalization: 1st, 3rd Normal FormKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 31, 2018 Data normalization is the process of improving the logical design of your database so that it satisfies certain constraints that avoid unnecessary duplication of data.  Purpose: The goal of data normalization is to avoid anomalies:Insertion Anomaly Adding new row forces user to create duplicate data Deletion Anomaly Deleting one row may cause loss of data that may be needed for other future rows Modification Anomaly Changing data in one row forces changes in other rows because of duplication Data RedundancyData Redundancy: When the same piece of data is held in 2 separate places. A positive type of data redundancy works to safeguard data and promote consistency. It is common practice to have a piece of data stored in multiple places, however, the key is to have a centralized field or space for that data, so that there is one place to update all the redundant data. Data IntegrityReferential Integrity: Foreign Key of one table must match the Primary Key of an

1510
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Hidden Parameter and Custom Fields for End-UsersKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 6, 2019 Hidden parameter is used to hide fields from explore field picker, doesn't hide hidden field in Custom FiltersThe purpose of a hidden parameter is to make a field available for modeling but not available to end users. However, if end-users are using custom filters in the UI, they will have access to hidden dimensions.Docs go into the hidden parameter in more detail This content is subject to limited support.                  

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Example of using html video tag to embed a video in a Looker tableKnowledge Drop

Last tested:Jun 3, 2020 dimension: video {type: stringsql: 'https://www.w3schools.com/html/mov_bbb.mp4' ;;html: <video width="290" height="130" controls preload="none"> <controls> <source src="{{ value }}" type="video/mp4"> </video> ;;} This content is subject to limited support.                  

4811
anlee914
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
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.                   

931
S
10 months ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

"Create API Keys for a user." Can we expect the user to have the same permissions in the UI as in the API?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jun 8, 2017 Yes. API sessions authenticated with API3 keys of a given user will always have exactly the same permissions as the user account the keys belong to. If the user can do it in the UI, then a script authenticating with API3 keys of that same user can do it via the API.Note that changes made to user permissions will immediately affect API sessions using that user's API3 keys. Permissions are rechecked with every API call.In case we only want to give the user API credentials being a non-Looker user, we could also set a "blank" user and generate the keys there and share these credentials with the person to authenticate. This content is subject to limited support.                  

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Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I download a dashboard as a CSV or PDF via the API?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 27, 2019 For PDF: Yes. Use create_render_task() to schedule a job to render a dashboard (or other content) as a PDF file.Use render_task(id) to check the status of the render task. When it completes, use render_task_results() to fetch the PDF file.Note that PDF files are binary data, not JSON text. Client apps calling the render_task_results() may need to take special steps to fetch the HTTP response body as binary data, not as json text.For CSV of dashboard data: Yes, with some work. We don't offer an API to run all queries for a dashboard and return all the results. What you can do is fetch the dashboard, iterate through its tiles and find all the queries it refers to, and run those queries via the API, in CSV format. Don't forget to apply filters!If you are familiar with the SDKs, there are some examples there as well:Python: https://github.com/looker-open-source/sdk-codegen/blob/master/examples/python/download_dashboard_pdf.pyRuby: https://github.com/looker-open-so

24934
vishnuprasadb
6 months ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to list deleted looks via the API?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 7, 2019 You can use the search_looks endpoint to find Looks which have been deleted as long as the trash has not been emptied. This can be done by supplying a deleted = true parameter to the endpoint. The deleted parameter is documented starting with Looker 6.16.If a look is deleted using the delete_look API, the data is gone. No way to resurrect the look. If a look is deleted via the Looker UI, then the data is actually hidden, or "soft deleted", until an admin purges the trash.Starting with Looker 6.16, all_looks no longer includes soft-deleted looks in its results. This matches the all_dashboards behavior. Use search_looks with deleted = true to list soft-deleted looks.Prior to Looker 6.16, you can use the all_looks endpoint to list all Looks your user can access and then filter on deleted == true to select just the looks that have been soft-deleted. This is a lot less eficient, so try to use the fields parameter to return just the id and the deleted field, so as to

1070
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can you save explores created from sql runner as a look or to a dashboard?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 9, 2019 It is not possible to do that in Looker at the moment. You can vote for a feature request here: Save a sql runner explore as a look or add to a dashboard.However, if the look is only accessible by Admins, you can use this workaround (remember, ONLY Admins, other users will get a model not found/some other error).For this, go to Admin-->Connections-->Explore from the cog. This will take you to a page where you can choose the table/view. That will eventually take you to the explore page (similar to what you would get from sql_runner). Choose your fields in this explore. You will now see the option to save as look/to dashboard from the cog!!  This content is subject to limited support.                   

20820
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why is my dimension not getting grouped by?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 15, 2019 By default, Looker will group by all dimensions selected. So it might be confusing to see a case when dimension does not get grouped by!!The exceptionThe exception to this is if you select the primary key with no measures, and there are no joins in the query that would cause a fanout of the primary key (as defined by the relationship parameters in the joins). Then we know grouping is pointless and we don't add a GROUP BY.​ This content is subject to limited support.                   

1950
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does access to system_activity make a "viewer" user into a "standard" user?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 9, 2019 ContextIn most contracts, a "viewer" user is one who can't explore.However, in order to be able to see dashboards and Looks built off of the System Activity model, these users must be given the see_system_activity permission. Once they have this permission, they now have the "explore" tab and the ability to explore the System Activity models.Does this mean that the "viewer" is no longer a viewer, and should instead be billed as a "standard" user?AnswerEven though the 'explore' tab shows up, the user is still considered a viewer and not a standard user.​ This content is subject to limited support.                   

1121
D
4 months ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Error when starting Looker on a cluster: script start requires at least 0 argument: "script start"Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 26, 2019 A user received the follow error when starting Looker on a cluster with the command ./looker start :"<script> start requires at least 0 argument: "<script> start"." We found that the startup flag for --clustered needs to have no value instead "Yes". For example, specify LOOKERARGS="--clustered -d looker-db" to specify to start in clustered mode and use the MySQL backend database specified in the looker-db file.https://docs.looker.com/setup-and-management/tutorials/clustering#available_startup_flagshttps://docs.looker.com/setup-and-management/on-prem-install/looker-startup-optionsIf you notice other reasons this error comes please add them in the comments This content is subject to limited support.                  

320
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why do I see a ridiculously high count of login events while looking at the System Activity event explore?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 23, 2018When a user logs in using OpenID auth (i.e. Okta, OneLogin, etc.), Looker will authenticate said user once a minute to keep that user logged in. Each authentication event will counted as a login in system activity, which is why a given user might appear to have logged in hundreds of times on a single day. This content is subject to limited support.                  

180
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Combine multiple Line Items using Table CalculationsKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 24, 2020 Usually, if I have a list of dimensions and measures, if I want to change the group by I would use a case when in LookML, but what happens if I do not have access to LookML? Who do I call?In a series of table calculations, you can alter the grouping.In the example below, I wanted to combine the counts for dogs named Princess and Buddy. I wanted to replace the Princess count with this new combined count, then hide the original count for dogs named Buddy.Original Explore:This table calculation grabs the values from dogs name Buddy and Princess and puts them in a new column. All other row values are zero.This lets us replace the dogs' named Princess value, with our combined value from before:This allows us to hide the original Buddy value from the visualization. Here is our final result: This content is subject to limited support.                  

2350
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I get conditional/dynamic formatting on table calculations?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 27, 2018 If you select the "Custom" option when choosing your table calc's formatting, you can use Excel-like formatting conditions to get dynamic formatting.Below is an example of Excel-like formatting conditions:[<=500]0.0;[>500]0Reference screenshots: This content is subject to limited support.                   

1420
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How to apply a filter or a sort to a drill-down field?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 13, 2020 If we want to drill down on a specific field, but apply an additional filter we can do this using the link parameter. We can build out a link structure similar to a linked explore or dashboard as explained in this article.Say we want to drill down on count, but only see fields for male users. We can use the link parameter and the f[viewname.fieldname]= syntax.measure: count {type: countdrill_fields: [id, state, orders.id, inventory_items.id, city, gender]link: {label: "Drill" url:"{{ filterdrill_count._link }}&f[users.gender]=m" }} The easiest way to do this is to create a normal drill.Click explore from here.Apply the filter.Click Share and grab the expanded filter.Decode the URL and copy the filter syntax.Then, apply this to the link parameter.You are done!If we want to apply a sort_by we can follow the same process. This content is subject to limited support.                  

23020
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Table Calculation "Unknown constant for .."Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 21, 2020 The ProblemFor table calculations with if statements, the error unknown constant will be produced if the user uses a comparison to a decimal without a leading integer.A SolutionAdd a 0 before decimal place.This example will fail with the error: "Unknown constant for .25"if(${stuff}<.25,"0 to 25","25 to 75")To fix it, add a leading zero:if(${stuff}<0.25,"0 to 25","25 to 75")PicturesThis is what the error looks like:This is the table calculation, fixed:  This content is subject to limited support.                   

2530
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Filtered Measure that listens to two different dimensions with a single filter input.Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 16, 2020 The ObjectiveTo create a single filter value that impacts multiple values in order to be able to filter a measure on either dimension.The SolutionWe use a single parameter that our user can change the value with and we create yesno dimensions that listen to the input. If the dimension value equates to this value, we return a yes. Then, in a dimension we create a case when statement that evaluates these yesno dimensions and will tally a 1 if either case is satisfied. Finally if we want a total of how many dimensions fulfill either condition, we sum the final dimension. Code listed below. parameter: param {type: number} dimension: yesweight {type: yesnosql: {% parameter param %} = ${weight_high} ;;} dimension: yesheight {type: yesnosql: {% parameter param %} = ${height_high} ;;} dimension: liquid_dimension {type: numbersql:CASEWHEN ${yesheight} IS TRUE THEN 1WHEN ${yesweight} IS TRUE THEN 1ELSE 0END;;} measure: liquid_measure {type: sumsql: ${liquid_dimension} ;

1890
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
Department of Customer LoveLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is there a max IDE file size?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 19, 2020 Yep, sure is - 20 MB. If the file's larger than that, you'll see a "This file is too large to be viewed in the browser" error.Even before you hit this limit though, you could have serious IDE performance issues. There was an example of this exact situation, and the culprit was a 110k line model file. This content is subject to limited support.                   

720
Department of Customer Love
Looker Staff
1 year ago

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