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The Kitchen Table

The Kitchen Table

Explore the product knowledge we've built up together

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Eric_LyonsLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I change a model/explore of a Look?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: March 21, 2021 If you want to change only the model or explore of a Look, you'll need to use the share URL of the explore and change the relevant parameters. Keep in mind that the same fields, etc need to be available in your new model/explore.1. Click "Explore From Here".2. Click the gear, then select "Share".3. Copy the Expanded URL and paste it somewhere else like your browser. Don't hit it yet, or it will turn into a shortened URL!4. Change the relevant parts of the URL. The URL takes the form:https://HOSTNAME.looker.com/explore/MODEL_NAME/EXPLORE_NAME?fields=...5. Hit the URL, then save the explore as a Look. This content is subject to limited support.

410

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Blog Archives

The rise of the multicloud data platform

This content, written by Joel McKelvey, was initially posted in Looker Blog on Jul 13, 2019. The content is subject to limited support.Cloud infrastructure is now mainstream, with . But it’s not just cloud that’s the new norm: businesses are now using more than one cloud provider, often deploying several solutions at once. Businesses are rapidly embracing multicloud for their business intelligence systems. In this dynamic, evolving world it’s vital that data teams are able to choose the data platforms and deployment methods that work best without lock-in and with the flexibility to pivot and change approaches as necessary. Multicloud refers to the use of multiple cloud providers to supply infrastructure, applications, and key business functions. Multicloud goes beyond “hybrid cloud” deployments to include private infrastructure, IaaS, SaaS, and other new approaches. According to 1, “most organizations have already adopted multiple cloud computing providers for different applications an

410

4 months ago

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Which order do I write my join in sql_on?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 2020 It doesn't matter. According to docs, you can write the join in any order. Thus these two are equivalent:sql_on: ${order.user_id} = ${user.id} ;;sql_on: ${user.id} = ${order.user_id} ;; This content is subject to limited support.

410

1 year ago

ryan.dunlavyLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What causes an "undefined method `getURLs' for #" error when starting LookerKnowledge Drop

Last tested: This is caused by trying to run Looker version 7.14 or earlier with a newer Java version that isn't supported yet. Make sure the jar is Looker version 7.16+ you're using Java 9+, or downgrade Java to JDK 8https://docs.looker.com/setup-and-management/on-prem-install/installation?version=7.16Example full errorNoMethodError: undefined method `getURLs' for #<Java::JdkInternalLoader::ClassLoaders::AppClassLoader:0x58cda03f>Did you mean? getClass This content is subject to limited support.

410

1 year ago

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.

410

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Blog Archives

4 easy ways to embed analytics with Looker

This content, written by Haarthi Sadasivam, was initially posted in Looker Blog on Nov 6, 2017. The content is subject to limited support.The customers have spoken and, as featured in the , have selected Looker as the Leader in the Embedded Analytics space. So, what exactly does embedding with Looker look like? Powered by Looker Looker’s embedded analytics platform, is all about accessing data within your daily workflow. That could mean public static reports on your website, a private authenticated dashboard in your day-to-day tools, or a full embedded experience within your product for your customers and suppliers. The great thing about all these different use cases is that they all leverage the Looker platform without having you reinvent the wheel. Our powerful modern data modeling layer makes it easy to define your metrics or reports just once for all your different users. Also, your stakeholders can make use of Looker’s reliable scheduling, alerting, and data delivery capabilities

410

4 months ago

Hugo_SelbieLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do i add a custom filter to my create_query api callKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Aug 27, 2020 Something like this by amending your filter_expression parameter with the same syntax as you would put in your custom explore filter "filter_expression": "${order_items.id} > 5 AND ${users.id} < 5", "id": 71,"view": "order_items","fields": ["orders.id","order_items.count"],"pivots": null,"fill_fields": null,"filters": nul,"filter_expression": "${order_items.id} > 5 AND ${users.id} < 5","sorts": ["order_items.count desc"] This content is subject to limited support.

410

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Performance Diagnosis: Network UnreliabilityKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 2, 2018 In order to use Looker, end users need to make requests from their client browser to the Looker server. The Looker server usually lives on another machine than the one end users are requesting from, so these requests need to traverse a network (or networks).A network is a collection of connected machines capable of transmitting data amongst themselves. If a network has a route to another network by means of a router and routing table, machines in one network can transmit data to and from machines in another network. The internet is just a massive conglomeration of networks.If I'm at work within my office's network and I'm requesting resources from a Looker server hosted in Looker's VPC, I'm traversing multiple networks. In other words, the packets transmitted to and from our respective machines need to jump through multiple networks on their journey. When troubleshooting network unreliability, it's usually helpful to determine:what network devices are between t

410

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I look up unused PDTs in system activity?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Sep 8, 2020 This link will help navigate you to the pdt_event_log explore (Be sure to replace with hostname with your own):https://xxxxx.cloud.looker.com/explore/system__activity/pdt_event_log?fields=pdt_builds.view_name&f[pdt_builds.start_date]=2+months&sorts=pdt_builds.view_name&limit=500&query_timezone=America%2FLos_Angeles&vis=%7B%7D&filter_config=%7B%22pdt_builds.start_date%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22past%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22constant%22%3A%222%22%2C%22unit%22%3A%22mo%22%7D%2C%7B%7D%5D%2C%22id%22%3A0%2C%22error%22%3Afalse%7D%5D%7D&origin=share-expandedYou'll then get a list of views in the result set. If you look up these views in the Field Usage explore you'll be able to see which ones have been used and which ones haven't. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

why can't looker read my topojson?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 1, 2018 Quick answer: Upload your topojson file to a gist and put that link into the map_layer_name: map_layer: custom_manhattan_map {url: "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/your_user_name/manhattan_tracts.json"property_key: "ntacode"} Remember property_key is case sensitive. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

romain.ducarrougeLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Define a view to create a separate PDT that gets generated each day with a title like “pdt_20190219”Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 19, 2019 Turns out we can use liquid in the create_process part of the derived table for this!We use this in the first sql_step to define the name of the PDT to generate.view: yesterday_data {derived_table: {explore_source: order_items {column: pk2_created_date { field: order_items.created_date}column: pk2_brand { field: products.brand }column: total_orders {field: order_items.count }filters: {field: order_items.created_datevalue: "1 days ago for 1 day"}}}} explore: table_date {}view: table_date {derived_table: {datagroup_trigger: incremental_pdt_default_datagroupcreate_process: {sql_step: CREATE TABLE db_scratch.table_{{'now' | date: "%s" | minus : 86400 | date: "%Y%m%d" }} AS ${yesterday_data.SQL_TABLE_NAME} ;;sql_step: CREATE TABLE ${SQL_TABLE_NAME} AS SELECT 1 as one ;; This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

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

400

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why am I getting a warning for the explore or field parameter in my LookML dashboard filter?Knowledge Drop

Last Tested: Jan 21, 2019 The explore parameter is a valid parameter only for type: field_filter LookML dashboard filters. Like a UDD field type filter, this is the only filter type that queries a field in an explore to pull suggestions from—all other filter types do not need to query a field.This throws a warning:filters:- name: order_datetype: date_filterexplore: ordersfield: orders.order_date This does not throw a warning:filters:- name: order_datetype: field_filterexplore: ordersfield: orders.order_dateYou can reference these docs for more information. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I remove LookML elements like `case` in an extending view?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 15, 2021 No. You can only add new LookML elements in an extending view but you cannot remove existing onesFor example, if we ave the following in our original/extended view:dimension: case_when_test {type: stringcase: {when: {sql: ${TABLE}.genre = "Drama" ;;label: "Case1"}when: {sql: ${TABLE}.genre = "Comedy" ;;label: "Case2"}when: {sql: ${TABLE}.genre = "Action" ;;label: "Case3"}else: "Other"}} And attempt the following in order to reduce the number of the LookML case whens in the extending view, this is not going to work - the dimension is still going to have all the case whens from the original view.dimension: case_when_test { type: string case: { when: { sql: ${TABLE}.genre = "Drama" ;; label: "Case1" } else: "Other" } } As a workaround, we would want to use SQL CASE WHEN in the sql parameter in both the original view and the extending view. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

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

400

1 year ago

quinn.morrisonLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How can I avoid a sql error when no value is selected for a parameter filter?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 29, 2020 Unlike templated filters, which will default to 1=1 when no filter value is selected, a parameter with no filter value selected will cause a sql error. If you need to use parameters instead of templated filters, and you want to avoid this error when no filter value is selected, we can add this to our sql:{% if view_name.parameter_name._is_filtered %} [parameter filter statement] {% else %} 1=1 {% endif %} This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

Department of Customer LoveModerator

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Change saml_user_id for a userKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 14, 2020Sometimes when we change a user's email on the IdP side, the saml_user_id doesn't change to reflect the new user's email. In order to get this to change, we'll need to clear your user SAML Credentials via API.Once you run this end point, the user should log back on and their saml_user_id should change accordingly. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I put a SAML XML file into Looker?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Jan 2019 Yes, that is an optional step in setting up SAML with Looker. The option is called "IdP Metadata (Optional)". Paste in your raw XML, or a publicly accessible link to your XML, and hit "Load".cite SAML setup. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Can I filter on a list of numbers in user attributes?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: May 2020 Yes, you need to use the “number advanced” filter rather than simple number filter. Then you can enter a comma separated list of numbers like you would in a matches (advanced) filter with a Looker filter expression. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

samLooker Staff

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

How do I update LookML via the API?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: June 2021 This is currently not possible. The lookml-model endpoint does have "explores" in the body, but it's read-only.As a workaround, we recommend using the API of your Git provider. For example, these are Github's API Docs. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

shivanisankarNew Member

published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why are my week dimension rows duplicating when I have the month dimension selected?Knowledge Drop

Last tested; Feb 1, 2021 You may notice that when you select the week dimension and some other fields, your data looks alright!However, when you add in your month dimension, some of your week rows are duplicating!Why is this happening? In this case, we can see 2020-12-28 getting repeated. This is because this week starts in the month 2021-012 and ends in 2021-01. There are two of the same week values, but they're getting correlated to two different months, causing the duplication.How can we fix it? We can add in a table calculation to extract the month. This will correlate the week to the month it starts in. This content is subject to limited support.

400

1 year ago

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.

400

1 year ago

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The Kitchen Table

What does Daemonize mean in the Looker ARGS?Knowledge Drop

Migrating from LDAP to SAML when users have different emailsKnowledge Drop

How to optimize AWS with Looker

How do I change a model/explore of a Look?Knowledge Drop

The rise of the multicloud data platform

Which order do I write my join in sql_on?Knowledge Drop

What causes an "undefined method `getURLs' for #" error when starting LookerKnowledge Drop

JMX monitoring when using --no-daemonise flagKnowledge Drop

4 easy ways to embed analytics with Looker

How do i add a custom filter to my create_query api callKnowledge Drop

Performance Diagnosis: Network UnreliabilityKnowledge Drop

How do I look up unused PDTs in system activity?Knowledge Drop

why can't looker read my topojson?Knowledge Drop

Define a view to create a separate PDT that gets generated each day with a title like “pdt_20190219”Knowledge Drop

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

Why am I getting a warning for the explore or field parameter in my LookML dashboard filter?Knowledge Drop

Can I remove LookML elements like `case` in an extending view?Knowledge Drop

Custom liquid formatting isn't displaying in visualizationKnowledge Drop

How can I avoid a sql error when no value is selected for a parameter filter?Knowledge Drop

Change saml_user_id for a userKnowledge Drop

Can I put a SAML XML file into Looker?Knowledge Drop

Can I filter on a list of numbers in user attributes?Knowledge Drop

How do I update LookML via the API?Knowledge Drop

Why are my week dimension rows duplicating when I have the month dimension selected?Knowledge Drop

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

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