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The Kitchen Table

Explore the product knowledge we've built up together

2113 Topics

Department of Customer Love
Moderator
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.                  

430
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Migrating from LDAP to SAML when users have different emailsKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Dec 3, 2017 Fortunately, when migrating to SAML there is an option to merge from LDAP. So this should be quite simple.There was once an unfortunate case where some users had different emails in the LDAP system and the SAML system. The best way to fix this kind of thing is to create a new credentials_email for the user via the api and set that to have the email address that you want for that user in SAML. Then, in the SAML setup, add ‘email’ to the ‘merge by’ list. (If you already had that user try to log in with SAML and it created a new user object that you didn’t want, then you have to delete that new un-needed user object.) Then, when the person logs in Looker should find that credentials_email with the matching email address for the user and merge the new SAML login info to that existing user account. This content is subject to limited support.                  

430
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Blog Archives

Build vs. buy: choosing the right embedded analytics solution

This content, written by Erik Kuld, was initially posted in Looker Blog on Apr 27, 2019. The content is subject to limited support.Your customers expect data. They already get it in their day-to-day lives: they know when that package will arrive, how much screen time they spend on which apps, and how many Twitter followers they have. When they use your product, they expect the same level of access and analysis into your data. And it's bigger than adding a dashboard in your product — it's about embedding an experience with data that surpasses your competitors, delights your customers, scales with your product growth, and maybe even creates a new revenue stream. All while minimizing the cost of maintenance going forward. The promise of embedded analytics tools for growth Let’s say you are a technology leader. You’ve been tasked with growth. It’s your initiative. You also have valuable data that your customers or partners would really want. So, you set out to explore embedded analytics s

430
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
5 months ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is there any size or character limit on the JSON body for api calls?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Oct 1, 2019 Not that we are aware of.The input boxes on the API Docs might have a limit, and run_url_encoded_query could be a problem because URL size is limited. This content is subject to limited support.                  

430
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is it possible to parameterize the "from" address for a scheduled email?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 16, 2018 No. It is not possible to change the sender of scheduled emails for default SMTP.The only thing that controls the "from" address in Looker is the SMTP server. So, you would need to setup a custom SMTP, to have whatever address you like. This content is subject to limited support.                  

420
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
romain.ducarrouge
Looker Staff
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.                   

420
romain.ducarrouge
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

RendererNoDataError, while rendering pdf/png.Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 19, 2020  2020-04-08 10:05:54.770 +0000 [INFO|0097a|event:render] :: Render job data not found by user 12020-04-08 10:05:54.772 +0000 [ERROR|0097a|] :: Looker::Render::RendererNoDataError : Render job 9d16e8a23065a16edc63f09c21a04a51 data not found uri:classloader:/helltool-component-build/lib/helltool/render/manager.class:491:in `get_render_results' uri:classloader:/helltool-component-build/lib/helltool/controllers/render_controller.class:163:in `block in GET /render/result/:slug/:filename'2020-04-08 10:05:55.021 +0000 [WARN|0097a|http] :: (0.306463s) Request complete: 500 /render/result/9d16e8a23065a16edc63f09c21a04a51/Internal%20Price%20Checker%202020-04-08T0304.pdf One of the possible causes that might trigger this exception that I came across was the fact that time was out of sync on one of the new nodes that were added to the cluster. We essentially treat nodes that have a bad heartbeat as impostors. It'll still pick up tasks but it won't be allowed to talk to th

420
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why doesn't my user COUNT() in History explore match total existing users? (System Activity)Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 7, 2020 The History explore in System Activity is NOT the best place to see ALL users, looks, dashboards on the instance. The reason for this, is because History only tracks query events, so if a user has not done anything in 90 days, or a look or dashboard has not been queried in 90 days, it will not show up in History.For all of your content exploration needs, use the following explores:/explore/system__activity/look/explore/system__activity/dashboard/explore/system__activity/userFor more details on the History explore, see our documentation on the History Explore in System Activity. This content is subject to limited support.                 

420
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
samLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Lookerbot Error: 401 "Unauthorized"Knowledge Drop

  Last tested: Sep 2019 This is a generic error message that can mean a lot of things.The first thing to check would be to go view the content as the Lookerbot user and make sure you have access in Looker.One user ran into this because they didn't set lookerbot environment variables, specifically the LOOKER_WEBHOOK_TOKEN. This content is subject to limited support.                

420
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
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.                  

420
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Blog Archives

What’s new in Looker? Features & updates - April 2020 edition

This content, written by Jill Hardy, was initially posted in Looker Blog on Apr 8, 2020. The content is subject to limited support.Welcome to our April 2020 edition of “What’s New in Looker?” Get ready to discover actions you can perform in Looker that you might not have known about. This post focuses on new product features of dashboards, Looks, and Explores (and leaves the coding to the developers.) Important: If you create or maintain dashboards, pay special attention because this post is for you. Today we’ll cover the new Looker dashboards. These dashboards didn’t just receive a makeover: they’ve also got an exciting new set of filter options that make them easier to use... when you do them right. You’ll learn how below. But first, let’s check out the new look. Sleek look and feel Automatic margins between tiles, white (not gray) space, and an updated “Refresh Data” button make your new dashboards feel fresh and modern. Notice the differences: A dashboard in the original Looker sty

420
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
5 months ago
Lan
Community Admin
LanCommunity Admin
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why can't self-hosted instances install the listing viz from the marketplace?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Mar 29, 2020 Self-hosted instances would see this error Could not install listing. Contact support for more information.These are looker network Requirements for self-hosted instances connecting to the Marketplace backend:HTTPS port 443 should be open or able to access SSH port 22 should be open or able to access GIT port 9418 should be open or able to accessYou should be able to access the viz you are interested in after adjusting these rules. This content is subject to limited support.                  

420
Lan
Community Admin
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Blog Archives

Driving profitable growth and customer equity with SoundCommerce

This content, written by Tamara John, was initially posted in Looker Blog on Jul 1, 2020. The content is subject to limited support.Eric Best, CEO, recently spoke at Looker’s Retail Solutions Event to share how the SoundCommerce team built a custom data application for retail companies on top of Google Cloud Platform’s BigQuery and Looker. In addition to sharing the retail solution his team has built, Eric invited SoundCommerce customer Tim Morse, Cofounder/President to share how they’re using data to execute on their omnichannel consumer strategy. SoundCommerce: a platform built for retailers Founded in 2018, SoundCommerce provides an out-of-the-box data platform for retail brands. Built from years of retail, eCommerce, and data experience, the platform is designed to collect retail data from any source and build a model around the metrics and relationships that are most crucial to retail organizations. This includes everything from prospects and customers to orders, shipments, and

420
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
5 months ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Blog Archives

Top trends in custom data application development that are accelerating growth

This content, written by Erik Kuld, was initially posted in Looker Blog on Aug 11, 2020. The content is subject to limited support.At Looker, we’re lucky to work with so many innovative organizations from around the world who are using data in ingenious ways to create business value. Of all the teams we get to partner with, those who are building custom data applications on our platform are experiencing some of the most exciting leaps forward. We’re seeing two trends of innovation in the market that are accelerating their growth. Trend #1 — A technical innovation: Enable proactive and operational insights with data applications Business applications have historically been reactive. For example, if a manufacturer’s production line went down, the business would typically learn about it in a static dashboard or a report, then an employee would log an issue in a form to dispatch a response team to fix the problem, and the whole time the organization (and its customers) would be in pain. Th

420
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
5 months ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What could cause the purple loading bar to get stuck?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 24, 2020 This is probably either due to an intermittent outage on the load balancer, or because an incomplete Javascript chunk has been cached on the browser.The only network requests that are sent while that loading bar is animating are for fetching the JS code that's responsible for things like rendering UI elements and visualizations (these are the "chunks" that you see in the network tab as a page loads). Therefore if fetching the chunks goes wrong somehow, you could get stuck on that page with the loading bar partially filled.Possible solutions to this are basically to bust the browser cache: hard refresh of the browser (cmd+shift+r) or enable the CDN, which will pull new resources since they'll be coming from a new URL. This content is subject to limited support.                  

410
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
mandy.chan
Looker Staff
mandy.chanLooker Staff
asked in Technical Tips & Tricks

Why does it show the faceted filter icon even though there aren't any faceted filters enabled?

The problem:Sometimes, you can encounter a situation where you see the faceted filters icon even though there aren't any faceted filters enabled on the dashboard and then when you hover over the faceted filter icon, you see this... The explanation:Some ways this can happen is if the you created a LookML dashboard and have it listen_to_filters and then turn the LookML dashboard to UDD, or if you've created the dashboard via the API and accidentally had the faceted filters listen to each other. The solution:Either way, simple solution for this is to recreate the filter. Harder solution would be to update the dashboard via API. 

0
mandy.chan
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Lan
Community Admin
LanCommunity Admin
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

410
Lan
Community Admin
1 year ago
romain.ducarrouge
Looker Staff
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
romain.ducarrouge
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Peggy_Beard
Looker Staff
Peggy_BeardLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Is it possible to use the API to get the sql query for a look or exploreKnowledge Drop

Last tested: May 21, 2019 Yes! You can get the query ID and then use run_query with result_format=sql https://docs.looker.com/reference/api-and-integration/api-reference/v3.1/query#run_query This content is subject to limited support.                  

410
Peggy_Beard
Looker Staff
1 year ago
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
Department of Customer LoveModerator
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Custom filter for this month vs the same days of last month.Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Feb 4, 2021extract_days(${query.created_date}) <= extract_days(now()) AND diff_months(${query.created_date}, now()) <= 1 This content is subject to limited support.                  

410
Department of Customer Love
Moderator
1 year ago
sam
Looker Staff
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.                

410
sam
Looker Staff
1 year ago
A
Looker Staff
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.                   

410
A
Looker Staff
1 year ago
chris.seymour
Looker Staff
chris.seymourLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

What permission do I need to schedule based on a datagroup?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 7, 2020 Besides the general scheduling permissions, you need the develop permission on the model where the datagroup is defined AND see_datagroups. This means that only developers can schedule based on a datagroup.You do NOT need update_datagroups —this permissions is only for seeing datagroups in the Admin panel.Changes from Version 7.8+Non-develop permissioned users can select "Datagroup Update" when defining schedules. This content is subject to limited support.                  

410
chris.seymour
Looker Staff
1 year ago
molly.lippsett
Looker Staff
molly.lippsettLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

Does the description fields parameter have a character limit?Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Apr 30, 2020 Probably but not that we know of - we tested this parameter with 2,000 characters on a local instance.Based on our testing, it looks like if there is a technical limit, you would would hit a limit on what would appear in the browser before hitting the technical limit. This content is subject to limited support.                  

410
molly.lippsett
Looker Staff
1 year ago
flaviagdo
Looker Staff
flaviagdoLooker Staff
published in Technical Tips & Tricks

"Non-base queries in merged_queries must define at least one join_fields" - LookML Dashboard errorKnowledge Drop

Last tested: Jul 31, 2020 ProblemWe did the auto-convert from a UDD dashboard that has merged results to a LookML Dashboard. The UDD runs as expected. However, the LookML version is giving the error "Non-base queries in merged_queries must define at least one join_fields".SOLUTIONIf we go to the original user-defined dashboard and click "Explore From Here" on the merged results query, we might see a "Not Merged" warning in the source query from that tile. In this case we would need to fix that warning as the queries are not having a common key (join field) specified in.We could try to have a Join field explicitly mentioned… if it is not available, we can join on the row-number(like a table calc to get the row number) This content is subject to limited support.                  

410
flaviagdo
Looker Staff
1 year ago

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