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Tableau Desktop

Version 22.0.8486

Tableau Desktop

This page outlines the steps to connect Tableau Desktop to CData Connect. The Tableau Desktop Connector includes comprehensive high-performance data access, real-time integration, extensive metadata discovery, and robust SQL-92 support.

Prerequisites

Before you can configure and use Tableau Desktop with CData Connect, you must first connect a data source to your CData Connect account. See Data Model for more information.

Step 1: Installing the Connector

The Tableau Connector for CData Connect can be used to establish a connection in both the desktop and server editions of Tableau. Follow the directions below for your environment.

Tableau Desktop

Prerequisites

Before you start, you must have a supported Tableau application installed. Supported applications include:

  • Tableau Desktop 2020.1 or later.

  • Tableau Prep 2020.4.1 or later.

For older versions of Tableau Desktop, please use either ODBC or JDBC instead.

Install Instructions

Once the prerequisites are satisfied, follow these steps to install the connector:

  1. Open the Clients page of CData Connect.

  2. In the BI and Reporting Tools section, click Tableau Desktop.

  3. Download and run the setup file. If Tableau Desktop is running during installation, you will need to close and reopen it after the installation finishes.

  4. Once the installation is complete, click Finish.

If you have Tableau Desktop 2020.3 or later, the setup automatically attempts to register the driver with your Tableau install. By default, the driver .jar file is placed into:

  • Windows: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
  • Mac: /Users/myuser/Library/Tableau/Drivers

By default, the connector .taco file is placed into:

  • Windows: C:\Users\myuser\Documents\My Tableau Repository\Connectors
  • Mac: /Users/myuser/Documents/My Tableau Repository/Connectors

Manual Registration

If you are using Tableau Prep or a version of Tableau Desktop earlier than 2020.3, the CData Connect Connector setup will not be able to detect your Tableau install. After completing setup, you will need to register the connector manually by following these steps:

  1. Find the connector install directory. By default, this is C:\Program Files\CData\Tableau Connector for CData Connect 2021 for Windows and /Applications/Tableau Connector for CData Connect 2021 for MacOS.

  2. Find your Tableau repository. Your repository is usually located in your documents folder with the name My Tableau Repository. If you are using Prep, it is called My Tableau Prep Repository.

  3. Open the Tableau install directory and open the lib directory. Copy cdata.connect.taco into the Connectors directory within your Tableau repository.

Note: As of Tableau Prep 21.2+, standard taco files are supported instead of legacy taco files.

Tableau Server

Prerequisites

Before you start, you must have a supported Tableau application installed. This includes Tableau Server 2020.1 or later.

For older versions of Tableau Server, please use either the CData ODBC Driver or the JDBC Driver for CData Connect instead.

Note: If a connector has the same class as a connector previously registered, the new one will be rejected.

Install Instructions

Once the prerequisites are satisfied, follow these steps to install the connector:

  1. Open the Clients page.

  2. In the BI and Reporting Tools section, click Tableau Desktop.

  3. Download and run the setup file. If Tableau Server is running during installation, you will need to close and reopen it after the installation finishes.

  4. Once the installation is complete, click Finish.

  5. A JAR file will be automatically placed in the Drivers directory, which is C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers by default. This file needs to remain here for the connector to function properly.

  6. Make sure that the license file (.lic) is placed alongside the JAR in the Drivers folder.

  7. Move the .taco file into [RootDirectory]/data/tabsvc/vizqlserver/Connectors. The root directory is likely to be ProgramData on the drive Tableau Server is installed on.

  8. Restart the server.

  9. To use an unsigned packaged connector, optionally disable signature verification by setting native_api.disable_verify_connector_plugin_signature to true via TSM.

Connect to CData Connect

Once the connector is installed, open Tableau Desktop or Tableau Server and perform the following steps:

  1. In the Connect sidebar menu, under the To a Server category, click More…

  2. Use the search field or locate and click CData Connect by CData.

  3. Select the Advanced tab.

  4. Enter the following information:

    • AuthScheme—select Basic.

    • URL—enter [baseurl]/rest.rsc/, substituting the base URL of your CData Connect server for [baseurl]. For example, localhost:8080 or myConnectInstance.cdata.com.

    • User—enter your CData Connect username as defined on the Users page.

    • Password—enter the Authtoken for the user.

  5. Click Sign in to create your connection

You can now use the desired Schema in Tableau.

Learn More

To learn more information about using the Tableau Connector for CData Connect, click here.