Publish JSON-Connected Dashboards in Tableau Server

Tableau Server is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with the CData Tableau Connector for JSON, you get access to live JSON services within Tableau Server. This article shows how to connect to JSON in Tableau Desktop, publish a Data Source to Tableau Server, and build a simple chart from that data.

The CData Tableau Connectors enable high-speed access to live JSON services in Tableau Server. Once you install the connector, you simply authenticate with JSON and you can immediately start building responsive, dynamic visualizations and dashboards. By surfacing JSON services using native Tableau data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, CData Tableau Connectors grant seamless access to JSON services.

NOTE: The CData Tableau Connectors require Tableau 2020.3 or higher. If you are using an older version of Tableau, you will need to use the CData JDBC Driver.

Enable Connectivity to JSON in Tableau Server

Start by installing the CData Tableau Connector on the machine hosting Tableau Server.

Installation on a Linux Machine:

1. Unpack the setup.zip archive. Creating a directory for the connector like /opt/cdata/json is recommended, but the exact install location does not matter.
2. Navigate to the lib subdirectory under the install directory. Generate a license file by running this command and following the prompts:

   java -jar cdata.tableau.json.jar -l

3. Copy cdata.tableau.json.jar and cdata.tableau.json.lic into the drivers directory, /opt/tableau/tableau_driver/jdbc.
4. Copy cdata.json.taco into the connectors directory, MyTableauServerRootDir/data/tabsvc/vizqlserver/Connectors. In most cases MyTableauServerRootDir is located at /var/opt/tableau/tableau_server.
5. Restart Tableau Server.

If you cannot execute the java commmand from step 2, you will need to install a Java runtime environment. The name of this package differs on Red Hat-based and Debian-based systems:

You can substitute Java 8 with a later Java release as needed.

Installation on a Windows Machine:

1. Run the setup.exe installer. The driver JAR file will be automatically placed in the drivers directory, C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers.
2. Navigate to the lib folder under the installation directory. By default the installation directory is a folder in C:\Program Files\CData.
3. Copy cdata.tableau.json.lic into the drivers directory.
4. Copy cdata.tableau.json.taco into the connectors directory, MyTableauServerRootDir/data/tabsvc/vizqlserver/Connectors. In most cases MyTableauServerRootDir is located under C:\ProgramData.
5. Restart Tableau Server.

Connect to JSON in Tableau Desktop

Once the connectors are installed on the Server machine, we can configure a connection to JSON in Tableau Desktop and publish a JSON-based Data Source to Tableau Server.

1. Open Tableau Desktop.
2. Click More under Connect -> To a Server.
3. Select "JSON by CData".
4. Configure the connection to the data.

   See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models JSON APIs as bidirectional database tables and JSON files as read-only views (local files, files stored on popular cloud services, and FTP servers). The major authentication schemes are supported, including HTTP Basic, Digest, NTLM, OAuth, and FTP. See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation for authentication guides.

   After setting the and providing any authentication values, set to more closely match the data representation to the structure of your data.

   The property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

   • Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your JSON data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
   • FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
   • Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

   See the Modeling JSON Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

5. Click "Sign In".

👁 Configuring the Connector (Salesforce is shown)

Discover Schemas and Query Data

Once you establish the connection to JSON services, you can configure which entities to visualize.

1. Select CData from the Database pull-down menu.
2. Select JSON from the Schema pull-down menu.
3. Drag the tables and views you wish to visualize onto the join area. You can include multiple tables. 👁 Selecting table(s)
   
4. Select Update Now or Automatically Update. Update Now lets you preview the first 10,000 rows of the data source (or enter the number of rows you want to see in the Rows text box). Automatically Update auto-loads the changes in the preview area.

Publish Data to Tableau Server

After you configure the data you wish to visualize, you can publish the Data Source to a Tableau Server instance. In Tableau Desktop:

1. Click Server -> Sign In.
2. Enter the URL for your Tableau Server.
3. Authenticate with Tableau Server credentials.
4. Click Server -> Publish Data Source and select your data source.
5. Click Publish.
6. Select the Project, name the Data Source, and optionally add a description.
7. Click Publish. 👁 Publish the Data Source to Tableau Server
   

This creates a new entry under the server's data source list, from which you an change the data source's permissions, view its history, and perform other management tasks.

👁 Data Source Entry

Note that workstation connected to the same server will be able to use the same source in Tableau Desktop, even if the connector isn't installed there. Also, workbooks created directly on Tableau Server (via the web interface) can use this source.

Visualize JSON Services in Tableau Server

With the Data Source published to Tableau Server, you are ready to visualize JSON services.

1. Login to your Tableau Server instance.
2. Connect to the remote source using the Search for Data -> Tableau Server in the Connect sidebar. 👁 Remote Data Source
   
3. Click the published Data Source.
4. Click New Workbook.
5. In the workbook, JSON fields are listed as Dimensions and Measures, depending on the data type. The CData Tableau Connector discovers data types automatically, allowing you to leverage the powerful data processing and visualization features of Tableau.
6. Drag a field from the Dimensions or Measures area to Rows or Columns. Tableau creates column or row headers.
7. Select one of the chart types from the Show Me tab. Tableau displays the chart type that you selected. 👁 Visualizing live JSON services in Tableau Server
   

Using the CData Tableau Connector for JSON with Tableau Server, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on JSON services. Download a free, 30-day trial and get started today.