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WDC for Tableau Tool

The Alteryx Web Data Connector (WDC) for Tableau tool enables an analytic app to be used as a data source in Tableau (version 9.1 and later).

This tool is not automatically installed with Alteryx Designer. To use this tool, download it from the Alteryx Analytics Gallery.

Using the Alteryx WDC for Tableau Tool

To use the Alteryx WDC tool, first create an app.

This tool cannot be used with a workflow or macro.

Place the tool at the end of a data stream in the app, publish the app to your Private Studio on your company's Private Server Gallery, and then connect to the app from within Tableau. Tableau uses the Web Data Connector HTML page, which is installed with Alteryx Server starting with version 10.5, to access the apps saved in your Private Studio.

To create an app that is compatible with Tableau:

Use only a single Alteryx WDC for Tableau tool in the app.
Add the text #TableauWDC to the Description field in the Workflow Properties > Meta Info tab before saving the app to your Private Server Gallery.
Select the Alteryx WDC for Tableau tool to be included as an asset by selecting Workflow Options > Manage workflow assets while saving the app to your Private Server Gallery.
Use only the following tools from the Interface category in your app: Date, Drop Down, List Box, Numeric Up Down, Text Box, and Check Box. (Although content can be nested within a Check Box, nesting relationships are ignored by Tableau.)
Avoid using the interface design elements Group Box, Label, Link, and Tab as they are ignored by Tableau.
Avoid using Blob and SpatialObj field types, as Tableau's Web Data Connector API does not support them.

Connecting to an Alteryx app via the Web Data Connector in Tableau

Open Tableau.
Under Connect > To a server, select Web Data Connector. If you do not see the Web Data Connector option, select More Servers.
In the Web Data Connector window, enter your company's Private Server Gallery base URL plus /tableau/alteryx-wdc.html, and then press Enter.

http://mycompanygallery.com/tableau/alteryx-wdc.html

To be able to refresh data in a workbook published to Tableau Server, use the following URL instead:

In the Web Data Connector window, enter the Tableau Server web data connector URL provided by your Tableau administrator, and then press Enter.

Administrators can obtain this URL by Importing the Web Data Connector to Tableau Server.

Enter the Private Server Gallery API endpoint URL. This is typically your company's Private Server Gallery base URL plus api/v1.

http://mycompanygallery.com/api/v1

Enter your Private Server Gallery API Key and Secret, and then click Next.

To obtain the API Key and Secret:

Log in to your company's Private Server Gallery.

Click the Settings icon.

Within the Private Studio tab, copy the API Key and Secret.

If you do not see the API Key and Secret, contact your Gallery administrator to enable it for your Private Studio.

Select an app from the list, and then click Next.

An app must be saved with the text #TableauWDC in the Description field of the Workflow Properties > Meta Info tab to display in the list.

Answer the questions in your app, and then click Connect. The app will run and the data will be pulled into Tableau.

To refresh data in a Tableau workbook via Tableau Desktop:

Using the same app answers, click Data > Alteryx > Extract > Refresh.

Using different app answers, click Data > Alteryx > Edit Source Data, and then click the "Connected to Web Data" link.

Tableau 10.0

Using the same app answers, click Data > Refresh Data Source.

Using different app answers, click Data > Alteryx - [name of app] > Edit Connection. Change the app values and then click Connect.

To refresh data in a Tableau workbook via Tableau Server:

Using the same app answers, click Data Sources, select the Alteryx data source, and click Refresh.

Tableau 10.0

Using the same app answers, click Data > Refresh Data Source.

Using different app answers, click Data > Alteryx - [name of app] > Edit Connection. Change the app values and then click Connect.

Troubleshooting

If connecting to your app fails, adjust the Rows per chunk option on the Advanced tab of the Alteryx WDC for Tableau tool. This option specifies how much data can be processed by Tableau at a time. The default is 10,000. Do not adjust this value unless the connection to Tableau fails.

Administering the Web Data Connector

The following is for Alteryx Server and Tableau Server administrators only.

Importing the Web Data Connector to Tableau Server

To obtain the URL for the web data connector for a Tableau Server installation:

On Alteryx Server, copy the tableau folder from C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\RuntimeData\gallery\.
On Tableau Server:

Paste the tableau folder to a location of your choice.
Open a console window as administrator (i.e., select "Run as administrator" when launching the console application).
Navigate to the Tableau installation folder.

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Tableau\Tableau Server\9.3\bin"

Import the web data connector and dependencies from the tableau folder. Use the tabadmin import_webdataconnector command for each file.

For example: tabadmin import_webdataconnector "C:\tableau_folder_location\css\alteryx-common.css"

Upon executing the last import command in the previous step, the URL for the web data connector will be returned. This is the URL to use when connecting to the app via Tableau.

http://our-tableau-server:8000/webdataconnectors/alteryx-wdc.html

Refer to the Tableau Server documentation for additional details on importing web data connectors.