Using CrateDB with Tableau

Tutorials
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CrateDB 5.2 and newer

With the introduction of CrateDB version 5.2, it is likely that the steps mentioned below are no longer necessary, as scrolling cursor support has now been incorporated. Preliminary tests using the default PostgreSQL connector appear to be successful. If you encounter any issues, please don’t hesitate to share them here or in the crate/crate GitHub repository.

CrateDB 5.1 and older

As of CrateDB 5.0.0 there are still some features missing to directly use the default PostgreSQL Connector in CrateDB (e.g. DECLARE CURSOR support), therefore it is best to use a Other Databases (JDBC) connection with the latest PostgreSQL JDBC Driver. To improve the user experience Tableau allows to customize connections using .tdc (Tableau Datasource Customization) files.

If we see significant demand, we might look into creating a custom Tableau Connector, however we also expect CrateDB to be fully compatible with the default PostgreSQL Connector soon.

Customize CrateDB Connection

  1. Download the latest PostgreSQL JDBC Driver
  2. Move the downloaded .jar-file (e.g. postgresql-42.4.1.jar) into the Tableau Driver folder
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
    • Mac: ~/Library/Tableau/Drivers
    • Linux: /opt/tableau/tableau_driver/jdbc

    also see Other Databases (JDBC) - Tableau

  3. Create an empty .tdc (Tableau Datasource Customization) file e.g. crate-jdbc.tdc
  4. Copy the following content into the file:
    <connection-customization class='genericjdbc' enabled='true' version='10.0'>
    <vendor name='genericjdbc' />
    <driver name='postgresql' />
    <customizations>
        <customization name='CAP_CONNECT_STORED_PROCEDURE' value='no'/>
        <customization name='CAP_CREATE_TEMP_TABLES' value='no'/>
        <customization name='CAP_FAST_METADATA' value='yes'/>
        <customization name="CAP_FORCE_COUNT_FOR_NUMBEROFRECORDS" value="yes"/>
        <customization name='CAP_JDBC_QUERY_ASYNC' value='yes'/>
        <customization name='CAP_JDBC_QUERY_CANCEL' value='yes'/>
        <customization name='CAP_QUERY_HAVING_REQUIRES_GROUP_BY' value='no'/>
        <customization name="CAP_QUERY_SUBQUERIES_WITH_TOP" value="yes"/>
        <customization name="CAP_QUERY_TOP_N" value="yes"/>
        <customization name='CAP_QUERY_TOPSTYLE_LIMIT' value='yes'/>
        <customization name='CAP_SELECT_INTO' value='no'/>
        <customization name='CAP_SUPPRESS_TEMP_TABLE_CHECKS' value='yes'/>
    </customizations>
</connection-customization>
  5. Save the .tdc-file in your Datasources folder (e.g. /Users/<username>/Documents/My Tableau Repository/Datasources/crate-jdbc.tdc
  6. Open Tableau
  7. Create an Other Databases (JDBC) connection

    URL: jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/doc
    Dialect: PostgreSQL
    Username: crate
    Password:

  8. Start using Tableau with CrateDB :slight_smile:
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