Using CrateDB with Tableau

Tutorials
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For using Tableau with CrateDB, install the latest PostgreSQL driver, as detailed in the steps below:

  1. Download the Java 8 JDBC driver (e.g. postgresql-42.7.1.jar or newer) from Download | pgJDBC
  2. Move the downloaded .jar-file (e.g. postgresql-42.7.1.jar) into the Tableau Driver folder
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
    • Mac: ~/Library/Tableau/Drivers
    • Linux: /opt/tableau/tableau_driver/jdbc
  3. Open Tableau
  4. Create a PostgreSQL connection
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  5. Start using Tableau with CrateDB :bar_chart: :slight_smile:

Using Tableau with old CrateDB versions

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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