Semantic Layer tables stack up like a deck of cards
Hi All, About once a month, all of the tables in our semantic layer stack on top of one another. I'm not sure why. It takes me about an hour to put them back in their right places. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you stop it from recurring? Cheers.Connection Tool - Programmatically Remove Unused Datasource Connections, and List All Connections
Managing connections within your Sisense environment can become complex over time, if there are a large number of connections, and connections are often added, and replace earlier datasource connections. In some scenarios unused connections can accumulate, potentially cluttering the connection manager UI with no longer relevant connections. Although unused connections typically represent minimal direct security risk, it's considered best practice to maintain a clean, organized list of connections, and in some scenarios it can be desired to remove all unused connections. Sisense prevents the deletion of connections actively used in datasources, safeguarding your dashboards and datasources from disruptions. However, inactive or "orphaned" connections remain after datasources are deleted or a connection is replaced, potentially contributing to unnecessary UI complexity in the connection manager UI. Connections can be of any type Sisense supports, common types include various SQL connections, Excel files, and CSV files, as well as many data providers, such as Big Panda. This tool can also be used to list all connections, with no automatic deletion of unused connections.
Choosing the Right Data Model
This post has become outdated. You can find guidance on choosing a data model on our documentation site here. https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/choosing-the-right-data-model.htm Introduction Customers often run into the question of which data model they should use (an ElastiCube, a Live model, or a Build-to-Destination). The following article presents some of the aspects you should consider when choosing between them. Sisense recommends that you discuss your needs and requirements with Sisense's technical team during the Jumpstart process, so the result will best meet your business expectations. Table of Contents Definitions The ElastiCube Data Model Importing data into an ElastiCube data model allows the customer to pull data from multiple data sources on-demand or at a scheduled time, and create a single source of truth inside Sisense. The imported data can then be transformed and aggregated to meet your business needs. Once imported, the data snapshot is used to generate analytical information. The process of importing the data, known as a "Build", includes the following steps: Extract the data: Query the different data source(s) for data. Load the data: Write the data extracted to Sisense (the local MonetDB). Transform the data: Transform the local MonetDB (using SQL queries). To read more about ElastiCubes, see Introducing ElastiCubes. The Live Data Model Using a Live data model does not require importing data. Only the data's schema needs to be defined. Once configured, analytical information required by the user is queried directly against the backend data source. To read more about Live models, see Introducing Live Models. Determining Factors Refresh Rate One of the most fundamental aspects of determining your data model is your data's refresh rate. The data refresh rate refers to the age of the data in your dashboards: For Live models, the data displayed on your dashboards is near-real-time, as every query is passed directly to the backend database. A good example of using a live model (due to refresh rate requirements) is a dashboard that shows stock prices. For ElastiCubes, the data displayed on your dashboard is current to the last successful build event. Every query is passed to the local database for execution. A good example of using an ElastiCube (due to refresh rate requirements) is a dashboard that shows historical stock prices. In this case, a daily ETL process will provide results that are good enough. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: How frequently do I need to pull new data from the database? Do all my widgets require the same data refresh frequency? How long does an entire ETL process take? Data Transformation Options The ETL process includes a "Transformation" phase. This transformation phase usually includes: Migrating the data tables into a dim-fact schema Enriching your data Pre-aggregating the data to meet your business needs The amount of data transformation on Sisense helps determine the suitable data model: For Live models, Sisense allows minimal to no data transformation. Data is not imported before a query is issued from the front end. Therefore, data cannot be pre-conditioned or pre-aggregated. Most data sources used by Live models are data warehouses that may perform all data preparations themselves. For ElastiCubes, data is imported before a query is issued from the front end. Therefore, it may be pre-conditioned and pre-aggregated. A user may customize the data model to optimally answer their business questions. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: Is my data in a fact-dim schema? Does my data require enriching or pre-conditioning? Can my data be pre-aggregated? Operational Database Load Your operational databases do more than serve your analytical system. Any application loading the operational databases should be closely examined: For Live models, Sisense will constantly query information from your operational databases, and feed it into your dashboard widgets. This occurs every time a user loads a dashboard. For ElastiCubes, Sisense highly stresses your operational databases during an ETL process while reading all tables. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: Does the analytical system stress my operational database(s)? Can the query load be avoided by using a "database replica"? Operational Database Availability Your operational database(s) availability is critical for collecting information for your analytical system. For Live models, all queries are redirected to your data sources. If the data source is not available, widgets will generate errors and not present any data. For ElastiCubes, data source availability is critical during the ETL process. If the data source is not available, the data in your widgets will always be available, but not necessarily be up to date. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: How frequently are analytical data sources offline? How critical is my analytical system? Is being offline (showing out-of-date information) acceptable? Additional Vendor Costs Various database vendors use a chargeback charging model, meaning that you will be charged by the amount of data you pull from the database or the computational power required to process your data. For Live models, every time a user loads a dashboard, each widget will trigger (at least) one database query. A combination of a chargeback charging model and a large user load may result in high costs. For ElastiCubes, every time the user triggers an ETL process, a large amount of data is queried from the database and loaded into Sisense. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: What is the number of users using my dashboards / What is my "build" frequency? Which data model will result in lower costs? What is the tipping point? Are you willing to pay more for real-time data? Database Size For ElastiCubes, please refer to these documents: Introducing ElastiCubes Minimum Requirements for Sisense in Linux Environments For Live models, there is no limitation as data is not imported to Sisense, only the data's schema. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: What is the amount of data I need in my data model? What is the amount of history I need to store? Can I reduce the amount of data (e.g., trimming historical data? reducing the number of columns? etc.) Query Performance Query performance depends on the underlying work required to fetch data and process it. Although every widget generates a query, the underlying data model will determine the work necessary to execute it. For ElastiCubes, every query is handled inside Sisense: The client-side widget sends a JAQL query to the Sisense analytical system. The query Is translated into SQL syntax, and run against an internal database. The query result is transformed back to JAQL syntax and returned to the client-side. For Live models, every query is forwarded to an external database and then processed internally: The client-side widget sends a JAQL query to the Sisense analytical system. The query Is translated into SQL syntax, and run against an external database. Sisense waits for the query to execute. Once returned, the query result is transformed back into JAQL syntax and returned to the client-side. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: How sensitive is the client to a delay in the query's result? When showing real-time data, is this extra latency acceptable? Connector Availability Sisense supports hundreds of data connectors (see Data Connectors). However, not all connectors are available for live data models. The reasoning behind this has to do with the connector's performance. A "slow connector" or one that requires a significant amount of processing may lead to a bad user experience when using Live models (that is, widgets take a long time to load): For ElastiCubes, Sisense allows the user to utilize all the data connectors. For Live models, Sisense limits the number of data connectors to a few high-performing ones (including most data warehouses and high-performing databases). To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: Does my data source's connector support both data model types? Should I consider moving my data to a different data source to allow live connectivity? Caching Optimization Sisense optimizes performance by caching query results. In other words, query results are stored in memory for easier retrieval, in case they are re-executed. This ability provides a great benefit and improves the end-user experience: For ElastiCubes, Sisense recycles (caches) query results. For Live models, Sisense performs minimal caching to make sure data is near real-time. (Note that caching can be turned off upon request.) To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: Do I want to leverage Sienese's query caching? How long do I want to cache data? Dashboard Design Limitations Specific formulas (such as Mode and Standard Deviation) and widget types (such as Box plots or Whisker plots) may result in "heavy" database queries: For Live models, Sisense limits the use of these functions and visualizations as the results of these formulas and visualizations may take a long time, causing a bad user experience. For ElastiCubes, Sisense allows the user to use them, as processing them is internal to Sisense. To make a choice based on this factor, answer the following questions: Do I need these functions and visualizations? Can I pre-aggregate the data and move these calculations to the data source instead of Sisense? See also Choosing a Data Strategy for Embedded Self-Service.Blox - Multi-Select Dropdown List Filter
Blox - Multi-Select Dropdown List Filter This article will take you step by step on how to create a multi-select dropdown filter using Blox and JavaScript. ElastiCube: 1. For each field you want to use in multi-select filter, you need to add a custom column. For instance, in our Sample ECommerce ElastiCube, add a custom column to the "Category" table: For Sisense on Windows add the below string in order to create the column: '<li><input type="checkbox" />'+[Category].[Category]+'</li>' For Sisense on Linux: '<li><input type=checkbox>'+[Category].[Category] + '</li>' 2. Change its name to [CategoryHTML]. 3. Do the same for the column [Country] from the table [Country] and name it [CountryHTML]. 3. Perform the 'Changes Only' build. Dashboard: 1. Download the dashboard attached and import it to your application. 2. Create a custom action in BloX and name it MultiBoxSelection: 3. Add the action's code below: var outputFilters = []; var widgetid = payload.widget.oid; var widgetElement = $('[widgetid="' + widgetid + '"]'); widgetElement.find($('blox input:checked')).parent().each(function () { var values = $('.fillmeup').attr('value') + $(this).text(); $('.fillmeup').attr('value', values); }).each((i, lmnt) => { outputFilters.push($(lmnt).text()); }) payload.widget.dashboard.filters.update( { 'jaql': { 'dim': payload.data.dim, 'title': payload.data.title, 'filter': { 'members': outputFilters }, 'datatype': 'text' } }, { 'save': true, 'refresh': true } ) 4. Action's snippet: { "type": "MultiBoxSelection", "title": "Apply", "data": { "dim": "FilterDimension", "title": "FilterTitle" } } 5. Add the widget's script. For each widget you need to change identifiers [CategoryList] and [CategoryItems] - these identifiers should be unique per each widget on a page: widget.on('ready', function() { var checkList = document.getElementById('CategoryList'); var items = document.getElementById('CategoryItems'); checkList.getElementsByClassName('anchor')[0].onclick = function(evt) { if (items.classList.contains('visible')) { items.classList.remove('visible'); items.style.display = "none"; } else { items.classList.add('visible'); items.style.display = "block"; } } items.onblur = function(evt) { items.classList.remove('visible'); } }); widget.on('processresult', function(a, b) { b.result.slice(1, b.result.length).forEach(function(i) { b.result[0][0].Text = b.result[0][0].Text + ' ' + i[0].Text }) }); These identifiers should be the same as you have in the widget in the value of [text]: { "type": "TextBlock", "spacing": "large", "id": "", "class": "", "text": "<div id='CategoryList' class='dropdown-check-list' tabindex='100'> <span class='anchor'>Select Category</span> <ul id='CategoryItems' class='items'>{panel:CategoryHTML}</ul> </div>" } 5. Click Apply on the widget and refresh the dashboard. Important Notes: Make sure you have the Category in the items (The new column was created) and name the Item "Category". Make sure you have a Category Filter (The actual category field and name it "Category") on the dashboard level. Make sure to replace the field and table names with the relevant field/table in the Action, in the editor of the Blox widget in the Blox items and in the dashboard filter. Disclaimer: Please note that this blog post contains one possible custom workaround solution for users with similar use cases. We cannot guarantee that the custom code solution described in this post will work in every scenario or with every Sisense software version. As such, we strongly advise users to test solutions in their environment prior to deploying them to ensure that the solutions proffered function as desired in their environment. For the avoidance of doubt, the content of this blog post is provided to you "as-is" and without warranty of any kind, express, implied, or otherwise, including without limitation any warranty of security and or fitness for a particular purpose. The workaround solution described in this post incorporates custom coding, which is outside the Sisense product development environment and is, therefore, not covered by Sisense warranty and support services.Redirect users to different dashboards based on dashboard filters
This article discusses and shares the full code of a dashboard script that redirects users to a different dashboard ID based on the user's filter selections or initial loaded filter state. In the particular example shared in this article, the script checks whether the selected date filter (either from a members filter or a from/to filter range) includes an earlier date than the earliest date in the current dashboard's datasource. If this is the case, the script redirects the user to a specified alternate dashboard, preserving any additional URL segments and query parameters in the URL. Any other type of filter state can also be used to determine on when the script should redirect, including non-date filters using similar scripts.
Builds fail because libraries used in Custom Code tables are not installed
Use case You have specific libraries in Notebooks that have to be installed to run Custom code tables. However, these libraries can be uninstalled automatically (during upgrade or other system changes). Solution Add the following Python code into the first cell of each Custom Table Notebook to check if necessary libraries exist and install them if not, before executing the code: Adjust 'libraries' values to the libraries you need to check. import importlib import pandas as pd # List the libraries you want to check libraries = ['numpy', 'pandas', 'matplotlib', 'openpyxl', 'scipy', 'pyarrow'] # Initialize an empty list to store results results = [] for library in libraries: lib_found = importlib.util.find_spec(library) if lib_found is not None: results.append({"library": library, "status": "Previously Installed"}) else: results.append({"library": library, "status": "Newly Installed"}) print(f"{library} NOT FOUND. Installing now...") !pip install {library} Related Content: Sisense Docs: https://docs.sisense.com/main/SisenseLinux/transforming-data-with-custom-code.htm Sisense Academy: https://academy.sisense.com/notebooks-course
