I was trying out the examples for the data connector, but I am getting the following error message from the JSON connector: "Uncaught Looks like the WDC is calling a tableau function before tableau.init() has been called."

Any advice to what I can do to fix this? I am running the lightweight Python web server, and I got the base Simulator.html to work, but may have missed something I needed to do for the JSON example.

Hey Jack,

That error is a bit unclear as it shows up in a number of different situations.  Are you using the latest version of the sample and the WDC SDK? The latest version of the SDK is hosted here (https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/tableauwdc-1.1.0.js).

We also have a hosted version of the JSON connector, could you give that a try and see if you still have issues? The hosted version is found here: json Connector

You can just point the WDC browser in Tableau to that location.

- Brendan

Hey Brendan,

Thanks for the reply! Your last comment was actually the tip-off that I was using the connector completely wrong. I thought I could test the connector by itself (http://localhost:8888/Examples/jsonConnector.html), instead of putting it into the simulator: http://localhost:8888/Simulator.html?src=Examples/jsonConnector.html. Works like a charm now that I'm using it correctly!

Thanks,

Jack

Hi Nicolas,

I am trying to use the JSON data connector to import data from the ROARMAP respository (http://roarmap.eprints.org/), of which I am an admin.  When I export the data from the search function and try to send the JSON URL link (http://roarmap.eprints.org/cgi/search/archive/advanced/export_roarmap_JSON.js?screen=Search&dataset=archive&_action_expo…) through the Web Data Connector in Tableau Public it takes a long time to process the request and then I get the following error message:

An error occurred while communicating with the data source.  Unable to connect to the server.  Check that the server is running and that you have access privileges to the requested database.

• Could not load url: http://roarmap.eprints.org/cgi/search/archive/advanced/export_roarmap_JSON.js?screen=Search&dataset=archive&_action_export=1&output=JSON&exp=0%7C1%7Cpolicymaker_name%7Carchive%7C-%7Cdeposit_of_item%3Adeposit_of_item%3AANY%3AEQ%3Arequired+requested+not_specified%7C-%7Ceprint_status%3Aeprint_status%3AANY%3AEQ%3Aarchive%7Cmetadata_visibility%3Ametadata_visibility%3AANY%3AEQ%3Ashow&n=&cache=18258

• The table "[TableauTemp].[webdata.42317.956567546295]" does not exist.

The data seems to go in okay when just copied and pasted but would make my life a lot easier if I could use the URL instead.  Any idea what the problem might be? 

Any help gratefully received.

Kind regards,

Meg

Hi Nicolas,

Thank you so much for the reply.  A friend helped me out by creating a new connector and swapping in the code you supplied, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for us.  Tableau just responds with an endless 'Loading Metadata' screen.  Here is our version:  http://destruction.addedreality.net/jsonconnector.html

Any advice?

Kindest regards,

Meg

I am probably making a rookie mistake, but when i use the JSON connector, copying/pasting my JSON code into the box parses the data into columns just fine. When i enter the URL for the API into the connector, the query results are being parsed into a single data column. Any advice?

https://tableau.github.io/webdataconnector/Examples/jsonConnector.html

Sorry for replying multiple times, but I'm hoping someone may see my latest post

Any hints as to what may be happening? Thanks in advance!!

Hello,

I could use some help here. I created a JSON web data connector and tested it out in the simulator and it works fine. When I tried to connect to it via Tableau Desktop I get the following errors:

The URL points to a website, not a web data connector -- a web page with code to get data from a website.

and

An error occurred while communicating with the data source.

Tableau does not recognize the version of the web data connector API.

 

The version of Tableau you are using cannot use the web data connector that you are trying to access. The connector requires at least version '1.1.1' of the web data connector API.

My WDC is loading 1.1.1:

<script src="https://connectors.tableau.com/libs/tableauwdc-1.1.1.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

and I am using Tableau Desktion 9.2.

How do I resolve this issue?

Hey Justin,

This was a bug that we fixed in a maintenance patch of Tableau Desktop.  I believe this was fixed in 9.2.4, but I would recommend just updating to the latest version possible.

Let me know if that doesn't solve your problem.

-Brendan

Hey,

I'm a newbie in topic of WDC. I was trying to play with this connector a little bit but I am constantly getting 'unable to parse json' error in Tableau. Could you give me a hint on how should I create my JSON to get it working? From what I've understood from connector source code I should use schema like this:

{

     'headers': {

          'foo': 'int',

          'bar': 'int'

     },

     'rowData':[

          {'foo': '1', 'bar': '1'},

          {'foo': '2', 'bar': '3'}

     ]

}

could you give me a hint on how to change this schema to work?

Kate,

Can you confirm that your JSON connector is defining the getColumnsHeaders function appropriately?

https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/api/wdc/en-us/help.htm#WDC/wdc_ref.htm#connector_functions

Hey Tomasz,

The example you pasted isn't valid JSON.  You can use a tool like this one to check: https://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/

Try this:

{

     "headers": {

          "foo": "int",

          "bar": "int"

     },

     "rowData":[

          {"foo": 1, "bar": 1},

          {"foo": 2, "bar": 3}

     ]

}

Keep in mind this connector is meant to serve merely as a developer sample for the API.  It is not extremely robust and may not work in every scenario.

-Brendan

Hello, Brendan:

I have gathered that a format like below, is sufficient for the Tableau JSON Sample Connector's target URL.  Even thought it does not resemble @Tomasz' format, I'm told it should work.  BTW, I DID try changing to Tomasz' format.

[ { 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', … } , { 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', … } , { 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', … } , { 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', 'header' : 'value', … } ]

My RESTful service produces data exactly as below (including the data field name/value).  A point I would like to stress, is that this works if I take the text and simply paste it into the text area.  But if I try and relay it using the URL box, it does not work.  It gives me some sort of parse error.

Should data as below, work?  If it is supposed to work, then could this be some kind of connectivity problem with my server?  After all, I can pull back the results from a browser window.

{

  "data": [

    {

      "action": "111:224:75.2,42.67,19.96:116.000,77.000,21.000",

      "category": "something:else",

      "event_time": "2016-03-14 11:31:19.0",

      "id": 22492772246225,

      "session_id": 82492739740998,

      "tool_name": "Hammer",

      "user_login": "alvinc",

      "delta_seconds": 3

    },

    {

      "action": "111:224:75.2,42.67,19.96:116.000,77.000,21.000",

      "category": "something:else",

      "event_time": "2016-03-14 11:34:06.0",

      "id": 2.2492779248448e+18,

      "session_id": 22492739740998,

      "tool_name": "Hammer",

      "user_login": "alvinc",

      "delta_seconds": 2

    }

  ]

}