Data Portal

Configuration instructions

1. Looker admins can configure portal using the "Configure Portal" link
2. If the extension can't find a list of boards to use, it will default to the first available board
3. The list of boards is stored in the portal_board user attribute (i.e. this can be set by user and group)

TODOs

• Support for explores
• Complete and test packaging for Marketplace

Looker Extension using React & JavaScript

The Data Portal uses React and JavaScript, the React Extension SDK for interacting with Looker, and Webpack for building the code.

Getting Started for Development

1. Clone or download a copy of this template to your development machine

2. Navigate (cd) to the template directory on your system

3. Install the dependencies with Yarn.

   yarn install
   

   You may need to update your Node version or use a Node version manager to change your Node version.

4. Start the development server

   yarn start
   

   Great! Your extension is now running and serving the JavaScript at http://localhost:8080/bundle.js. NOTE: this is being served from memory, and you won't see the bundle.js file just by browsing the localhost:8080 file structure. Complete the rest of the instructions so that Looker loads the extension for you to see.

   Note well: The webpack development server also supports https. To use, add the parameter --https to the start command "start": "webpack-dev-server --hot --disable-host-check --https" Should you decide to use https, you should visit the bundle URL you are running as there will likely be a certificate warning. The development server runs with a self-signed SSL certificate, so you will need to accept this to allow your browser to connect to it.

   The default yarn start command runs with hot module replacement working. Some changes will cause a full reload of the extension iframe. When this happens the extension framework connection will break. You should see an error. You will need to do a full page reload of the outer page.

5. Now log in to Looker and create a new project.

   This is found under Develop => Manage LookML Projects => New LookML Project.

   You'll want to select "Blank Project" as your "Starting Point". You'll now have a new project with no files.

6. In your copy of the extension tablet you have manifest.lkml file.

   You can either drag & upload this file into your Looker project, or create your own manifest file (e.g. to change the extension name).

7. Update the data-portal.model.lkml file in your project:

   • Add a connection parameter to this model. It can be any connection, it doesn't matter which.
   • Configure the model you created so that it has access to the connection.

8. Connect your new project to Git. You can do this multiple ways:

   • Create a new repository on GitHub or a similar service, and follow the instructions to connect your project to Git
   • A simpler but less powerful approach is to set up git with the "Bare" repository option which does not require connecting to an external Git Service.

9. Commit your changes and deploy your them to production through the Projects page UI.

10. Reload the page and click the Browse dropdown menu. You should see your extension in the list.

    • The extension will load the JavaScript from the url you provided in the application definition/
    • Reloading the extension page will bring in any new code changes from the extension template. (Webpack's hot reloading is not currently supported.)

Deployment

The process above requires your local development server to be running to load the extension code. To allow other people to use the extension, we can build the JavaScript file and include it in the project directly.

1. In your extension project directory on your development machine you can build the extension with yarn build.
2. Drag and drop the generated dist/data-portal.js file into the Looker project interface
3. Modify your manifest.lkml to use file instead of url:

   application: data-portal {
     label: "Data Portal"
     file: "data-portal.js"
   }