[FEATURE] Access Tableau version from connection-builder.js

[juliuszsompolski]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

We would like to access Tableau version in connection-builder.js, to be able to pass it as part of the connection string to the ODBC driver.

Describe the solution you'd like

We would like to have Tableau version available as a string constant that can be used in the JS files implementing the connector.

Describe alternatives you've considered

About You Name: Juliusz Sompolski Company: Databricks

[pvanderknyff]

Thanks for opening this Juliusz. Tracking this story internally, will update this issue if there is any news.

[sidwray]

tfs 1079045

[alismess-db]

We also would like to put the deployment type (Desktop/Server/Online) in the user agent.

[VasanthiNeelagiri]

Hi Julius & Ali, Thanks for letting us know. I am a new PM at Tableau, leading the SDK Efforts. We are trying to prioritize this feature and I would love to get some more context around this. Could you tell a little bit more about why you would like to see the Version/Deployment type? What benefits would this do to your Connector? Any business critical advantages? Please let me know so this can help us in prioritizing for the next release.

[juliuszsompolski]

Hi @VasanthiNeelagiri , nice too meet you.

We are currently passing "Tableau" in the connection User-Agent, so that our server-side knows that the connection is coming from Tableau. We would like to augment that to be able to distinguish Desktop/Server/Online, and the version.

Two use cases that I come to my mind out the top of the my head:

• Our users when using SQL History in Databricks would like to identify where a particular connection is coming from. Right now we can show that it's coming from "Tableau" based on the user agent, but our users are interested in e.g. searching which queries came from their ad-hoc interactive Tableau Desktop use, vs. the queries corresponding to e.g. their scheduled Tableau Server exports. It could even be extended to add extra user-defined tags to it...
• Bugs, issues or compatibility issues sometimes happen. We do test a combination of Tableau versions, ODBC driver versions and Databricks Runtime versions. Sometimes we find a particular quirky problem or regression with a specific version combination. Since we control the deployment of Databricks Runtime, it is the quickest for us to react by deploying a server side fix that activates based on the version combination.

[VasanthiNeelagiri]

Thanks Julius. Getting this prioritized. I would also appreciate if you can give your feedback for our product via this form. It should only take 2-5 mins but would be super valuable to our team. Thanks in advance!! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfs5OreNsxnva_uTO2vTxnoF-oq-37tEdrUpirUKwqud2Ib7g/viewform?usp=sf_link

[kaklakariada]

Hi @VasanthiNeelagiri, I am working at @exasol and we are interested in this feature for the same reasons as @juliuszsompolski for the Exasol JDBC connector.