Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server

Connect Tableau Desktop or Tableau Server / Cloud to Delta Forge through the ODBC driver via the Other Databases (ODBC) connection.

Syntax

More... > Other Databases (ODBC) > DeltaForge

Description

## Connect through Other Databases (ODBC) Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server reach Delta Forge through the generic ODBC entry point. A dedicated Tableau connector (`.taco`) is under development and will be the recommended path once it ships. 1. Install the Delta Forge ODBC Driver. On macOS, ensure the driver registers with iODBC; Tableau Desktop on macOS uses iODBC, not unixODBC. 2. Create a DSN named `DeltaForge`. 3. In Tableau, choose **More...** -> **Other Databases (ODBC)**. 4. Pick `DeltaForge` from the DSN dropdown -> **Connect**. 5. Tableau will probe the driver: it issues a series of `SQLGetInfo` and `SQLGetTypeInfo` calls (~80 round trips) to learn the dialect. The first connection per Tableau session is therefore noticeably slower than subsequent ones. 6. Drag a table to the canvas, switch to the **Sheet** tab, build the viz. ## Initial SQL The **Initial SQL** box on the data source page lets you set session state once on connect: default zone, default schema, session-level configs. The driver runs the supplied statements before Tableau issues its first query. ## Live vs. Extract - **Live**: every operation in Tableau hits Delta Forge. Use for drill-down on small dimensional tables, or when freshness matters. - **Extract**: Tableau copies a result set into its own .hyper file. Use for dashboards published to Tableau Server / Cloud where re-running every query against Delta Forge is wasteful. Extracts are refreshed by Tableau Server on a schedule. The driver runs unchanged on the server host; install it on the Tableau Server machine the same way as on Desktop. ## Custom SQL Pasting a query into the **New Custom SQL** dialog produces a single shaped table that Tableau treats as the data source. Useful when joining server-side is far cheaper than dragging multiple tables onto the canvas.

Examples

# Generic ODBC route
DSN=DeltaForge;Uid=alice@example.com;Pwd=hunter2

Pitfalls

• Tableau on macOS uses iODBC. If the driver was installed via a unixODBC-only Homebrew flow, Tableau will not see it. Use the `.pkg` installer (it registers with iODBC) or register the driver in `~/Library/ODBC/odbcinst.ini` manually.
• Tableau probes `SQLGetInfo` aggressively on first connect; the round-trip count produces a multi-second delay against a high-latency network. Once the connection is established, subsequent queries are fast.
• Tableau Server runs as a service account. If credentials are kept in the user keychain, the service cannot read them. Either set `Pwd=` on the data source on the server, or store the credential under the service account's keychain.

See Also

• ODBC_INSTALL_MACOS
• ODBC_INSTALL_WINDOWS
• ODBC_BI_POWER_BI
• ODBC_TS_DIAG_CHAIN