Setting up SuperTables with Data Service

This guide lets you get started with SuperTables with server side processing for large data sets.

SuperTables primarily relies on the Tableau Extensions API to retrieve summary data. As a result, most processing occurs on the client side, and all data is loaded at once. To address performance limitations with large datasets, we are introducing a new approach that leverages server-side processing. This significantly reduces client-side load and improves scalability. To use this feature, users must be on SuperTables version 6.x.x or later and WriteBackExtreme version 6.x.x or later.

Setting up a data source.

These steps require you to create a semantic model in the WriteBackExtreme environment. You can follow this guide here to create a semantic model in WriteBackExtreme Semantic modeling

In the general tab, select External Data Service and then click on the Configure button to log into WriteBack Extreme, and connect to a data source.

Please contact your WriteBackExtreme administrator for the login URL and credentials.

Connecting to a Data Source

In this step, you can connect to a semantic model created in WriteBackExtreme. Click on the dropdown below, select the data source to connect to a Data Source.

Once a data source is connected, a list of all available columns is displayed. When the data source loads for the first time, all columns are disabled by default. Users can select only the columns they require, and this selection can be modified at any time from the Columns sidebar.

For very large datasets, loading all columns at once can negatively impact performance, so selecting only the necessary columns is recommended.

Auto aggregation

SuperTables with Data Service also support dynamic aggregation based on the visible columns in the table. This is a processing-intensive but very useful feature. When enabled, the data is aggregated based on the currently visible columns.

For example, if only Category and Sales are visible, the table displays unique categories with the sum of sales. If Category, Region, and Sales are visible, the table shows sales aggregated by category per region.

When this option is disabled, non-aggregated data is passed directly from the database to the grid.