User Attribute Functions (UAFs) | New in Tableau 2023.1

0:00In 23.1 Tableau have added some new user

0:03function called user attribute functions.

0:06Let me explain what those are and let's do

0:08a little refresher on user functions.

0:10Let's get stuck in.

0:11Okay, so for this I'm going to start out in

0:12Tableau just to do a quick refresher on

0:15what user functions are.

0:17You can see here I have a folder called

0:19user functions.

0:20It's got a few attributes that are specific

0:21to me and all a user function does is it

0:25essentially,

0:26it's a group of functions essentially

0:27calculations.

0:28You can actually get to them here in the

0:29interface just by going down to this list

0:32that says users.

0:33And it checks against specific attributes

0:35that are available on Tableau server or

0:38Tableau cloud.

0:39And you can essentially check those

0:40attributes to check a couple of things.

0:42The simplest ones are just available right

0:44here so you can see them working.

0:46Just to sort of save some time, I've set up

0:48some calculations already that show you

0:49this.

0:50So for example, I can ask what the full

0:52name of a specific user is and if I drag

0:55this into the view,

0:57you'll see that it will say that my full

0:58name is indeed Tim Nagwennet.

1:00That's my actual full name. Perfect.

1:02If we replace that with the user domain,

1:05let's go ahead and replace that.

1:06You'll see that it says external because

1:07essentially I'm set up here on Tableau

1:09cloud

1:10and so my user domain is technically

1:12external.

1:13So that's fine.

1:14Let's try my username. Let's go put my

1:15username onto that and here I'm using my

1:18email address

1:19so it's pulling up my email address as my

1:21username.

1:22So all these functions are doing is

1:23checking specific attributes related to my

1:26identity.

1:27The last one that I'll show you here is a

1:28very simple one.

1:30It's just called is member of.

1:32What you can essentially do is you can

1:34check if a user is a member of a specific

1:36group.

1:37This group is called test.

1:38Just so you're absolutely clear what a

1:40group is, here on Tableau cloud, I have the

1:43groups set up.

1:45The groups are only visible to site admins

1:47and server administrators, essentially.

1:49So you have to be quite elevated in terms

1:51of access to see and manage these groups.

1:54But if you're in the group and you know

1:56what the group is, here you can see that I

1:58'm part of the test group.

2:00And so all I've done in my calculation is

2:02check to see if I'm a member of the test

2:04group.

2:05Well, how do you know who someone is?

2:07Well, if you didn't know this is a little

2:08trick in Tableau.

2:10Not many people know this.

2:12If I close this over here, this like

2:14literally this took me like a couple of

2:16years to learn.

2:17Over here, you'll see your name.

2:19A lot of people think that this just comes

2:20from the computer or something.

2:22Actually, what this allows you to do is

2:24simulate the dashboard you're looking at

2:27specifically as a specific user.

2:29So if I go ahead and change this to this

2:31other user, you'll see my email changed.

2:34So I can actually switch and impersonate

2:35different users.

2:37And now, if I go check the is member of

2:39group test, you'll see this user is not

2:42part of the group.

2:43So let's go ahead and drop that in.

2:44And you'll see it says false.

2:46So as I switch the users around, as I

2:48simulate these users around, let's just go

2:50down here and switch it again.

2:52You can see that that's flipping around.

2:54So that is all user functions are doing.

2:56So then that leads us to ask the question,

2:58what are user attribute functions?

3:00Well, this is very specific because what

3:03Tableau seem to be doing here is making it

3:06even easier to use connected apps and

3:08certain applications,

3:09especially in embedded solutions to make it

3:12easier to pass information that can then be

3:15dynamically used inside of a workbook.

3:18And so let me just sort of paint the flow

3:19for you.

3:20Let's say you're building an application.

3:22Let's say you're building a portal.

3:24And what you'd like to do is inside of your

3:26workbook, you'd like to check if a user is

3:28a member of a specific team.

3:31And that team might not be something that's

3:33been set up as a group inside of Tableau

3:35server or Tableau cloud.

3:37Instead, it's a group that's specific to

3:39the application.

3:41So the application might be, for example,

3:43portal administrators.

3:45So these are administrators that look after

3:47a portal that aren't anything to do with

3:49Tableau server.

3:50What you can do with the new setup and new

3:52capabilities with Tableau over the last

3:54year is you can use a bunch of attributes.

3:57Essentially, you can add information to the

3:59way that you authenticate to Tableau that

4:01has attributes.

4:03And what these two new functions do, the

4:05user attribute matches and user attributes,

4:09is they check those capabilities.

4:10They check those specific attributes. It's

4:12sort of like a little variable.

4:15It's a bit like me logging into a system

4:16saying, "Hey, am I a portal administrator?"

4:18Yes or no.

4:19That is an attribute. And so that's what

4:21Tableau is able to check with this new

4:23function.

4:25And the difference between these two is

4:27that user attributes simply checks to see

4:29if you have an attribute.

4:31And user attribute matches can actually

4:33look through an array of attributes to see

4:36if one of those attributes matches.

4:38So you can pass multiple bits of

4:39information with the user attribute matches

4:42, and user attribute just checks one

4:44specific one.

4:45So I don't have an example here, but what I

4:46've done is I've put up a video so you can

4:49hopefully see the example that Tableau have

4:51on their own YouTube channel.

4:53You can just go ahead and see how that's

4:54working.

4:55Actually, they've modeled an example that

4:57checks to see if someone is part of a

4:59specific team, and the dashboard

5:01consequently changes what they can see

5:03inside of the workbook.

5:04So that's a super cool capability.

5:05So I just wanted to do a very sort of

5:06hopefully simple and clear explanation of

5:09what user attribute functions are.

5:12I think user functions in general are

5:13actually super powerful. I don't think they

5:15're used enough.

5:17And they're actually quite pervasive

5:18throughout the product.

5:19If I go to something like a dashboard, one

5:21of the things sometimes you can do is you

5:24can even go into the title here.

5:27And if you go to the Insert tab, you can

5:29see that sometimes you're actually able to

5:31pull through a user's name.

5:33So you could say Sales and Profit by

5:35Customer 4, and you can pull in a user

5:38function fill.

5:40And you can say for Tim Neguena, and you'll

5:41see that it customizes the title with my

5:43specific user function.

5:45So super cool feature.

5:47We started to see a bit of this being used

5:48in Tableau Public, but you can actually use

5:50it inside of the dashboards that you build

5:52every day.

5:53Thanks for watching. I'll catch you in the

5:54next video.

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