A schema is the collection which contains everything about your use-case. The schema will contain information about the selected database, module, user groups and the configuration of the structure of the write-back table. Whenever you create a new schema you have to choose one of our modules first. Depending on the selected module the setup of your schema will be different.

Create a new schema

Below you will find the steps to create a new schema. In this example we create a schema with the DATA HELPER module. Click on the first image and a slideshow will show up. use your right arrow to see the next image, use your left arrow to see the previous image.

Below you see an animated gif that illustrates the entire process of creating a new schema. At the end of the animation it also shows how to edit an existing field, just by opening the schema, select the field you want to change and save your changes. The fields available to add to your form are listed below. 

Single Line Text
Paragraph Text
Number
Boolean (Yes/No)
Dropdown Select
Date/Datetime

Set Schema permissions

If you want your schema to be available for all users, you don’t have to set any permissions. If you want a selected group of users to enjoy the schema you set permissions on the schema. Below an animated gif on how to set permissions on a specific schema. If you want to learn how to create groups, click here.

Connections hold information about the connections to your databases. You only have to do this once for every database connection you would like to use for a WriteBack scenario. The username and password of a connection are stored safely and encrypted in our back-end.

A schema is connected to one of the available connections of the WriteBackExtreme module. You can have multiple schemas connected to one single connection. You can simply state that a connection is the authorized path to a database server and one database to store or edit write back information via the schemas within the available modules.

Read more about our supported databases in the ‘Supported Database’ section down below. You can also find more information about our database support in the road map section.

Create a new database connection

Below you will find the steps to create a new connection. In this example we create a connection to a MySQL database in the Gallery Demo of WriteBackExtreme. Click on the first image and a slideshow will show up. use your right arrow to see the next image, use your left arrow to see the previous image.

Below you see an animated GIF that illustrates the entire process of creating a new connection. You can also re-open a connection and change settings, although it is not recommended to change existing connections.

Whenever somebody opens a dashboard with the WriteBackExtreme extension inside, this user will automatically be authenticated and registered as a standard user in the Management Console of the Extension. If the user already exists in the Management Console and has access through a group to the schema, the extension will show. If the user does not exist or the group has no permissions on the schema that is used in the dashboard, the extension will throw an error.

Users are stored in the Management Console for several reasons. The WriteBackExtreme extension has a user-based license model. Therefore it is important to register every user which needs access to the extension. Secondly, by having the users in the Management Console, you can manage which users are able to use the schemas that are available by placing them in groups.

Rules:

• A user belongs to one or more groups
• Permissions are not set on a user basis but on a user group basis (except for the admin permissions)
• In order to use the extension a user must be registered in the Management Console
• Row Level Security can be set up on a user basis, based on which group they’re in

Create a new (admin) user

All users that interact with the extension will be automatically registered in the WriteBackExtreme Management Console. In the Management Console you can transform a regular user to an admin or vice versa. Below you will find the steps to create a new user. Click on the first image and a slideshow will show up. use your right arrow to see the next image, use your left arrow to see the previous image.

Below you see an animated GIF that illustrates the entire process of creating a new user. You can also edit user properties just by clicking on a user and adjust the properties.

Groups are sets of users who need the same type of access to content. We require that you organize users into groups. You can then set permissions at the group level, to apply a set of capabilities to all users in the group. When you want a new write-back user, just add them to the groups that give the access they need.

Rules:

• A group contains 1 or more users
• A group belongs to 1 or more schemas
• A group has a set of permissions

Create a new group

Below a demonstration of how to create a group in the WriteBackExtreme Management Console.

Connect with Tableau

Here is where you’ll be connecting with your Tableau environment. Connect and import all your users and user groups directly in to your WriteBackExtreme environment.

Tableau authentication

Connect to Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server

To connect to Tableau Server tick the ‘Use Tableau Server to Sync’ untick to connect to Tableau Cloud. Follows these steps for both connections, when connecting to Tableau Cloud you will need to choose the online region before entering details. 

Tableau Server connection

When using Tableau server we required the full URL of the Server. When changing this configuration will reset the connection information form. Enter the URL of your Tableau Server and below the Tableau API version.

Username & Password: Enter your Tableau credentials, make sure you are using an Tableau Server administrator account.

Tableau Token name and secret: Make sure you are using a PAT from a Tableau Server administrator account. To find more about how to get tokens visit: https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/security_personal_access_tokens.htm

Note: Personal Access Tokens will expire if they are not utilized for 15 consecutive days. If they are regularly used more frequently than every 15 days, an access token will expire after 1 year, and need to be replaced with a newly created one.

Test connection and connect

Once all details have been added you can then test the connection, hit the test button then connect to the site you wish to sync, then hit apply, then save. You have now successfully connected.

Sync Users and Groups

Now you’ve connected to your desired environment, sync the users and groups from your environment to WriteBackExtreme. You will see the list of the groups from your Tableau environment for you to choose the group(s) you wish to import. 

Schedule sync

You can use the command codes here to fully automate the synchronization of users and groups between Tableau and WriteBackExtreme. You can execute these commands on your server using Cron or Windows Task Scheduler. Note: Groups and users will not be deleted, only updated and/or created.

The command can be different per operating system. In general one of the commands will suffice. Sometimes it is necessary to add the full path to the ‘php’ or ‘php.exe’ (on Windows) executable. 

Your license is stored in the Enterprise Customer portal which is available for authorized users within your organization. To update your license you must

1. Login to the Enterprise Customer Portal
2. Select the menu option “Licenses”
3. Copy the WriteBackExtreme license to the clipboard by clicking the appropriate black button
4. Login to your WriteBackExtreme Management Console (backend)
5. Open the menu “Upgrade & License”
6. Click the button “Change License”, a popup window will be shown
7. Paste the License key you copied to the clipboard in step 3
8. Now press “Validate & Store” to apply the new license key for WriteBackExtreme
9. Check if your expected changes are applied to your WriteBackExtreme instance. If not start again at step 1
10. Log out of the WriteBackExtreme Management Console (backend) 

Below a screencast of the entire process. The screencast starts with the obtaining of the license via the Enterprise Customer portal. After obtaining the license (copied to the clipboard) in the Enterprise Customer portal it shows how to proceed after logging in to the Management Console of WriteBackExtreme.

OTAP support enables you to easily import/export schemas from test to production or from environment A to environment B. While using this all IDs and references will stay the same making it very easy to migrate your workbooks as well. Schemas can be migrated between different database drivers. Importing a schema will only import the schema structure, data is not migrated.