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Tableau | Data visualisation | Tool strategy

User Attribute Functions (UAFs) | New in Tableau 2023.1

User attribute functions make it far easier to pass dynamic identity information into embedded Tableau workbooks.

Tim Ngwena •23 March 2023 •2 min read •6 min watch •5.9K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2023.1

User functions check identity attributes from Tableau Server or Cloud, including full name, user domain, username and group membership via ISMEMBEROF.
You can impersonate other users by clicking your name in the top-right of a workbook to simulate how a dashboard behaves for different identities.
User attribute functions let connected apps and embedded solutions pass dynamic attributes (like an application-specific team) that don't need to exist as Tableau groups.
USERATTRIBUTE checks a single attribute, while USERATTRIBUTEINCLUDES searches an array of attributes for a match.
You can embed user functions directly into dashboard titles via the Insert tab to personalise text for the logged-in user.

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.

5:55[BLANK_AUDIO]

Tableau 23.1 introduces new user attribute functions, which enhance the capabilities of the platform, making it even easier to pass information to connected apps and embedded solutions. This blog post will provide a clear explanation of user functions, user attribute functions, and how they can be used in Tableau.

Tableau User Functions Refresher

User functions in Tableau are calculations that check against specific attributes available on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud. These functions are useful for checking user attributes like full name, domain, and username. Additionally, you can check if a user is a member of a specific group. Tableau allows you to simulate dashboards as different users, making it easy to test how user functions work with different users.

Tableau User Attribute Functions

The new user attribute functions in Tableau 23.1 make it simpler to pass information from an application or portal to a Tableau workbook. These functions check attributes that can be dynamically used inside a workbook. User attributes can be used to verify if a user is part of a specific team, for example, portal administrators who manage a portal but are not associated with Tableau Server.

Two new functions are introduced: user attribute and user attribute matches. The former checks to see if you have an attribute, while the latter looks through an array of attributes to see if one of them matches. This allows you to pass multiple bits of information using the user attribute matches function.

User functions and user attribute functions are powerful tools in Tableau that can be used to customize dashboards, titles, and more based on user-specific attributes. Leveraging these functions can help create more personalized and dynamic experiences for users interacting with Tableau dashboards. Make sure to check out Tableau’s YouTube channel for a detailed example of user attribute functions in action.