Knowledge Base

How to use the BI Connector with Tableau Desktop

This article describes how to use the BI Connector integration with Tableau Desktop.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you are running Neo4j server 3.5.x or 4.x, and have installed at least version 3.5.0.9 or 4.0.0.4 of the APOC library respectively.

Install BI Connector on Tableau Desktop

The first step is to ensure the JAR file has been installed on Tableau Desktop as the data source must be published from Desktop to Server. Install the plugin by dropping the JDBC JAR file in to the appropriate driver directory depending on the platform:

Windows: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
Mac: ~/Library/Tableau/Drivers
Linux: /opt/tableau/tableau_driver/jdbc

Create datasource to connect to a Neo4j instance

Using Tableau’s "Other JDBC Connection" option, you need to create a datasource connected to a Neo4j instance using the appropriate JDBC connection string. For example:

jdbc:neo4j://10.0.0.50:7687

Enter the appropriate credentials in to the connection dialog and you should be able to connect.

Datasource

Query for some data

Once connected, select the appropriate database on the left side of the screen, following by the appropriate schema ("Node" or "Relationship"). This should present a set of found tables. You can drag these tables to create join queries to pull data from Neo4j.

Workbook

Additional Options

The driver provides for a number of additional options. See the BI Connector user guide (packaged with the JAR file) for details.

Things to watch out for

For performance reasons ensure that the Neo4j server has adequate resources. The driver may "overfetch" data depending on the query, so adequate resources (especially memory) would make a noticeable impact.