In 2013, Tableau introduced R Integration, the ability to call R scripts in calculated fields. This opened up possibilities such as K-means clustering, Random Forest models, and sentiment analysis. With the release of Tableau 10.2, we can enjoy a new, fancy addition to this feature: the Python Integration through TabPy, the Tableau Python Server.
Python in Tableau: The Perfect Blend
Python is a widely used general-purpose programming language, popular among academia and industry alike. It provides a wide variety of statistical and machine-learning techniques and is highly extensible. Together, Python and Tableau are the data science dream team to cover any organization’s data analysis needs.
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Buy on Amazon Learn MoreIn this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through the installation and connecting Tableau with TabPy. I will also give you an example of calling a Python function from Tableau to calculate correlation coefficients for a trellis chart.
Step by Step: Integrating Python in Tableau
1. Install and start Python and TabPy
Start by clicking on the Clone or download button in the upper right corner of the TabPy repository page, downloading the zip file, and extracting it.
Protip: If you are familiar with Git, you can download TabPy directly from the repository:
> git clone git://github.com/tableau/TabPy
Within the TabPy directory, execute setup.sh
(or setup.bat
if you are on Windows). This script downloads and installs Python, TabPy, and all necessary dependencies. After completion, TabPy is starting up and listens on port 9004.
2. Connecting Tableau to TabPy
In Tableau 10.2 (and later versions), a connection to TabPy can be added in Help > Settings and Performance > Manage External Service Connection:
Set port to 9004:
3. Adding Python code to a Calculated Field
You can invoke Calculated Field functions called SCRIPT_STR, SCRIPT_REAL, SCRIPT_BOOL, and SCRIPT_INT to embed your Python script in Tableau:
4. Use Calculated Field in Tableau
Now you can use your Python calculation as Calculated Field in your Tableau worksheet:
Feel free to download the Tableau Packaged Workbook (twbx) here.
Further Reading: Visual Analytics with Tableau
Join the data science conversation and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more tips, tricks, and tutorials on Python in Tableau and other data analytics topics. If you’re looking to master Tableau, don’t forget to preorder your copy of my upcoming book, Visual Analytics with Tableau (Amazon). It offers an in-depth exploration of data visualization techniques and best practices.
Also, feel free to comment and share my TabPy Tutorial tweet:
Blog post updates:
- Translated to Japanese by Tomohiro Iwahashi: Tableau + Python 連携 (Tabpy) を使ってみよう!
- A German translation of this post is published on the official Tableau blog: TabPy Tutorial: Integration von Python mit Tableau für Advanced Analytics