Using Connection Explorer

Arcadia Enterprise enables you to see existing data connections and all data tables accessible through them. In the Connection Explorer interface, users can create new connections to data sources, preview that data, create new datasets, navigate to these datasets, import supplemental data, and locate existing dashboards and visuals based on specific datasets.

This section describes the Connection Explorer interface. We provide further details in the following topics:

Navigating to the Connection Explorer Interface

  1. On the main navigation bar, click Data.

    Click DATA on main navigation bar

    The Data view appears, open on the Datasets tab.

    Main landing page of DATA
  2. In the main area, click the Connection Explorer tab.
  3. The Connection Explorer interface appears.

    Click the samples connection in left navigation (in this example, it is an Arcadia connection), and then select the samples database.

The Connection Explorer Interface

list of tables on connection explorer
Overview of the Connection Explorer Interface
  1. The New Connection button is for connecting to any source of data. See Connecting to Data.
  2. The New Dataset button is for creating datasets, which are necessary for developing dashboards and visuals. You can also use start a new dataset from a specified table. See Creating Datasets.
  3. For Arcadia and SQLite connections, the Add Data option enables you to introduce data that enriches your datasets, from outside sources. See Adding Data.
  4. For Arcadia and Impala connections, clicking the Refresh option refreshes table metadata by forcing a reload of the full table definition. Clicking Refresh for individual tables performs the action on that table only. See Refreshing Table Metadata.
  5. The Supplemental menu, under the (ellipsis) icon, opens new options.
  6. For Arcadia connections, the Create Analytical View option creates analytical views. See the discussion on Analytical Views.
  7. For Arcadia and Impala connections, clicking the Clear Result Cache option under the supplemental menu forces a reload of the full table definition. Clicking Refresh for individual tables performs the action on that table only. See Refreshing Table Metadata.
  8. Import Visual Artifacts option under the supplemental menu enables you to restore or import visual artifacts from a back-up *.json file.
  9. The Datasets tab lists all existing datasets on the connection. See Datasets.
  10. The Connection Explorer tab (current) enables you to manage all functions related to the data on the connection.
  11. The >_ Direct Access tab lets you access data on the connections directly, and build datasets from specific SQL queries, as opposed to starting with an existing table. See Using Direct Access.
  12. For Arcadia connections, the Analytical Views tab provides an overview of all analytical views on the chosen cluster, and their status. Notice that you can see the number of analytical views. See Analytical Views.
  13. The databases area of the screen shows all databases that you can access through the current connection. In our example, there are two: samples (selected) and geo. Selecting a database shows its tables.
  14. In the list of tables, the # Datasets column lists the number of datasets that use the particular table as their initial definition.
  15. Click New Dataset to create a dataset on a specific table.
  16. Click Refresh to refresh table information.
  17. For Arcadia connections, you can also update the statistics for a specific table by clicking Compute Statistics. See Computing Table Statistics.