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Welcome
Mobile App Bootstrap
Ron Theis
Staff Software Engineer
Tableau
# T C 1 8
Custom mobile apps with embedded Tableau visualizations
Questions to Consider
How would our app connect and authenticate?
How important is custom branding?
Do our users mainly use a few known visualizations?
Do we have the resources for this?In-house programmers?
Third-party contractors?
Who would wrangle this long-term?
Automation
Extensions
Embedded Analytics
Data Connectivity
Data Science
Tableau Platform
Inte
gra
tion
s
Enabling Integrations for Developers
What It Isn’t
Warning: Not Tableau Mobile!Tableau Mobile already provides server browsing & viz interaction
Warning: Not Tableau Mobile Beta!
The beta is Tableau Mobile re-written in React Native
The beta has delicious new featuresInteractive previewsProject browsingOptional TouchID
See the beta in actionDevs on StageTC Session: “Tableau Mobile rising: You CAN take it with you”On your phone: download at kiosk
The Mobile App Bootstrap (MAB)
Open source
Mobile app
Embedded Tableau visualizations
The Mobile App Bootstrap (MAB)
Open source sample codeBasic sample app in multiple programming languagesSamples demonstrating specific techniquesFree for you to use, copy, or be inspired byNo special Tableau licensing involved
Available at github.com/tableau
You own and maintain your app
Computer programming required!
Customers have approached us with several custom mobile use cases
Warehouses Hospitals Custom Branding Broad Access
Grocery Stores Field Sales Integrated Experiences
“Executive Mode”
The Mobile App Bootstrap (MAB)
Customer Mobile Familiarity
Starting from scratchNo existing app
Open to any programming language/solution that works
Less mobile-specific knowledge
Modifying an existing appExisting programming language requirements
Already have an app person/team
More mobile-specific knowledge
What Is Available?
Two platforms: iOS and Android
Two frameworksObjective-C: Native iOS
React Native: iOS and Android
Sample appsOverview with three visualizations
Barcode scanner
Out of the Box
What Has Changed
What’s New: React Native
Cross-platform frameworkSame code runs on iOS and Android
App is completely native
JavaScript and ReactCommon web development technologies
Created and maintained primarily by FacebookOpen source
What’s New: React Native
Tableau Mobile’s new frameworkWe’ve been delighted with React Native
~99% code re-use between iOS and Android
React developers are instantly familiar with the code
UX designers can make modifications themselves
Well-known companies are using React Native
What’s Old: Cordova
MAB-Cordova has been deprecated
Cordova relies on UIWebView
UIWebView has been deprecated by Apple
Additional complexity of WebView-within-a-WebView
Low adoption, high frustration
What’s Improved: Objective-C
Samples now use WKWebView
Github repositories: search for “mobile”
github.com/tableau
github.com/tableau/mobile-app-bootstrap-react-native
github.com/tableau/mobile-app-bootstrap-objc
github.com/tableau/mobile-connected-client
Deep Dive
Authentication
Mobile authentication is a huge challenge
Tableau has a 5-person team focused on mobile authentication
Your app will have to deal with authentication*
* = Unless it only connects to Tableau Public
Private Network
Connect: Private Network (aka Intranet)
Private Network
Connect: Reverse Proxy
Private Network
Connect: Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Connect: The Cloud
How Does an App Connect?
Connect
Username?Password?
Viz A?
+A
Viz B? +
B
Authentication Settings
Idle time expiration (minutes)wgserver.session.idle_limit: 240
Lifetime expiration (minutes), must be enabled belowwgserver.session.lifetime_limit: 1440
Turns on lifetime expirationwgserver.session.apply_lifetime_limit: false
Connected Clients
Connected Clients Server Settings
Idle time expiration
refresh_token.idle_expiry_in_seconds: 1209600
# 14 days, set to -1 to turn off
Lifetime expiration
refresh_token.absolute_expiry_in_seconds: 31536000
# 365 days, set to -1 to turn off
Connected Clients on Tableau Server
Server admin can enable/disable connected clients
Server admin and users can delete tokens
URL for embedding
URL to use when embedding visualizationsDon’t use the URL shown in the browser location
Use the URL from the Share menu: the Link URL
Tableau Help: “Parameters for Embed Code”
Images
Append .png to a view URL to get an image/WorkbookName/ViewName
/WorkbookName/ViewName.png
/WorkbookName/ViewName.png?:size=width,height
Images and embedded views will use correct layoutStandard size-to-layout logic applies: based on smallest of height and width
Less than 500px: phone
501-800px: tablet
801+px: desktop
Images can be stored for later/offline use
WebView
WebViews get used extensively in the appAuthentication
Viz display
Android: default WebView works fine
iOS: big difference between UIWebView and WKWebView
iOS: UIWebView vs. WKWebView
UIWebView: old
WKWebView: new
UIWebView has serious problemsHigh memory usage
JavaScript incompatibilities, behaves like an old browser
Tendency to crash randomly
Complex visualizations = likely sadness
UIWebView has been deprecated by Apple
iOS: WKWebView
WKWebView: new
WKWebView advantagesUses less memory
Handles modern JavaScript & CSS
Less crashy
Maintained by Apple
iOS 11: cookie reads/writes enabled
Switching from UIWebView to WKWebView solves customer problems
Device and OS Compatibility
What are your organization’s device needs?Organization-owned or BYOD?
Tablets, or phones, or both?
iOS, or Android, or both?
Declare iOS 11 as minimum versionEnables WKWebView cookie reading/writing
Reduces support surface area
Tableau Mobile beta: minimum iOS 11
Device and OS Compatibility
Device and OS Compatibility
Works on Tablets Too
Device Designer
Device Designer works great with MABTC Session: “On the road again | Bring dashboards mobile with Device Designer”
TC Session: “Your journey to amazing mobile dashboards”
Consider locking your app’s orientation
Delivering Your App
Apple Developer program$99/year
Limited to 100 devices
Apple Enterprise distribution program$300/year, extra vetting by Apple
Unlimited distribution within your organization
AndroidDo whatever you want
Delivering Your App
Mobile Device Management systems can auto-deliver
TC Session: “Deploy and Enjoy”
Analytics in Your App
Track app usageDevice model, OS version, app version, session length, etc.
Actions taken inside the app
Your marketing team might already have a solution
Many options for “mobile analytics”Google Analytics
Amazon Mobile Analytics
Flurry (Yahoo)
Mixpanel
Localytics
Some can easily become Tableau Data Sources
Supporting Your App
Intercom for MobileIn-app user support
One-way messaging
Two-way interactions
Intercom.com
Testing
AWS Device Farm
Google Firebase
Microsoft App Center
Wrap Up
What’s Next
BreadthMore languages: Swift
DepthOffline snapshots
Re-authentication
Debugging techniques
Authentication library
Your Role
You, customer, play an important roleDirect influence on our priorities
We often discover that a project is in progress only when there’s a problem/deadline/crisis
Let us know early in the process
We can save you some headaches
Contact your friendly neighborhood salesperson
Questions to Consider
How would our app connect and authenticate?
How important is custom branding?
Do our users mainly use a few known visualizations?
Do we have the resources for this?In-house programmers?
Third-party contractors?
Who would wrangle this long-term?
Please complete the
session survey from the My
Evaluations menu
in your TC18 app
E M B E D D E D AN A LY T I C S R E L AT E D S E S S I O N S
Tableau JS API | The most delicious ingredient for custom appsOct-24 | 10:15 – 11:15 Oct-25 | 10:45 – 11:45
How to build a Tableau portal in 60 minutes or lessOct-24 | 10:15 – 11:15 Oct-25 | 14:15 – 15:15
Embedded analytics with the Tableau PlatformOct-23 | 12:30 – 13:30 Oct-24 | 13:45 – 14:45
M O B I L E R E L AT E D S E S S I O N S
On the road again | Bring dashboards mobile with Device DesignerOct-24 | 10:15 – 11:15
Your journey to amazing mobile dashboardsOct-24 | 12:00 – 1:00Oct-23 | 10:45 – 11:45
M O B I L E R E L AT E D S E S S I O N S
Tableau Mobile rising | You CAN take it with youOct-24 | 3:30 – 4:30
Deploy and Enjoy | Tableau Mobile at enterprise scaleOct-24 | 1:45 – 2:45
#DataDev Resources
TC18 Developer Track Contenthttps://tabsoft.co/tcdevtrack
Tableau Developer Programhttps://tableau.com/developer
Free environment for development
Early access to info and APIs
Tableau on GitHubhttps://github.com/tableau
Thank you!
#TC18
Ron Theis
rtheis@tableau.com
#DataDev Resources
TC18 Developer Track Contenthttp://tabsoft.co/tcdevtrack
Tableau Developer Programhttp://tableau.com/developerFree environment for developmentEarly access to info and APIs
Tableau on GitHubhttp://github.com/tableau
Ron Theis: rtheis@tableau.com
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