Driver Requirements

In this section

• Overview
• JDBC Drivers
  • Requirements
  • JDBC Driver Class Isolation
  • Third Party Libraries
• ODBC Drivers
  • Requirements
• Important SQLStates

Overview

Connectors built with the Connector SDK use either an ODBC or a JDBC driver to communicate with the database.

The Tableau Exchange requires using a JDBC driver.

JDBC Drivers

To learn more about JDBC drivers and Tableau, check Specify the right JDBC driver section in the user documentation.

Requirements

• You must have read permissions on the JAR file.
• Tableau requires a JDBC 4.0 or later driver.
• Tableau requires a Type 4 JDBC driver.
• getDriverVersion must be implemented and updated when the driver is updated
• getDriverName must be implemented and should return a name that reasonably well describes the intended scope of driver usage

JDBC Driver Class Isolation

If the driver only includes a single jar file, copy it to the JDBC driver location.
If the driver includes more than a single file, create a unique subfolder under JDBC driver location and include all required files.

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

This will create an isolated classloader for that driver.

Third Party Libraries

When possible, minimize the dependencies on third party libraries. If you do use third party libraries, make sure they are up to date.

ODBC Drivers

To learn more about ODBC drivers and Tableau, check the Tableau and ODBC page in the user documentation

Requirements

• Tableau requires an ODBC version of 3 or higher

Important SQLStates

Tableau expects correct SQLStates to be returned in certain situations. Inaccurate SQLStates (for example, returning a generic error instead of SLQState 28000 for invalid credentials) may cause bugs in the connector.

SQLSTATE	Error	Scenario
1002	Disconnect Error	Connection is disconnected
08001	Unable to Connect	Client unable to connect to server
28000	Invalid Authorization Specialization	User enters invalid credentials (Bad username\password, and so on)

You can see the full list of SQLSTATES in the official ODBC documentation. JDBC drivers should ensure SQLException.getSQLState contains accurate SQLStates. A general list of SQLStates can also be found here.