Packaging provides a convenient way to distribute your connector as a single .taco (Tableau Connector) file. Signing ensures that Tableau will load only .taco files that have been signed with a currently valid certificate, ensuring that they haven’t been tampered with. Signing is done using the JDK and a certificate trusted by a root certificate authority (CA) that has been installed in your Java environment. For a partner connector taco to be accepted by Tableau:
Tableau will reject the .taco file unless there is a valid timestamp.
Tableau Desktop verifies and loads signed connectors from a standard location (My Tableau Repository\Connectors) or from a user supplied directory.
This document explains how to package and sign your connector using the Connector SDK.
In this section
Be sure your system includes the follo
Python version 3.9 or later
Java JDK is installed, JAVA_HOME is set, and the JDK is in your PATH environment variable
Tableau Desktop 2019.4 or later
A connector, developed with the Tableau Connector SDK, that you would like to package or sign
As part of the packaging process, the packager ensures that:
All XML files are valid against the XSD files located in the validate folder of the SDK.
All files referenced exist.
All files are smaller than 3 MB.
The connection class is the same in all places.
However, this validation does not guarantee that the connector will work in Tableau. The packager does not validate JavaScript, for example. To ensure that your connector works before packaging it, you can do one of the following:
Follow these steps to get the packaging tool and set up the virtual environment.
git clone https://github.com/tableau/connector-plugin-sdk.gitSet up the virtual environment by going to the connector-packager folder and running python –m venv .venv.
For example:
C:\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager> python -m venv .venv
For more information about venv, see venv – Creation of virtual environments on the Python website.
Activate the virtual environment using the activate command.
For example, on Windows:
C:\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager>.\.venv\Scripts\activate
Or, on Mac:
mac-3:connector-packager qa.auto$ source ./.venv/bin/activate
Or, on Linux:
[centos@ip-10-177-53-47 connector-packager]$ source ./.venv/bin/activate
Install the packaging module in the virtual environment:
(.venv) C:\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager>pip install -e .
You must run the connector-packager tool from the connector-plugin-sdk/connector-packager/ directory. The packaged TACO file, by default, will be generated within packaged-connector folder. There are several ways to run the tool:
To package the connector, run this command:
python -m connector_packager.package [path_to_plugin_folder]
To validate that the XML files are valid without packaging the connector, run this command:
python -m connector_packager.package --validate-only [path_to_plugin_folder]
Example 1
This example shows how a TACO file is generated in connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager\packaged-connector:
(.venv) E:\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager>python -m connector_packager.package ..\samples\plugins\mysql_odbc
Validation succeeded.
mysql_odbc_sample.taco was created in E:\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager\packaged-connector
Example 2
This example shows how a TACO file and log file are generated in a user-supplied location:
(.venv) E:\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager>python -m connector_packager.package ..\samples\plugins\mysql_odbc --dest e:\temp -l e:\temp
Validation succeeded.
mysql_odbc_sample.taco was created in e:\temp
At this point, your connector is packaged into a single TACO file. Now you must sign the file or disable signature verification to allow it to be loaded automatically into Tableau.
Why we require connectors to be signed
Connectors are sensitive parts of the Tableau code. They handle database authentication and communicate directly with your driver. By signing the connector, Tableau can verify the authenticity and integrity of the connector, and customers can be confident the the plugin author is who they say they are, and the TACO file itself has not been tampered with since it was signed.
A packaged Tableau Connector (.taco) file is, functionally the same as a JAR file. Tableau checks that packaged connectors are signed by a trusted certificate authority before loading them, using the default java keystore in the JRE. Because a TACO file is fundamentally a JAR file, you can follow Java documentation for signing JAR files.
Important note: Certificates are only valid for a certain amount of time, and Tableau does not load connectors with expired certificates. To mitigate this, use a timestamp as described in the signing example below. Timestamps use a timestamp authority to confirm that the certificate was valid when it was signed, even if the certificate is now expired, and timestamps are valid for much longer.
To sign a TACO file:
jarsigner -verify path_to_taco -verbose -certs -strict
If “jar verified” appears, your TACO file should be ready to be used in Tableau.Getting a certificate is a multi-step process. This example illustrates how to sign a TACO file with a basic signed certificate.
Step 1: Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file
A certificate signing request (CSR) is a request for a certificate authority (CA) to create a public certificate for your organization.
Generate a key pair using this command:
keytool -genkeypair -alias your_alias -keystore your_keystore
Export the key to a certificate file:
keytool -export -alias your_alias -file cert_file -keystore your_keystore
Now you can generate your certificate signing request:
keytool -certreq -alias your_alias -keystore your_keystore -file certreq_file
Keep all files you’ve generated (the key pair, the keystore, and the csr) secure, you will need them later.
For more information about keytool arguments, see the Java Documentation about keytool on the Oracle website.
Step 2: Get the CSR signed by the certificate authority
Send the certificate signing request to the CA you want to create a certificate for you (for example, Verisign or Thawte). The CA will sign the CSR file with their own signature and send that certificate back to you. You can then use this signed certificate to sign the TACO file.
After you receive/fetch the new certificate from the CA, along with any applicable “chain” or intermediate certificates, run the following command to install the new certificate and chain into the keystore:
keytool -importcert cert_from_ca -keystore your_keystore
Step 3: Use jarsigner to sign TACO file
Using the keystore you imported your signed certificate to, use jarsigner to sign your TACO file:
jarsigner -keystore your_keystore path_to_taco your_alias -tsa url
The -tsa url argument is required. It’s the url to a Timestamp Authority, and by adding this argument you will stamp the signed TACO file with a timestamp, extending its period of validity. While there are several free options for timestamp authority, the CA you got the certificate from will most likely have a timestamp authority you can use.
For more information about jarsigner arguments, see the Java Documentation about jarsigner.
Note: Earlier versions of the packager signed your connector using jarsigner internally. This functionality was removed in favor of the connector author calling jarsigner directly, which provides more control over how your connector is signed.
Where to find log files
By default, a log file packaging_log.txt is generated in connector-plugin-sdk/connector-packager/.
XML validation failed for manifest.xml
This means that the packaging process failed.
Check [your_path]\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager\packaging_log.txt for more information.
Check your manifest.xml file. You can do validate only with –v to get more details and make sure your package is valid. For example:
(.venv) E:\packagetest\connector-plugin-sdk\connector-packager>python -m connector_packager.package --validate-only e:\badplugins\mysql_odbc –v
Java error
If you get this error: Java error: jdk_create_jar: no jdk set up in PATH environment variable, please download JAVA JDK and add it to PATH
Check your PATH environment variable and make sure that JAVA_HOME is in PATH.