Embedding a Tableau View into SharePoint 2010

This article is an outcome of the research that we did for one of our clients, where we evaluated the options to embed/render Tableau reports in SharePoint 2010/2013.  Even though there were some help content available in Tableau, they were all scattered and any one new to the subject would be required to spend sometime to identify the options before embracing SharePoint as a delivery mechanism for rendering Tableau Views.
In short, Tableau reports can be rendered in SharePoint in the following ways:

1. Using TableauEmbeddedView WebPart
2. Using Page Viewer web part (available in Media and Content categories) and providing the URL to the view name in the Tableau report.
3. Using Tableau JavaScript API’s and inducing the IFrame into a HTML page.

Note: This article assumes that the Tableau Server is already configured in your local environment with Windows Authentication.  In addition, Tableau supports Local and Trusted authentication which works for scenarios where integrated windows / SSPI wont be the ideal choice for authentication purposes.  More details on this topic can be found here.
The significant difference between windows and local authentication mode is that the TableauEmbeddedView WebPart and the PageViewer Web Part will pick the currently logged in windows credentials for authenticating against Tableau, however in local authentication it will just need the logged in user name in SharePoint and doesn’t care about the local logged user credentials in the client machine.
The following are the step by step instructions to access a tableau report in SharePoint:

1. Install and configure the Tableau WebPart by performing the following steps:
   1. Locate the TableauEmbeddedView.dll and TableauEmbeddedView.wsp files that install with Tableau Server: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\8.1\extras\embedding\sharepoint\
   2. Open a command prompt as an administrator.
   3. Navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN
   4. Run the following command to add the .wsp file:
      stsadm -o addsolution -filename “C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\bin\TableauEmbeddedView.wsp”
   5. Next, run the following command to deploy it. In the command, http://<your SharePoint site>/ should be the root directory of your SharePoint site, such as http://mySharePoint/.
      stsadm -o deploysolution -name TableauEmbeddedView.wsp  -url http://<your SharePoint Site>/ -local -force -allowgacdeployment
   6. Finally, activate the Web Part feature by running the following command:
      stsadm -o activatefeature -name TableauEmbeddedView_Feature1 -url http://<your SharePoint Site>/
2.  Login as site administrator in SharePoint and create/navigate to the page where you want to embed the tableau view.
3. In the Edit Page Mode, Select “Insert Web Part” and select “Custom” category.
4. Now select the “TableauEmbeddedView” and click on “Add”
5. Once the web part is added, navigate to the Edit Properties option and provide the following values in “Tableau View Settings”
   1. Under Tableau Server Name, provide the name of the server (e.g.,) TableauServ1
   2. Under View Path, provide the name of the view (e.g.,) /views/Sales/2013SalesGrowth
6. Click Ok to see the tableau view appearing in the site.

• If its not appearing, check the URL to the view and make sure that its copied exactly as is into the web part properties.  The above steps also apply for the “Page Viewer” web part, except that it would be included in place of the TableauEmbeddedView.

SharePoint 2010 or 2013
As per Tableau, SharePoint 2013 is needed when you use “Trusted Authentication” mode (in Tableau) as it better conforms to the security standards set by it.  However, when I tried in 2010, even the Trusted authentication worked without any issues, but needed some tweaks in the Tableau WebPart, which is beyond the scope of this article.