An interactive commenting solution for Tableau Server

CREATE TABLE `comments_profitratio_segments` (

`category` varchar(50) NOT NULL,

`segment` varchar(50) NOT NULL,

`year` int(11) NOT NULL,

`month` int(11) NOT NULL,

`comment` varchar(1024) NOT NULL,

`username` varchar(255) NOT NULL,

`fullname` varchar(255) NOT NULL,

`insert_timestamp` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT URRENT_TIMESTAMP,

PRIMARY KEY (`category`,`segment`,`year`,`month`)

)

<?php

    include "head.html";    

?>
    <p>Category: <?php echo $_GET['category']; ?></p>

    <p>Segment: <?php echo $_GET['segment']; ?></p>

    <p>Period: <?php echo $_GET['year']; ?>, <?php echo $_GET['month']; ?></p>

    <p>User: <?php echo $_GET['comment_username']; ?> (<?php echo $_GET['comment_fullname']; ?>)</p>

        <form action="submit_insert.php" method="post">

            Comment:<br>

            <textarea name="comment" rows="15" cols="15">Enter your comment here.</textarea><br>

            <input type="hidden" name="category" value="<?php echo $_GET['category']; ?>">

            <input type="hidden" name="segment" value="<?php echo $_GET['segment']; ?>">

            <input type="hidden" name="year" value="<?php echo $_GET['year']; ?>">

            <input type="hidden" name="month" value="<?php echo $_GET['month']; ?>">

            <input type="hidden" name="comment_username" value="<?php echo $_GET['comment_username']; ?>">

            <input type="hidden" name="comment_fullname" value="<?php echo $_GET['comment_fullname']; ?>">

            <input type="submit" value="Submit Comment">

        </form>

        

<?php

    include "foot.html";    

?>

submit_insert.php:

<?php

    include "head.html";   
    ini_set('display_errors', 1);    
    $servername = "localhost";

    $username = "comments";

    $password = ""; // removed in this example

    $dbname = "comments";

    

    // Create connection

    $conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

    // Check connection

    if ($conn->connect_error) {

        die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);

    }

    

    $category = $_POST['category'];

    $segment = $_POST['segment'];

    $year = $_POST['year'];

    $month = $_POST['month'];

    $comment = $_POST['comment'];

    $comment_username = $_POST['comment_username'];

    $comment_fullname = $_POST['comment_fullname'];

    

    $category = $conn->escape_string($category);

    $segment = $conn->escape_string($segment);

    $year = $conn->escape_string($year);

    $month = $conn->escape_string($month);

    $comment = $conn->escape_string($comment);

    $comment_username = $conn->escape_string($comment_username);

    $comment_fullname = $conn->escape_string($comment_fullname);

    

    echo "Category: $category<br>";

    echo "Segment: $segment<br>";

    echo "Year: $year<br>";

    echo "Month: $month<br>";

    echo "Comment: $comment<br>";

    echo "Submitting comment as: $comment_username ($comment_fullname)<br>";

    echo "<br>";

    

    // A better statement that will replace when necessary (assuming the keys are correctly defined)

    $sql = "INSERT INTO `comments_profitratio` (`category`, `segment`, `year`, `month`, `comment`, `username`, `fullname`, `insert_timestamp`) VALUES ('$category', '$segment', '$year', '$month', '$comment', '$comment_username', '$comment_fullname', now()) ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE `comment`='$comment', `username`='$comment_username', `fullname`='$comment_fullname', `insert_timestamp`=now()";

    if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {

        echo "<p style='font-weight: bold'>Comment saved successfully.</p>";

    } else {

        echo "<p style='font-weight: bold; font-color: #990000'>Error: " . $sql . "<br>" . $conn->error . "</p>";

    }    $conn->close();

    

    include "foot.html";

    

?>

• Add a Web Page object to the bottom right of the dashboard, leaving the URL blank for now.
• Go to Dashboard > Actions and create a new URL Action
  • Name (for example, this can be anything): "Click here to add or modify a comment on <Segment>, <Category> (<MONTH(Order Date)> <YEAR(Order Date)>)"
  • URL: the location of your web page, while passing the parameters for the applicable dimensions and filters. In my case:
    http://ec2-54-212-228-31.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com/comments/input_comment.php?category=<Category>&segment=<Segment>&year=<FILTERVALUES(YEAR(Order Date))>&month=<FILTERVALUES(MONTH(Order Date))>&comment_username=<ATTR(Username)>&comment_fullname=<ATTR(Full Name)>
• Then what we can do as well, is change the settings for the tooltips to appear "on hover" instead of responsively; which I find slightly easier when using hyperlinks in comments.
  
• Then we test this setup by clicking one of the hyperlinks...
  
• Bingo! The web form, pre-populated with the correct values for our dimensions, appears on the right-hand side of the dashboard:
  
• We can then enter a comment and submit it as a test...
  
• And indeed! The comment has been inserted into the database:
  

We might even decide to use a visual cue to indicate there is indeed a comment that has been made for a certain mark: