Note: This code is no longer maintained, but kept as reference.

Data Lake Dashboard

Sample and tutorial that creates interactive dashboards using: Cognos Dashboard Embedded (formerly Dynamic Dashboard Embedded), Cloud Object Storage, SQL Query, DB2 Warehouse and AppID. Not all services are required, see tutorials for possible use cases and guidance.

The solution works out of the box when following the Build a data lake using object storage tutorial. For customization, see the below notes.

Helpful starting points

• Supports either Cloud Object Storage or DB2 Warehouse on Cloud
• Dynamically reads CSV files and builds Cognos Dashboard Embedded datasources
• Server-side encryption support for Cognos Dashboard Embedded datasources
• Scope DB2 table data to specific users with App ID

Running the solution

This solution uses an Angular web client and server to provide APIs and host the web app. Before hosting in production, you must build the Angular web client.

Command	Usage
npm start	Runs server (requires pre-built web client)
npm run prod	Builds web client and runs server
npm run dev	Runs web client and server in dev (reload) mode
npm run push	Builds web client and pushes to IBM Cloud

Server-side

The solution uses Express to deliver IBM Cloud services. Services are auto-discovered using cfenv, which requires the appropriate service bindings to exist in production or a local vcap-services.json file during development.

Service	Name	Middleware	Usage
AppID	dashboard-nodejs-appid	server-appid.js	Provides authentication support for web client; use npm install ibmcloud-appid -S to add App ID as a dependency
Cloud Object Storage	dashboard-nodejs-cos	server-cos.js	Provides Cognos compatible datasources
DB2 Warehouse on Cloud	dashboard-nodejs-db2	server-db2.js	Provides Cognos compatible datasources (with encryption)
Cognos Dashboard Embedded	dashboard-nodejs-dde	server-dde.js	Provides Cognos sessions for web client

Ensure that the manifest.yml file contains entries for corresponding services. By default, the solution is configured with Object Storage.

services:
  - dashboard-nodejs-dde
  - dashboard-nodejs-cos

To use DB2, make the following change.

services:
  - dashboard-nodejs-dde
  - dashboard-nodejs-db2

Client-side

The client is an Angular web client that automatically sets up a Cognos Dashboard Embedded (formerly DDE) session. Data for DDE can come from either IBM Cloud Object Storage or DB2 Warehouse on Cloud. Two DDEAdapter adapters exist to support these two backends, which will be loaded depending on whether the respective service is available on the server. Similarly, a Login button will load when the AppID service is available.

After a user has authored a dashboard, the dashboard can be saved and restored from browser storage.

Local development

During development use the dev script. This will launch ng serve and nodemon to automatically restart the app when changes occur.

1. Copy the VCAP_SERVICES to the local sample application.

• In the browser, go to https://cloud.ibm.com/resources and select the deployed dashboard-nodejs application. Click Runtime -> Environment variables. Alternatively, use the command ibmcloud cf env dashboard-nodejs to view environment variables.
• Copy the VCAP_SERVICES to the clipboard using the copy button.
• Paste the VCAP_SERVICES content to the sample applications vcap-services.json file overwriting existing content and save.

2. Run npm run dev.
3. Browse to http://localhost:4200. If Express is not listening on http://localhost:6008, update the properties in /src/environments/environment.ts.

The Cognos Dashboard Embedded service connects directly to CSV or JDBC datasources via a public URLs. To support access during local development, you should use a tool like ngrok to open a tunnel to the Express server. The sourceUrl property should be updated to reflect the ngrok URL in /src/environments/environment.ts.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.