datahub/metadata-integration/java/docs/sdk-v2/dashboard-entity.md

Dashboard Entity

The Dashboard entity represents collections of visualizations and reports in BI tools (e.g., Looker, Tableau, PowerBI). This guide covers comprehensive dashboard operations in SDK V2.

Creating a Dashboard

Minimal Dashboard

Only tool and id are required:

Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("looker")
    .id("my_sales_dashboard")
    .build();

With Metadata

Add title and description at construction:

Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("tableau")
    .id("executive_dashboard")
    .title("Executive KPI Dashboard")
    .description("Real-time executive dashboard showing key business metrics")
    .build();

With Custom Properties

Include custom properties in builder:

Map<String, String> props = new HashMap<>();
props.put("team", "business-intelligence");
props.put("refresh_schedule", "hourly");

Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("powerbi")
    .id("sales_dashboard")
    .title("Sales Performance")
    .customProperties(props)
    .build();

URN Construction

Dashboard URNs follow the pattern:

urn:li:dashboard:({tool},{id})

Automatic URN creation:

Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("looker")
    .id("regional_sales")
    .build();

DashboardUrn urn = dashboard.getDashboardUrn();
// urn:li:dashboard:(looker,regional_sales)

Supported BI Tools

Common tool identifiers:

• looker - Looker
• tableau - Tableau
• powerbi - Power BI
• superset - Apache Superset
• metabase - Metabase
• redash - Redash
• mode - Mode Analytics
• quicksight - Amazon QuickSight
• thoughtspot - ThoughtSpot

Tags

Adding Tags

// Simple tag name (auto-prefixed)
dashboard.addTag("executive");
// Creates: urn:li:tag:executive

// Full tag URN
dashboard.addTag("urn:li:tag:production");

Removing Tags

dashboard.removeTag("executive");
dashboard.removeTag("urn:li:tag:production");

Tag Chaining

dashboard.addTag("executive")
         .addTag("real-time")
         .addTag("kpi");

Owners

Adding Owners

import com.linkedin.common.OwnershipType;

// Business owner
dashboard.addOwner(
    "urn:li:corpuser:john_doe",
    OwnershipType.BUSINESS_OWNER
);

// Technical owner
dashboard.addOwner(
    "urn:li:corpuser:bi_team",
    OwnershipType.TECHNICAL_OWNER
);

// Data steward
dashboard.addOwner(
    "urn:li:corpuser:governance",
    OwnershipType.DATA_STEWARD
);

Removing Owners

dashboard.removeOwner("urn:li:corpuser:john_doe");

Owner Types

Available ownership types:

• BUSINESS_OWNER - Business stakeholder
• TECHNICAL_OWNER - Maintains the technical implementation
• DATA_STEWARD - Manages data quality and compliance
• DATAOWNER - Generic data owner
• DEVELOPER - Software developer
• PRODUCER - Dashboard producer/creator
• CONSUMER - Dashboard consumer
• STAKEHOLDER - Other stakeholder

Glossary Terms

Adding Terms

dashboard.addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:ExecutiveMetrics");
dashboard.addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:BusinessIntelligence");

Removing Terms

dashboard.removeTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:ExecutiveMetrics");

Term Chaining

dashboard.addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:KeyPerformanceIndicator")
         .addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:SalesMetrics")
         .addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:RealTimeData");

Domain

Setting Domain

dashboard.setDomain("urn:li:domain:Sales");

Removing Domain

// Remove a specific domain
dashboard.removeDomain("urn:li:domain:Sales");

// Or clear all domains
dashboard.clearDomains();

Custom Properties

Adding Individual Properties

dashboard.addCustomProperty("team", "sales-operations");
dashboard.addCustomProperty("refresh_schedule", "hourly");
dashboard.addCustomProperty("data_source", "snowflake");

Setting All Properties

Replace all custom properties:

Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
properties.put("team", "business-intelligence");
properties.put("refresh_schedule", "real-time");
properties.put("access_level", "executive");

dashboard.setCustomProperties(properties);

Removing Properties

dashboard.removeCustomProperty("refresh_schedule");

Reading Dashboard Metadata

Get Title

String title = dashboard.getTitle();

Get Description

String description = dashboard.getDescription();

Lineage Operations

Dashboard lineage represents the data sources (datasets) that feed into the dashboard. This creates upstream lineage relationships from the dashboard to its source datasets.

Adding Input Datasets

Add datasets one at a time:

// Using DatasetUrn
DatasetUrn dataset = DatasetUrn.createFromString(
    "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,sales.orders,PROD)"
);
dashboard.addInputDataset(dataset);

// Using string URN
dashboard.addInputDataset(
    "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:bigquery,marketing.campaigns,PROD)"
);

Setting Input Datasets

Replace all input datasets at once:

List<DatasetUrn> datasets = Arrays.asList(
    DatasetUrn.createFromString(
        "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,sales.orders,PROD)"
    ),
    DatasetUrn.createFromString(
        "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,sales.customers,PROD)"
    )
);

dashboard.setInputDatasets(datasets);

Removing Input Datasets

// Using DatasetUrn
DatasetUrn dataset = DatasetUrn.createFromString(
    "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,sales.orders,PROD)"
);
dashboard.removeInputDataset(dataset);

// Using string URN
dashboard.removeInputDataset(
    "urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:bigquery,marketing.campaigns,PROD)"
);

Getting Input Datasets

Retrieve all input datasets:

List<DatasetUrn> inputDatasets = dashboard.getInputDatasets();
for (DatasetUrn dataset : inputDatasets) {
    System.out.println("Dataset: " + dataset);
}

Lineage Chaining

dashboard.addInputDataset("urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,sales.orders,PROD)")
         .addInputDataset("urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,sales.customers,PROD)")
         .addInputDataset("urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:salesforce,Account,PROD)");

Chart Relationships

Chart relationships represent the visualizations embedded in a dashboard. This creates "Contains" relationships between the dashboard and its charts.

Adding Charts

Add charts one at a time:

// Using ChartUrn
ChartUrn chart = new ChartUrn("tableau", "revenue_chart");
dashboard.addChart(chart);

// Using string URN
dashboard.addChart("urn:li:chart:(looker,sales_performance_chart)");

Setting Charts

Replace all charts at once:

List<ChartUrn> charts = Arrays.asList(
    new ChartUrn("tableau", "revenue_chart"),
    new ChartUrn("tableau", "customer_satisfaction_chart"),
    new ChartUrn("tableau", "regional_breakdown_chart")
);

dashboard.setCharts(charts);

Removing Charts

// Using ChartUrn
ChartUrn chart = new ChartUrn("tableau", "revenue_chart");
dashboard.removeChart(chart);

// Using string URN
dashboard.removeChart("urn:li:chart:(looker,sales_performance_chart)");

Getting Charts

Retrieve all charts:

List<ChartUrn> charts = dashboard.getCharts();
for (ChartUrn chart : charts) {
    System.out.println("Chart: " + chart);
}

Chart Chaining

dashboard.addChart(new ChartUrn("looker", "revenue_chart"))
         .addChart(new ChartUrn("looker", "customer_chart"))
         .addChart(new ChartUrn("looker", "product_chart"));

Dashboard-Specific Properties

Dashboard URL

Set a direct link to the dashboard in its native BI tool:

// Set dashboard URL
dashboard.setDashboardUrl("https://tableau.company.com/views/sales-dashboard");

// Get dashboard URL
String url = dashboard.getDashboardUrl();

Last Refreshed

Track when the dashboard data was last updated:

// Set last refreshed timestamp (milliseconds since epoch)
long currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
dashboard.setLastRefreshed(currentTime);

// Get last refreshed timestamp
Long lastRefreshed = dashboard.getLastRefreshed();
if (lastRefreshed != null) {
    System.out.println("Last refreshed at: " + new Date(lastRefreshed));
}

Combined Dashboard Properties

dashboard.setDashboardUrl("https://looker.company.com/dashboards/executive")
         .setLastRefreshed(System.currentTimeMillis());

Complete Example

import datahub.client.v2.DataHubClientV2;
import datahub.client.v2.entity.Dashboard;
import com.linkedin.common.OwnershipType;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;

public class DashboardExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create client
        DataHubClientV2 client = DataHubClientV2.builder()
            .server("http://localhost:8080")
            .build();

        try {
            // Build dashboard with all metadata
            Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
                .tool("looker")
                .id("sales_performance_dashboard")
                .title("Sales Performance Dashboard")
                .description("Executive dashboard showing key sales metrics and regional performance")
                .build();

            // Add tags
            dashboard.addTag("executive")
                     .addTag("sales")
                     .addTag("production");

            // Add owners
            dashboard.addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:sales_team", OwnershipType.BUSINESS_OWNER)
                     .addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:bi_team", OwnershipType.TECHNICAL_OWNER);

            // Add glossary terms
            dashboard.addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:SalesMetrics")
                     .addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:ExecutiveDashboard");

            // Set domain
            dashboard.setDomain("urn:li:domain:Sales");

            // Add custom properties
            dashboard.addCustomProperty("team", "sales-operations")
                     .addCustomProperty("refresh_schedule", "hourly")
                     .addCustomProperty("data_source", "snowflake");

            // Upsert to DataHub
            client.entities().upsert(dashboard);

            System.out.println("Successfully created dashboard: " + dashboard.getUrn());

        } catch (IOException | ExecutionException | InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            try {
                client.close();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }
}

Updating Existing Dashboards

Load and Modify

// Load existing dashboard
DashboardUrn urn = new DashboardUrn("looker", "my_dashboard");
Dashboard dashboard = client.entities().get(urn);

// Add new metadata (creates patches)
dashboard.addTag("new-tag")
         .addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:new_owner", OwnershipType.TECHNICAL_OWNER);

// Apply patches
client.entities().update(dashboard);

Incremental Updates

// Just add what you need
dashboard.addTag("real-time");
client.entities().update(dashboard);

// Later, add more
dashboard.addCustomProperty("updated_at", String.valueOf(System.currentTimeMillis()));
client.entities().update(dashboard);

Builder Options Reference

Method	Required	Description
tool(String)	✅ Yes	BI tool identifier (e.g., "looker", "tableau")
id(String)	✅ Yes	Dashboard identifier within the tool
title(String)	No	Dashboard title
description(String)	No	Dashboard description
customProperties(Map)	No	Map of custom key-value properties

Patch-Based Operations

Dashboard uses patch-based updates for metadata operations. All methods like addTag(), addOwner(), etc. create patches that are accumulated until upsert() or update() is called.

Benefits:

• Efficient: Multiple operations batched into fewer API calls
• Atomic: All changes succeed or fail together
• Incremental: Only specified fields are modified, others remain unchanged

Example:

Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("tableau")
    .id("sales_dashboard")
    .build();

// These create patches (no API calls yet)
dashboard.addTag("production");
dashboard.addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:owner", OwnershipType.BUSINESS_OWNER);
dashboard.setDomain("urn:li:domain:Sales");

// Single API call emits all patches
client.entities().upsert(dashboard);

Common Patterns

Creating Multiple Dashboards

List<String> dashboardIds = Arrays.asList("dashboard1", "dashboard2", "dashboard3");

for (String dashboardId : dashboardIds) {
    Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
        .tool("looker")
        .id(dashboardId)
        .title("Dashboard " + dashboardId)
        .build();

    dashboard.addTag("auto-generated")
             .addCustomProperty("created_by", "sync_job");

    client.entities().upsert(dashboard);
}

Batch Metadata Addition

Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("tableau")
    .id("executive_dashboard")
    .build();

List<String> tags = Arrays.asList("executive", "kpi", "real-time", "production");
tags.forEach(dashboard::addTag);

client.entities().upsert(dashboard);  // Emits all tags in one call

Conditional Metadata

if (isExecutiveDashboard(dashboard)) {
    dashboard.addTag("executive")
             .addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:ExecutiveMetrics");
}

if (requiresGovernance(dashboard)) {
    dashboard.addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:governance_team", OwnershipType.DATA_STEWARD);
}

Dashboard with Full Lineage Context

// Create dashboard with rich metadata
Dashboard dashboard = Dashboard.builder()
    .tool("looker")
    .id("customer_360_dashboard")
    .title("Customer 360 Dashboard")
    .description("Comprehensive customer analytics dashboard")
    .build();

// Add business context
dashboard.addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:CustomerAnalytics")
         .addTerm("urn:li:glossaryTerm:BusinessIntelligence")
         .setDomain("urn:li:domain:Customer");

// Add input datasets for lineage
dashboard.addInputDataset("urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,customer.profile,PROD)")
         .addInputDataset("urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:salesforce,Account,PROD)")
         .addInputDataset("urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:zendesk,Tickets,PROD)");

// Add embedded charts
dashboard.addChart(new ChartUrn("looker", "customer_segmentation_chart"))
         .addChart(new ChartUrn("looker", "lifetime_value_chart"))
         .addChart(new ChartUrn("looker", "support_tickets_chart"));

// Add operational metadata
dashboard.addCustomProperty("data_sources", "snowflake,salesforce,zendesk")
         .addCustomProperty("refresh_schedule", "every_15_minutes")
         .addCustomProperty("sla_tier", "tier1")
         .addCustomProperty("business_criticality", "high");

// Set dashboard properties
dashboard.setDashboardUrl("https://looker.company.com/dashboards/customer-360")
         .setLastRefreshed(System.currentTimeMillis());

// Add ownership and governance
dashboard.addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:product_team", OwnershipType.BUSINESS_OWNER)
         .addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:bi_team", OwnershipType.TECHNICAL_OWNER)
         .addTag("production")
         .addTag("customer-facing");

client.entities().upsert(dashboard);

Comparison with Chart Entity

Dashboard and Chart are similar but serve different purposes:

Feature	Dashboard	Chart
Purpose	Collection of visualizations	Single visualization
URN Pattern	(tool,id)	(tool,id)
Patch Operations	✅ Full support	✅ Full support
Common Use Cases	Executive dashboards, reports	Individual graphs, charts

Next Steps

• Chart Entity Guide - Working with chart entities
• Dataset Entity Guide - Working with dataset entities
• Patch Operations - Deep dive into patches
• Migration Guide - Upgrading from V1

Examples

Basic Dashboard Creation

{{ inline /metadata-integration/java/examples/src/main/java/io/datahubproject/examples/v2/DashboardCreateExample.java show_path_as_comment }}

Comprehensive Dashboard with Metadata

{{ inline /metadata-integration/java/examples/src/main/java/io/datahubproject/examples/v2/DashboardFullExample.java show_path_as_comment }}

Dashboard with Lineage and Relationships

{{ inline /metadata-integration/java/examples/src/main/java/io/datahubproject/examples/v2/DashboardLineageExample.java show_path_as_comment }}