[Looker] Filtering using timestamp and selecting defaults for timestamp

Looker Q&A Looker
1

My Looker chart is using a ‘DateTime’ field in the Date Range Control. This field is in the format ‘YYYY-Mon-DD HH:MM:SS’ (e.g. 2024-Apr-30 14:53:25). In addition to the date level filtering, I would to be able to filter at the timestamp level (HH:MM).

  1. How may I use the ‘DateTime’ field to filter at the hour and/or minute level granularity?

  2. Is it possible to have a preselected default for timestamp? For instance, something like selecting a default value for the Date Range Control (Today, or 1 week, etc.). My use case is to be able to display results for the last 2 hours by default.

Please let me know if addition info is needed.

Thank you!

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2

Hello @invisible ,

For both of your questions, I believe you can consider the following:

  1. Looker filter expressions - these are an advanced way to filter Looker queries, and this page describes how to write them. In the Explore section of Looker you can use them by adding a filter and choosing the matches (advanced) option. They are also used in LookML for elements that take a filter parameter.
  2. conditionally_filter - lets you define a set of default filters that users can override if they apply at least one filter from a second list that you define. This parameter is typically used to prevent users from accidentally creating very large queries that may be too expensive to run on your database.
  3. always_filter - lets you require users to include a certain set of filters that you define. You also define a default value for the filters. Although users may change your default value for their query, they cannot remove the filter entirely.

Hope this helps.

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3

Thank you, @maricarp ! I looked into those filters and I do not see an option to use LookML. I did a bit more digging and I am not sure if I am understanding this correctly – I am using ‘LookerStudio’ (basic license, not pro). Can LookML be used with LookerStudio, or do I need a pro license to use it?

Are there any other options in the basic Looker studio that would allow time level filtering granularity, and setting those defaults?

Thank you!

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