Triggering a cache refresh in a dashboard (via a datagroup?)

[wduffell11]

Hello! 

Similar to this blog post I am looking for a way to trigger a cache refresh for my dashboard when a certain action happens. In my data, user's have the ability to update their dataset. When they do so, I am looking for a way to trigger the dashboard cache so that when they go to view the dashboard the data has been updated as soon as they update their dataset. 

I don't want to have the auto-refresh option due to the likelihood of data performance issues, but I'm wondering if there is a neat way to do this via a datagroup argument or even an API call if possible. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[wduffell11]

I've actually made a bit of progress on this by adding a datagroup that looks at a specified field and and adding this datagroup through my explore and updates based on the `sql_trigger` value.

My issue now is that the my sql_trigger value is checked every 5 minutes (the default by Looker). I tried to change the cron expression to every minute (*/1****) but it doesn't seem to update, each datagroup still takes 5 minutes for the regenerator to run. I did see in this blog post some more information on the regenerator and something that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me was this phrase: 

Note: The `PDT And Datagroup Maintenance Schedule` setting will accept a cron string for a timeframe that is more frequent than every 5 minutes, however the regenerator will only run at most every 5 minutes.

Does this mean that this field will accept the "run every minute" cron expression, but won't actually run it every minute? And rather, running it every 5 minutes is the most frequent time frame the regenerator can run? Just wanted some clarity on this if anyone has used it. Thanks!

[robertcarr]

Hello,

Your understanding is correct, datagroups are checked every 5 minutes. You could either remove the cache entirely on these dashboards or build an API process in the background to refresh the cache for you (see: https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Technical-Tips-Tricks/Can-I-cache-with-the-API-query-endpoin...). Hope this helps answer your question.