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Integrating Tableau with Python can be incredibly powerful, as it allows you to leverage the advanced analytical capabilities of Python within the Tableau environment. The general steps to integrate Tableau with Python are: 

• Prepare Your Data: Make sure your data is in a format that both Tableau and Python can work with. This might involve cleaning, preprocessing, and formatting your data appropriately. 

• Install Required Software: Ensure that you have both Tableau and Python installed on your system. You'll also need to install the necessary Python libraries for your analysis, such as TabPy, pandas, numpy, matplotlib, etc. 

  Even though Tableau provides rich functionality to create, manipulate, and clean data fields, we are still limited to simple statistical functionalities. To unlock advanced statistics such as machine learning, Tableau group integrates powerful Python libraries with Tableau through TabPy.  TabPy is a framework that enables Tableau to execute Python codes. It allows users to run Python scripts within Tableau’s calculated field or deploy functions on the TabPy server using Python API.  TabPy is a powerful tool that comes with various configurations and utilities.

• Enable External Services in Tableau Desktop: If you're using Tableau Desktop, you'll need to enable external services to allow integration with Python. You can do this by going to Help > Settings and Performance > Manage External Services. 

• Connect Tableau to Your Data: Use Tableau to connect to your data source as you normally would. This could be a database, spreadsheet, text file, or any other supported format. 

  Configure a TabPy Connection on TableauOn the Help menu in Tableau Desktop by choosing Settings and Performance > Manage External Service Connection to open the TabPy connection dialog box [1]. 

   

  Then,  enter or select a server name using a domain or an IP address > The drop-down list includes localhost and the server you most recently connected to > Specify a port (Port 9004 is the default port for TabPy servers) > Click Test Connection  > Click OK [1]:

   

• Pass Expressions to Python

  • In order to let tableau know that the calculations need to go to Python, it must be passed through one of the 4 functions: 

  • SCRIPT_BOOL , SCRIPT_INT , SCRIPT_REAL , SCRIPT_STR 

  • Python Functions are computed as Table calculations in Tableau. 

  • Since these are table calculations, all the Fields being passed to Python must be aggregated like Sum(PROFIT), MIN(Profit), Max (Profit), ATTR( Category) etc.  

• Python Functions in Tableau [1]:

   

• Create a Calculated Field for Python Script: In Tableau, create a calculated field where you want to integrate Python. This field will contain the Python script that you want to execute. 

  In Python expressions, use _argn (with a leading underscore ) to reference parameters ( _arg1, _arg2, etc.): 

  • In this python example above, _arg1 is equal to SUM([Profit]). [1]

  • All the Fields being passed to python must be aggregated like Sum(PROFIT), MIN(Profit), Max (Profit), ATTR( Category) etc. 

  

• Write Python Script: Write the Python script that you want to execute within Tableau. This script could perform advanced analytics, machine learning, or any other data processing task. Ensure that your Python script returns a value that can be used in Tableau, such as a scalar value or a data frame. 

• Embed Python Script in Tableau: Embed your Python script within the calculated field you created in step 5. Tableau supports Python integration through calculated fields using the SCRIPT_REAL, SCRIPT_INT, SCRIPT_STR, and SCRIPT_BOOL functions. 

• Visualize Results: Once you've embedded your Python script in Tableau, you can use the calculated field in your visualizations. Tableau will execute the Python script for each data point and display the results in your visualization. 

• Publish to Tableau Server or Tableau Online: If you're using Tableau Server or Tableau Online, you can publish your workbook to the server to share it with others. Ensure that the server environment has access to the necessary Python libraries and resources to execute the Python scripts embedded in your workbook. 

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[1] https://community.tableau.com/.