metabase/metabase v0.42.0-preview1

Metabase v0.42.0 (Preview Release #1)

on GitHub

Note: this is a preview of an upcoming Metabase release (0.42.0).

This release introduces Datasets, and ships with a lot of improvements, polish, and bug fixes. We'll talk a lot more about these features for the release, but for now here's a preview of what's new:

Datasets

Datasets are a new fundamental building block in Metabase that let you create metadata-rich models for people to explore. The idea is to make it easier to create starting points for people to ask questions, like a dataset that pulls together information about customers from multiple tables.

To create a dataset, create a question using either the query builder or the native SQL editor, save it, and convert it to a dataset (from the sidebar). In the full release, you will be able to add metadata for each column (which is especially useful for datasets created from SQL questions), and edit the underlying query if you need to. People will be able to select datasets in the data picker as the starting point for a new question, and you can place datasets in collections for people to discover.

Revamped custom expressions editor

Writing custom expressions just got a lot snappier: lots of improvements under the hood. Autocomplete suggestions are much faster, and the functions, aggregations, and fields are labeled by type for easy scanning.

Waterfall, area, progress, and combo charts added for dashboard subscriptions

Continuing our work on improving dashboards subscriptions, we made two more charts available to email and Slack messages: waterfall and progress charts, and made sure charts with multiple series now display them all. We also added more polish to the formatting, colors, and fonts for the static charts Metabase sends.

Improved summarize sidebar

When you close and reopen the Summarize sidebar in the query builder, it'll keep all of your summarizations and groupings in one place so they're easier to edit. We've also added some small UI touches to field selection that makes adding new summarizations and groupings more intuitive.

Better revision histories for questions

We cleaned up the entries in questions so it's easier to see at a glance how a question has changed over time (and who changed it).

Refined filters

We touched up our calendar date selector as well as the "between" date range selector for our filter widgets, and hardened the security on filters used with questions built with the query builder.

New database setup interface

We spruced up the UI that walks people through connecting Metabase to a data source (like your PostgreSQL database).

Option to disable animations

Animations can cause people with vestibular disorders to experience vertigo, so we made Metabase compatible with the Operating System setting prefers-reduced-motion.

Connect to a secure PostgreSQL and Oracle database server using a truststore and/or keystore

You can now provide a keystore and/or a truststore to connect to an Oracle or PostgreSQL database server that someone else (like your database administrator) has secured. Note that some cloud providers only support client authentication with a truststore, so keystores would have no effect. You can also take advantage of PostgreSQL's SSL-mode.

We've added Snowplow to help us collect anonymous data

For our opt-in anonymous data collection (which helps us improve and troubleshoot Metabase—thanks to those who opt in), we've added Snowplow to capture more in-app events.

Other Changes

Enhancements

• Remove and convert flow types (#19207)
• Select no columns in the custom question mode (#19186)
• Remind users to connect their data after set up (#19119)
• Support Postgres driver SSL certificates as secrets (#18939)
• Elevate most popular database options in set up (#18918)
• Fix with-temporary-setting-values macro for settings with non-idempotent setters (#18835)
• Support multiple series for line/bar/area (#18783 and #18782)
• Support combo static viz charts (#18689)
• Implement combo static viz chart front-end (#18688)
• Support static viz area charts (#18687)
• Provide progress on initial data sync (#18675)
• ensure dataset tree api only returns nodes which contain leaves that are datasets (#18672)
• Make IP addresses visible for firewall Cloud users (#18670)
• Show datasets in search (#18657)
• Add to query source API (#18656)
• Remove user info field duplication during self-serve set up (#18469)
• Implement analytics events for product activation (#18291)
• Currency list: Add Papua New Guinean Kina (PGK) (#18233)
• Remove animation from <EntityMenu> when under 'reduce-motion' (#18198)

Bug fixes

• Disable "Nested queries" not honored in GUI data selector search or on SQL questions (#19341)
• Invalid $project - Path collision.... with mongo >= 4.4 (#19135)
• EMBEDDED_SESSION cookie does not have SameSite=None specified (#18822)
• Fix type of query_cache.results column in MySQL via new changeSet (#18815)
• Connecting a custom column to a dashboard parameter results in a front-end scripting error (#18747)
• Cookie metabase.DEVICE does not respect SameSite environment variable (#18553)
• Activity entries for dashboard-add-cards events using incorrect card permalink (#18547)
• Blank database appears in native question picker after saving a nested question (#18418)
• Unable to save a nested question in the "Our analytics" collection on master (#18364)
• Metabase doesn't respect Database name property when connecting to MongoDb (#18208)

Upgrading

You can download a .jar of the release, or get the latest on Docker. Make sure to back up your Metabase
database before you upgrade! Need help? Check out our
upgrading instructions.

Docker image: metabase/metabase:v0.42.0-preview1
Download the JAR here: https://downloads.metabase.com/v0.42.0-preview1/metabase.jar

Notes

SHA-256 checksum for the 0.42.0-preview1 JAR:

8b7ad1e83d406caf98688ec4bdbb7031a7782655efe37791a826c7a5363f4600