Data Functions are a way to integrate external software for data retrieval and processing. They are used in Spotfire to integrate calculations based on python, S-PLUS, open-source R, SAS®, MATLAB® scripts, or R scripts running under TIBCO Enterprise Runtime for R for Spotfire (TERR). The Pipeline Pilot Data Functions have been built using the Spotfire public API and provide a standardized integration with common interfaces of Spotfire to allow you to base the data functions on Pipeline Pilot protocols.
With the Pipeline Pilot Data Functions tool, you can register Spotfire data functions that will execute Pipeline Pilot protocols in all clients, and without any programming skills. As for native data functions, they can be triggered by events in Spotfire like changes in document's properties or changes in marked records and the data produced by these protocols can be inserted as a new data table, new columns or new rows.
Important changes have been made in TIBCO Spotfire® release 10.3 and later on how authorized users trust data functions. We strongly recommend that you read the official documentation and follow the Spotfire guidelines if you are concerned.