Data360 Analyze: How to create properties at node, data flow and composite level

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this training session, you'll be able to define and configure:

• Node properties
• Composite properties
• Dataflow properties

You'll also learn some use cases for each of the above.

Software version used: 3.6.2

NODE LEVEL

Use case: I have a Python node with code that will tell me how much space is remaining on my disk. I want to be able to view the output of the code in terms of Kilobytes, Megabytes, Terabytes etc

Node level configuration:

1. Select the node on the canvas.
2. From the Properties panel, choose the Define tab to show all of the property definitions for the selected node. Node properties are organized into groups.
3. Choose any group and add a new property to it by typing a name for the property. In this case, we'll call the property "Resolution", and hit Enter.
4. Choose a type for the property - in this case we'll use "Choice" as this will allow us to create a drop down list for the property. Note: if you choose an alternative Property Type, you can skip to step 7
5. Click on the hamburger menu and select Edit Details
6. In the Choices section, enter the values you wish to be available in the drop down list, and click Done
7.  Under the Configure tab, scroll down to the newly defined property and input a value

COMPOSITE LEVEL

A Composite Node is a node which contains other nodes – encapsulating complex functionality inside a compact component for ease of reuse and readability. The nodes inside a composite are referred to as ‘contained nodes’. The values of properties defined on a composite node are passed down into contained nodes, where the actual work is done to manipulate the data which flows into and out of the composite. Defining the properties is done once on a composite node, and then these values are inherited by the contained nodes. 

Use case: for the purposes of this article and video, we will tell Analyze where to look for input files, using the Excel node as an example.  

Composite level configuration:

1. Select the composite node on the canvas.
2. From the Properties panel, choose the Define tab to show all of the property definitions for the selected node. Node properties are organized into groups.
3. Click Create property group to create a new group to add properties into.
4. Add a new property to the group by typing a name for the property and pressing Enter.
5. Choose a type for the property
6. Under the Configure tab, enter values for the properties
7. On the nodes, enter the property name, surrounded by {{^ ^}} into the field that needs to reference the property. 

DATAFLOW LEVEL

Data flow properties are set at the top level of the document, allowing you to centrally set values which do not often change between runs. Data flow level properties are useful when there is a setting that is fixed regardless of who is running the data flow and the property value needs to be accessible to multiple nodes within the same data flow.

Use case: I have a Salesforce account and I want to use the Get node to source data. The serverURL is the same across all nodes so I want to create a property that all the Salesforce nodes can use across the dataflow. 

Dataflow level configuration:

1. Select the Data Flow tab of the Properties panel.
2. Choose the Define tab to show all of the property definitions for the selected data flow. Data flow properties are organized into groups.
3. Click Create property group to create a new group to add properties into. Type a name for the property group. In this example we'll call it "ServerProperty"
4.  Add a new property to the group by typing a name for the property and pressing Enter. In this case, we'll call the property "My_URL"
5. Choose a type for the property, see Property types.
6. Then go into the (DataFlow) Configure tab and give the property a value.
7. On the node itself, enter the property name, surrounded by {{^ ^}} into the field that needs to reference the property. For example, the "ServerURL" field takes the input {{^My_URL^}}

NEXT TUTORIAL

How to create and use Run Properties

THE ATTACHMENTS

- dataflow on node level properties (including the code to get disk space)

- dataflow on composite level properties

- dataflow on dataflow level properties

Note: these dataflows can be imported into 3.6.x or later versions

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this article and it's contents, or if you have a use case that you'd like to see demonstrated in a video / article, please let us know by posting in the comments below, or email me directly at ccostello@infogix.com

FURTHER READING

Property Types

Ordering Properties

Property Sources