Add check attributes

Last modified on 08-Jul-24

As a Soda Cloud Admin user, you can define check attributes that your team can apply to checks when they write them.

checks for dim_product:
  - missing_count(discount) < 10:
      attributes:
        department: Marketing
        priority: 1
        tags: [event_campaign, webinar]
        pii: true
        created_at: 2022-02-20

Use attributes to organize your checks and alert notifications in Soda Cloud.

• Apply attributes to checks to label and sort them by department, priority, location, etc.
• Add a check attribute to identify, for example, checks that execute against personally identifiable information (PII).
• Use the Reporting API to access information about checks according to their attributes.
• Define rules to route alert notifications according to check attributes.

Prerequisites
Define a check attribute
Apply an attribute to one or more checks
Optional check attribute SodaCL configurations
Go further

Prerequisites

• To define new check attributes, you must have Admin permissions on your Soda Cloud account. Any Soda Cloud user or Soda Library user can apply existing attributes to new or existing checks.

Define a check attribute

Note that you can only define or edit check attributes as an Admin in Soda Cloud. You cannot define new attributes in Soda Library. Once defined in Soda Cloud, any Soda Cloud or Soda Library user can apply the attribute to new or existing checks.

1. In your Soda Cloud account, navigate to your avatar > Attributes > New Attribute.
2. Follow the guided steps to create the new attribute. Use the details below for insight into the values to enter in the fields in the guided steps.

Adjust attributes

• Once created, you cannot change the type of your attribute. For example, you cannot change a checkbox attribute into a multi-select attribute.
• Once created, you can change the display name of an attribute.
• For a single- or multi-select attribute, you can remove, change, or add values to the list of available selections. However, if you remove or change values on such a list, you cannot use a previous value to route alert notifications.

Apply an attribute to one or more checks

While only a Soda Cloud Admin can define or revise check attributes, any Author user can apply attributes to new or existing checks when:

• writing or editing checks in an agreement in Soda Cloud
• creating or editing no-code checks in Soda Cloud
• writing or editing checks in a checks YAML file for Soda Library

Apply attributes to checks using key:value pairs, as in the following example which applies five Soda Cloud-created attributes to a new row_count check.

checks for dim_product:
  - row_count = 10:
      attributes:
        department: Marketing
        priority: 1
        tags: [event_campaign, webinar]
        pii: true
        best_before: 2022-02-20

Optionally, you can add attributes to all the checks in a single checks for dataset_name block. Using the following example configuration, Soda applies the check attributes to the duplicate_count, missing_percent and anomaly_score checks.

checks for dim_customer:
  - attributes:
      department: Marketing
      priority: 1
  - duplicate_count(last_name) < 10
  - missing_percent(phone) = 0
  - anomaly_score for row_count < default

During a scan, Soda validates the attribute’s input – NAME (the key in the key:value pair), Type, Allowed Values – to ensure that the key:value pairs match the expected input. If the input is unexpected, Soda evaluates no checks, and the scan results in an error. For example, if your attribute’s type is Number and the check author enters a value of one instead of 1, the scan produces an error to indicate the incorrect attribute value.

The following table outlines the expected values for each type of attribute.

Note that users must use the attribute’s NAME as the attribute’s key in a check, not the LABEL as defined by a Soda Admin in Soda Cloud. Refer to screenshot below.

Optional check attribute SodaCL configurations

Using SodaCL, you can use variables to populate either the key or value of an existing attribute, as in the following example. Refer to Configure variables in SodaCL for further details.

You cannot use variables in checks you write in an agreement in Soda Cloud as it is impossible to provide the variable values at scan time.

checks for dim_product:
  - row_count = 10:
      attributes:
        department: ${DEPT}
        ${DEPT}_owner: Mohammed Patel

You can use attributes in checks that Soda executes as part of a for each configuration, as in the following example. Refer to Optional check configuration for further details on for each.

for each dataset T:
 datasets:
   - dim_customers
 checks:
   - row_count > 0:
        attributes:
          department: [Marketing]
          priority: 2

Go further

• Need help? Join the Soda community on Slack.
• Add attributes to datasets to get organized in Soda Cloud.
• Add Optional check configurations.
  

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Documentation always applies to the latest version of Soda products
Last modified on 08-Jul-24

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