Object Keys & Object IDs

Overview

Term	Data Type	Definition	Abbreviation
Object Key	string	`key` is the qualified name of a data object in Alation which both identifies it and points to its “place” in the structure of the parent data object.	key
Object ID	integer	A unique integer identifier that represents the object. Different object types (otypes) have different oids. Can be found in the url of an object or through object GET	oid

Object ID

Some example APIs that use object IDs are Domain and Get lineage information and use the oid to pull back details.

Key

For example, ins.all_claims.claim_id is the key for the column claim_id in the table all_claims in the schema ins in the data source the data dictionary of which is exported. The names of parent and child objects are separated with a dot.

Make sure to check out Keys with Special Characters for more complex keys.

Some APIs like our Lineage or Relational Integration API Overview require keys to manipulate the lineage or metadata respectively.

NOTE: Keys are case insensitive. When Alation goes to look up objects by a key, it will lower case the key that it was provided.

Key Structure

otype	key
dataflow	api/unique_identifier_of_dataflow example: `api/table_a_to_table_b`
table	<datasource_id>..<schema_name>.<table_name> NOTE: <db_name> has to be specified for SQL Server, Redshift, Snowflake, and Netezza. See move Multipart Schema Names example: `3.insurance_schema.all_claims`
column	<datasource_id>..<schema_name>.<table_name>.<column_name> NOTE: <db_name> has to be specified for SQL Server, Redshift and Netezza. example: `3.insurance_schema.all_claims.claim_id` or `4.datalake.insurance_schema.all_claims`
file	<filesystem_id>.<full path of a file delimited by '/'> example: `1.directory-bucket02/subdirectory/hana_load_jun.csv`
directory	<filesystem_id>.<full path of a directory delimited by '/'> example: `1.directory-bucket02/subdirectory/`
bi_report	<bi_server_id>.bi_report. example: `2.bi_report.65aaee6f-206f-4a92-a95b-0d757908dd93`
bi_report_column	<bi_server_id>.bi_report_column. example: `2.bi_report_column.00e78f82-dca5-4faa-a327-0150de596071`
bi_datasource	<bi_server_id>.bi_datasource. example: `2.bi_datasource.b2cc3832-cb51-4077-bb33-8cc0b4143521`
bi_datasource_column	<bi_server_id>.bi_datasource_column. example: `2.bi_datasource_column.095d6712-518b-4a35-ba5e-0f4dd13bffff`
external	Placeholder for anything Alation doesn't support natively. Used in lineage. <unique identifier/name of external object> example: `canbeanything`