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Object Keys & Object IDs

Overview

TermData TypeDefinitionAbbreviation
Object Keystringkey 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 IDintegerA 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 GEToid

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

otypekey
dataflowapi/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
externalPlaceholder for anything Alation doesn't support natively. Used in lineage.
<unique identifier/name of external object>
example: canbeanything