Source Column Settings

Learn about the modifiable settings for individual source columns.

Overview

Sources contain individual columns that represent data for the solution. The source's column settings define what is expected for all data files connected to the source, including files that the source previously received.

After you change the column settings and click Save, the source validates all connected data files against the updated settings. Source validation may result in excluding many data files in the source. Be cautious about changing the column settings for sources used in production. You cannot easily revert your changes after saving; instead, you can change the settings back to what they were before and then manually re-include each file that was excluded by the source validation process.

Tip: If you re-include a file in a source, the source validates the file against the column settings. A re-included file may fail file validation, so always reload the page to check that your re-inclusion was successful.

Column settings

To find the source's column settings:

On the global navigation bar, click Data > Sources.
Select a source.
Navigate to Columns.

The following table describes the source column settings.

Column setting	Description
Data type	The data type of all the values in the column. Visier rejects files if the values in a column are not as expected. Columns types are alphanumeric, date, JSON, numeric, and text. Note: When declaring a date column, provide the date format as found in the source, such as YYYY-MM-DD.
Mandatory column	Whether the column must exist in every file for this source. By default, columns that exist when the source is created are mandatory, whereas new columns added later are optional. If a column is set as mandatory, and the file is missing this column, the file will fail to populate a source. Recommended: Do not disable this toggle for critical IDs and keys.
Allow empty	Whether to accept blank or null values in the column. Recommended: Do not enable this toggle for critical IDs and dates.

Column setting

Description

Data type

The data type of all the values in the column. Visier rejects files if the values in a column are not as expected. Columns types are alphanumeric, date, JSON, numeric, and text.

Note: When declaring a date column, provide the date format as found in the source, such as YYYY-MM-DD.

Mandatory column

Whether the column must exist in every file for this source. By default, columns that exist when the source is created are mandatory, whereas new columns added later are optional.

If a column is set as mandatory, and the file is missing this column, the file will fail to populate a source.

Recommended: Do not disable this toggle for critical IDs and keys.

Allow empty

Whether to accept blank or null values in the column.

Recommended: Do not enable this toggle for critical IDs and dates.