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How-To: Test Read an Input, Condition, or Instance

Considerations on test reading Inputs, Conditions, and Instances

Content:

  • Overview
  • Truncated read
  • Reference Pane
  • Templated Input/Instance
    • Test Condition
  • Parameterized Input/Instance
  • Transactional Inputs - SQL, HTTP request
  • Troubleshooting

Overview

Data is visualized throughout the Intelligence Hub as data moves end to end.

  • Input - See the data structure as it comes in from a data source
    • "Index" - Where indexing is enabled, the Test Read will evaluate the current Index value and will not advance it.
    • "Process File" - Relevant to File Connector, executing a Test Read will not process the file.
    • Test without saving - Test read will evaluate based on how the fields are currently populated regardless of whether the Input is saved or not.
  • Condition - See the transformation result applied by the Condition
  • Instance - See how the modeled data is evaluated

Truncated read

There is an approximate 256K character limit for the test read results. Note the Caution symbol when this occurs. This does not affect the actual data flow and is purely related to visually sampling the data.

Consider limiting the data size when initially configuring the data flow to see the entire data structure. And then scale the data size up after the configuration is teed up.

Above, we see the entire data structure for the time window of *-1h. Below, we see the time window of *-1d gets truncated. 

Reference pane

Note that what's visible in the test read affects the data structure that populates the Reference Pane. For the time window of *-1h, we see all of the points in the nested object structure, but *-1d gets truncated and doesn't show all of the points.

Start with a small data sample when starting a new data configuration.

Templated Input/Instance

When Templating is enabled, the Test Read on the Overview page will show all of the templated results as an array.

To test read a particular slice out of the Templated pattern:

  1. Navigate to the "Template" tab,
  2. page through the templated pattern
  3. "Test Input" on that specific iteration

Test Condition

When sourcing a Templated Component into a Condition, the "Test Condition" will evaluate only one Templated occurrence at a time:

Parameterized Input/Instance

When using Parameterized Inputs or Instances, the "Test Input" or "Test Instance" will not resolve when Templating is OFF, since these values are passed into this Component at runtime from the caller.

In these scenarios, purely for testing the Component, the Templating can be enabled to get the "Test Input" or "Test Instance" to evaluate.

Consider leaving Templating Type Static for parameterized Inputs and Instances. It will serve as a reference for acceptable values and the parameters will be discoverable over the REST Data API for the "Input Details" and "Instance Details" endpoints. In this case, when the Component is called without passing in parameters, then the Templated parameters will be evaluated and returned to the caller. (see Templating article for more details)

The Static or Dynamic fields will remain populated and retained in the configuration.json file, so it is convenient to switch Templating between OFF, Static, or Dynamic.  This can be helpful during testing or when copying the Component for reuse.

Troubleshooting

Depending on the Connector, the Test Input/Instance may not provide an error, in which case, the Overview page and Logs should be checked.

If there is an issue with one of the patterns of a Template Parameter, the Test Read on the Details tab will fail. In this scenario, the Template tab view can be helpful to diagnose which iteration of the pattern may be causing the issue.

The Test Input will not populate if a response value is not expected.