How to edit Data Catalog metadata: Tags & Categories

Data Catalog

In this section We will explore the features of the Data Catalog metadata. With this feature you can use Denodo Data Catalog to add tags and categories to views, as well as update the view and field descriptions.

In our example we are going to: (1) add descriptions to the client fields, to allow more specific discovery of this view, (2) add tags and categories and (3) apply them to our client view.

 

Data Catalog Metadata

A useful feature of the Data Catalog is the ability to display view metadata, such as the View Description, as well as the Field Descriptions. Let's see how to modufy that information.

 

Editing View and Field Descriptions

1. Navigate to the Summary page of the Client View and click Edit option beside Description.
   
   
2. Add the appropriate descriptions to the View and click Ok.
   
3. Similarly, add a description to fields by navigating to the Schema tab and click on the Edit option under each field.
   
   
   
4. The view now displays the added descriptions. These descriptions are saved in the Data Catalog metadata. (Note: It is recommended to synchronize the metadata with the Virtual DataPort server inorder to keep the Data Catalog synchronized. You have to use the option Administration > Sync with VDP.

   Please note that you can synchronize the Virtual DataPort server metadata changes in Data Catalog but the Tags & Categories created in Data Catalog cannot be synchronized with the Virtual DataPort Server.

 

Adding Categories and Tags to the Data Catalog metadata

Tags & Categories are useful to allow users to search with more accuracy through the Data Catalog. While the amount of Data Sources and Views is small in our tutorial, it will pay off over the long term to maintain good Categorization and Tagging habits to allow users to navigate the Data Catalog more easily.

 

Adding Categories

1. Navigate to Administration > Set-up and Management.
2. In the Administration window under Catalog Management, click on Categories option
   
3. Click the + Add Category icon.
   
4. Create a category with the following details:
   • Name: Customer
   • Description: Data sources relating to customer
   
   
5. Create another category with the following details:
   • Name: CRM
   • Description: Acme_crm System
   • Parent: Customer
   
   
6. Create a final category with the following details:
   • Name: Billing
   • Description: Customer Billing
   • Parent: Customer
   
   

We now have a useful set of categories to link to our Views.

 

Adding Tags

1. Navigate to Administration > Set-up and Management.
2. In the Administration window under Catalog Management, click on the Tags option.
3. Click the + Add Tag icon and create a new Tag with the following details:
   • Name: JDBC
   • Description: JDBC data sources
   
   
4. Create another tag with the following details:
   • Name: SOAP
   • Description: SOAP Data Sources
   
   

We now have a useful set of tags to link to our Views.

 

Modify views for adding Categories and Tags

1. We can now navigate to the Client view and click on the Add Category button in the Summary tab.
   
2. Click CRM and then click Ok.
   
3. Now select the Add Tag button in the Summary tab and select JDBC. Click Ok.
   
4. We have now added this view to the Customer > CRM category and have tagged it with the JDBC tag.
   
   

Browse using Tags & Categories

1. To start browsing your views and web services by tags, go to Browse > Tag.
2. In the sidebar, you will see the list of tags available in the Data Catalog.
   
3. Click the tag JDBCto see the elements that have been assigned with this selected tag.
   
4. Similarly to browse by categories, go to Browse > Category.
5. From the list of categories in the sidebar, expand the category Customer > CRM to explore its subcategories.
   
6. Click CRM to explore its views and webservices.
   

We have now seen how the effective use of the Descriptions, Categories and Tags can enable powerful data exploration.

 

In the next section, we will explore about Recommendations and Collaborate options in Data Catalog