Hydrolix can import a number of different message and file types into the platform. The current list includes:

CSV
JSON
Parquet

To define the encoding of a file this is done in the format_details section within the settings object.

CSV

CSV in Hydrolix terms is defined as "Character" rather than Comma Separated encoded files or messages.

Format details

To create a transform schema that handles CSV-formatted incoming data, Set its type property to "csv", and its format_details object to include the following configuration options:

Element	Type	Default	Description
delimiter	number, string		The delimiter substring.
escape	number, string	"	The escape character.
skip_head	number	0	The number of rows to skip before ingestion starts
quote	number, string	"	The quote character.
comment	number, string		The comment character. Only single characters are supported.
skip_comments	boolean	false	If true, then the ingester will not process lines beginning with the comment character.
windows_ending	boolean	false	If true, then Hydrolix will expect incoming data to use Windows-style (CR-LF) line endings.

(Note that Hydrolix recognizes "\t" as a tab character for the purposes of CSV configuration.)

example

{
    "name": "my_special_transform",
    "type": "csv",
    "settings": {
        "format_details": {
            "skip_head": 2,
            "delimiter": ","
        },
        ...
    }
}

JSON

When ingesting rows formatted as JSON objects, Hydrolix uses the names of the objects' top-level keys to establish the mapping between output_columns and the source data. That is, if your source data contains a top-level property named "employees" that you wish to ingest, then you must name corresponding column definition in your transform "employees" as well.

This also applies to JSON flattening: your output columns must share the full names of any flattened data field whose value you wish to copy into them. So, if your flattened incoming data structure has a relevant property named "employees.departments[0]", and you wish to copy its values into your Hydrolix table, then one of your transform's output_columns must also have its name property set to the string "employees.departments[0]".

JSON Flattening

When accepting JSON-formatted source data, you may optionally flatten each incoming object as a pre-processing step prior to ingesting it. This can transform complex, multi-level JSON structures into simple objects comprising one level of key/value pairs, ready for storage in a single table row.

To do this, define a flattening property within your transform's format_details. Set its value an object with the following properties:

Property	Value
`active`	If `1` (or any other true value), Hydrolix will flatten incoming JSON objects before ingesting them as rows.
`map_flattening_strategy`	Configuration for flattening any JSON objects within each row's main object.
`slice_flattening_strategy`	Configuration for flattening any JSON arrays within each row's main object.

The two "strategy" properties accept an object that defines the rules that Hydrolix should follow to create new key names for the resulting, flattened JSON object.

Property	Value
left	The substring to use when concatenating an element's key with its parent's key.
right	The substring to use when concatenating an element's key with its child's key.

Not defining (or defining as null) either of the "strategy" properties will deactivate flattening for either objects or arrays, respectively.

An example of JSON flattening

Consider the following JSON object, which we wish to ingest as a single row:

{
  "date": "2020-01-01",
  "data": {
    "oranges": [ 1, 2, 3 ],
    "apples": [
      {
        "cortland": 6,
        "honeycrisp": [ 7, 8, 9 ]
      },
      [ 10, 11, 12 ]
    ]
  }
}

Imagine that the transform handling it contains the following flattening configuration:

"settings": {
    "format_details": {
        "flattening": {
            "active": true,
            "map_flattening_strategy": {
                "left": ".",
                "right": ""
            },
            "slice_flattening_strategy": {
                "left": "[",
                "right": "]"
            }
        }
    },
    ...
}

After applying these JSON flattening strategies, Hydrolix would end up ingesting the following, single-level JSON object:

{
    "date": "2020-01-01"
    "data.oranges[0]": 1
    "data.oranges[1]": 2
    "data.oranges[2]": 3
    "data.apples[0].cortland": 6
    "data.apples[0].honeycrisp[0]": 7
    "data.apples[0].honeycrisp[1]": 8
    "data.apples[0].honeycrisp[2]": 9
    "data.apples[1][0]": 10
    "data.apples[1][1]": 11
    "data.apples[1][2]": 12
}

Parquet

Soon to be released!