Organize your Dataflow columns and attributes
Discover how you can organize data with the help of the advanced features in Dataflow in Productsup.
Introduction
Dataflow offers several advanced features that help you adjust this page for comfortable work. You can access these features from the upper ribbon above the Dataflow columns:
The features let you perform the following actions. Select the links to go directly to the description of the necessary feature:
Channel selection - This drop-down menu lets you select a destination export channel for your product data.
Preview - This button unfolds a column on the left-hand side of the Dataflow columns and lets you see the values of the imported attributes.
Filter Columns - This button unfolds a section with search fields and lets you filter by specific attributes in the import, intermediate, and export columns.
Sort by - This drop-down menu lets you specify the sorting order for attributes in the import, intermediate, and export columns.
Hide/Show - This drop-down menu lets you set the Dataflow view, hiding or revealing specific columns and attributes. You can also select a custom view pre-defined in Data View.
Automap connections - This drop-down menu lets you choose among the options for automapping the attributes between the columns.
Delete - This drop-down menu lets you remove rule boxes, custom attributes, or connections between attributes in bulk.
Versions - This drop-down menu keeps all versions of your Dataflow and lets you retrieve a necessary version in case of a problem.
Filter Boxes - This search field lets you look up certain rule boxes applied to your attributes while hiding those that don't match the search keywords.
Rule Box Conditions - This feature lets you create and set up conditions to determine the cases when the platform should apply rule boxes to an attribute. See Apply rule boxes based on conditions.
The following sections describe each feature in detail.
Select a channel
The Channel selection button lets you select a destination export channel for your product data. You can see only the channels you have activated in Exports. See Map your product data for more information about channels.
To select a channel:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Channel selection button on the upper ribbon.
Select the export channel to which you want to export your data.
Preview import data
The Preview button gives you a quick preview of the values of the imported data and helps you map your attributes more accurately.
To activate Preview:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Preview button on the upper ribbon. An additional section with the attribute's values opens.
Scroll through the products using arrows to see different values in the attributes.
If your Import column contains many attributes destined for different export channels, it can be challenging to map attributes. In this case, you can filter by an attribute's value to understand what each attribute means.
To filter by attribute's value:
Activate the Preview mode. See Step 2 of the previous section.
Select the magnifier icon next to the necessary value.
In the Attribute value search pop-up window, enter a value for an attribute in the Search value field.
Select the Search button.
To hide the Preview section in the Dataflow:
Select the Preview button on the upper ribbon again.
Filter by column attributes
The Filter Columns button lets you find a specific attribute in the Import, Intermediate, or Export channel columns.
To filter by a specific attribute in a column:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Filter Columns button on the upper ribbon.
In the opened section, enter the attribute you want to filter by in the search field of the specific column.
Table 1. Example of the Filter Column feature work:Before
After
Tip
You can set up filters for several columns at a time.
Sort by column attributes
The Sort by button lets you define the order of attributes to appear in Dataflow. It doesn't affect the order of the attributes in the export. It only customizes your view in Dataflow.
To access sorting options for attributes:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Sort by button on the upper ribbon.
Choose your option from the drop-down list:
Connection - Connected attributes appear first.
Column Name - Attributes appear in alphabetical order, from A to Z.
Import Order - Attributes appear in the Import column in the order of their import.
Import Order and Connection - Attributes appear in the import column in the order of their import and the connected attributes come first.
Export Order - Attributes appear in the export column in the order they appear in the export file.
Raw Import & Export Order - Attributes appear in the import and Export columns in the order they appear in the import and export files.
Hide or show column attributes
The Hide/Show button lets you customize the Dataflow view by hiding irrelevant information to be able to focus on specific columns or attributes:
To hide or reveal attribute data:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Hide/Show button on the upper ribbon.
Select a type of data that you want to hide or show. Choose one of these options to have the following effect:
Hide Unconnected Columns - Hides all unmapped column attributes.
Hide Connected Columns - Hides all mapped column attributes.
Hide Import - Hides the entire import column.
Hide Export - Hides the entire selected export column.
Hide Warning Connections - Hides any red warning connections generated after importing data from another site.
Note
A warning connection is a connection between two columns in Dataflow, highlighted in red.
A warning connection appears when there is an active connection between the attributes in the import and intermediate columns, but the connected import attribute doesn't exist in the import feed. You can also see a warning connection if the rule box applied to this connection doesn't have the required column entry.
Hide Attributes without Values - Hides all attributes that don't have values.
Display Attributes from Datasources - Lets you see only the attributes from the selected data sources.
Column View - Lets you select a custom Dataflow view previously created in Data View.
Attribute Width - Lets you regulate the width of the columns to let you fully see the attribute names.
Automap connections between attributes
Whenever you select an export, the platform automatically detects and maps the matching attributes between the columns.
The Automap connections button lets you manually trigger automapping, in case you deleted one of the automapped connections or are missing some.
To automap connections between attributes:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Automap connections button on the upper ribbon.
Choose an option from the Automap connections drop-down menu. The options in this menu have the following effects:
AI Automapper:
Import to Intermediate - This option lets you automap the attributes between the import and intermediate columns with the help of our machine learning model.
Intermediate to Export - This option lets you automap the attributes between the intermediate and export channel columns with the help of our machine learning model.
Automapper:
Import to Intermediate - Lets you automap the attributes between the import and intermediate columns.
Intermediate to Export - Lets you automap the attributes between the intermediate and export columns.
Only box template - Lets you automap the pre-defined rule boxes to the export attributes.
All - This option lets you automap the attributes between the import, intermediate, and export columns and the rule box templates.
Map All Import columns to Export - This option lets you automap the attributes between the import and export columns. If the names of the attributes don't match, the platform creates custom attributes in the relevant column. This option doesn't affect the column order in your export file, although the platform arranges the columns alphabetically in your Dataflow view.
Note
Automapping between the Intermediate and Export channel attributes is only possible if these attributes have a connection between the import and intermediate columns.
Delete attributes, rule boxes, or connections
The Delete button lets you bulk delete rule boxes, custom attributes, or connections between attributes.
To delete multiple attributes, rule boxes, or attribute connections:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Delete button on the upper ribbon and select the option you want to apply from the drop-down menu.
There are several different options in the Delete drop-down menu, and the following table explains what these options do:
Section | Menu item | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
Connections and Boxes | Import-Intermediate | Select this option to delete all Import-Intermediate attribute connections. |
Intermediate-Export | This option deletes all Intermediate-Export attribute connections. | |
All | This option lets you delete all attribute connections across all columns. | |
Rule boxes | Import-Intermediate | Delete all rule boxes for Import-Intermediate attributes by selecting this option. |
Intermediate-Export | Select this option to delete all rule boxes for Intermediate-Export attributes. | |
All | Delete all rule boxes for all attributes across all columns by selecting this option. | |
Connections | Connections missing Import input | This option lets you delete all non-functioning connections, also called warning connections, generated after importing data from an additional source. |
Custom Columns | Remove Unconnected (Intermediate) | Select this option to delete all unconnected Intermediate attributes created as custom attributes. |
Remove Unconnected (Export) | Select this option to delete all unconnected export channel attributes created as custom attributes. |
Manage versions in Dataflow
As you edit and adjust elements in your Dataflow, it is helpful to save versions of your Dataflow before testing something or making major changes so that you can roll back to earlier versions in case of a problem.
Dataflow automatically saves versions before you commit significant changes, such as deleting all column connections. But you can also save versions manually.
You can see the list of versions by selecting the button on the upper ribbon.
To save a new version of Dataflow:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Select the Versions button.
Select + Save Dataflow as New Version.
In the pop-up menu, enter the version's name and leave a comment (optional).
Select Save. The Versions menu now includes your just saved version.
There are several icons to the right of each saved version.
These highlighted icons let you perform the following actions:
View a comment.
Edit a version name or comment.
Delete a version.
To retrieve a version of Dataflow:
Select the Versions button.
Select the version you wish to retrieve.
Select Yes if you want to save your current Dataflow version before loading a previous version.
Note
You can not edit an older version - you can only save a new one. Loading a previous Dataflow version overwrites the current version. If you continue without saving, you will lose all changes for all export channels in the current site since the last saved version.
Filter rule boxes
The Filter Boxes search field lets you look up certain rule boxes applied to your data while hiding those that don't match the search keywords.
To filter by rule boxes:
Go to Dataflow from the site's main menu.
Enter the name of the rule box you want to search for or a keyword associated with it to the Filter Boxes search field.
The platform hides all non-matching rule boxes from Dataflow, showing only the rule boxes that match your search term.