Dynamic Columns

Add new columns to the template at run-time.

Consider a scenario where you cannot have a fixed template for collecting data. The columns in the data model depend on the end user's preferences and/or some other criteria.

For such cases, csvbox provides the flexibility to add unique dynamic columns for each import at run-time.

Basic Installation

You can configure dynamic columns via the installation code.

Here's a basic configuration that adds 2 dynamic columns qualification and experience.

Javascript

Pass the dynamic columns that you want to add as an array input parameter to thesetDynamicColumns()method while initializing the importer.

importer.setDynamicColumns([
         {
          "column_name" : "qualification"        
         },
         {
          "column_name": "experience"         
          }
])

Basic installation steps are available here.

React

Pass the dynamic columns as an object to the dynamicColumnsproperty of the CSVBoxButton component.

  dynamicColumns={[
               {
                 "column_name" : "qualification"        
               },
               {
                  "column_name": "experience"         
              }
  ]}

Basic installation steps are available here.

Angular

Add [dynamicColumns]="dynamicColumns" to the existing template.

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `
    <csvbox-button
      [licenseKey]="licenseKey"
      [user]="user"
      [dynamicColumns]="dynamicColumns"
      [imported]="imported.bind(this)">
      Import
    </csvbox-button>
  `
})

Then pass the dynamic columns as an object to thedynamicColumnsproperty of the AppComponent. Example:

  dynamicColumns=[
               {
                 column_name : "qualification"        
               },
               {
                  column_name: "experience"         
              }
  ]

Basic installation steps are available here.

Vuejs

Add :dynamicColumns="dynamicColumns" to the existing template.

<template>
  <div id="app">
    <CSVBoxButton 
      :licenseKey="licenseKey"
      :user="user"
      :dynamicColumns="dynamicColumns"      
      :onImport="onImport">
      Upload File
    </CSVBoxButton>
  </div>
</template>

Pass the dynamic columns as an object to thedynamicColumnsproperty of theCSVBoxButton component. Example:

  dynamicColumns: [
               {
                 column_name : "qualification"        
               },
               {
                  column_name: "experience"         
              }
  ]

Basic installation steps are available here.

Dynamic columns will be visible in the importer along with the other regular columns.

Advanced Configuration

Dynamic columns can be configured by passing additional<key>: <value>pairs to the array input parameter of thesetDynamicColumns()method.

Here is an example illustrating more configuration options.

Javascript

 importer.setDynamicColumns([
         {
          "column_name" : "qualification",
          "display_label": "Highest Qualification",
          "info_hint": "What is your highest educational degree",
          "matching_keywords": "degree, education",
          "type": "text",
          "validators": 
            {          	
              "min_length": 2,
              "max_length": 50
            },
          "default_value": "Masters",  
          "position": 2,
          "required": true
        },
        {
          "column_name": "experience",
          "display_label": "Work Experience",
          "info_hint": "Years of work experience",
          "matching_keywords": "",
          "type": "number",
          "validators": 
            {          	
              "min_value": 0,
              "max_value": 100
            },
          "position": 4,
          "required": false
        },
        {
          "column_name": "gender",
          "display_label": "Gender",
          "info_hint": "",
          "matching_keywords": "",
          "type": "list",
          "validators": 
            {          	
              "values": [
                              {"value": "m", "display_label": "male"},
                              {"value": "f", "display_label": "female"} 
                        ],
              "case_sensitive": false
            },
          "required": true
        }
])

React

  dynamicColumns={[
         {
          "column_name" : "qualification",
          "display_label": "Highest Qualification",
          "info_hint": "What is your highest educational degree",
          "matching_keywords": "degree, education",
          "type": "text",
          "validators": 
          {          	
            "min_length": 2,
            "max_length": 50
          },
          "default_value": "Masters",
          "position": 2,
          "required": true
    },
 {
          "column_name": "experience",
          "display_label": "Work Experience",
          "info_hint": "Years of work experience",
          "matching_keywords": "",
          "type": "number",
          "validators": 
          {          	
            "min_value": 0,
            "max_value": 100
          },
          "position": 4,
          "required": false
    },
    {
          "column_name": "gender",
          "display_label": "Gender",
          "info_hint": "",
          "matching_keywords": "",
          "type": "list",
          "validators": 
          {          	
            "values": [
                            {"value": "m", "display_label": "male"},
                            {"value": "f", "display_label": "female"} 
                      ],
            "case_sensitive": false
          },
          "required": true
    }
]}

Angular

dynamicColumns=[
    {
     column_name: "qualification",
     display_label: "Highest Qualification",
     info_hint: "What is your highest educational degree",
     matching_keywords: "degree, education",
     type: "text",
     validators: 
     {            
       min_length: 2,
       max_length: 50
     },
     default_value: "Masters",  
     position: 2,
     required: true
  },
  {
     column_name: "experience",
     display_label: "Work Experience",
     info_hint: "Years of work experience",
     matching_keywords: "",
     type: "number",
     validators: 
     {            
       min_value: 0,
       max_value: 100
     },
     position: 4,
     required: false
  },
  {
     column_name: "gender",
     display_label: "Gender",
     info_hint: "",
     matching_keywords: "",
     type: "list",
     validators: 
     {            
       values: [
                       {value: "m", display_label: "male"},
                       {value: "f", display_label: "female"} 
                 ],
       case_sensitive: false
     },
     required: true
  }
  ];

Vuejs

 dynamicColumns: [
  {
   column_name: "qualification",
   display_label: "Highest Qualification",
   info_hint: "What is your highest educational degree",
   matching_keywords: "degree, education",
   type: "text",
   validators: 
   {            
     min_length: 2,
     max_length: 50
   },
   default_value: "Masters",
   position: 2,
   required: true
},
{
   column_name: "experience",
   display_label: "Work Experience",
   info_hint: "Years of work experience",
   matching_keywords: "",
   type: "number",
   validators: 
   {            
     min_value: 0,
     max_value: 100
   },
   position: 4,
   required: false
},
{
   column_name: "gender",
   display_label: "Gender",
   info_hint: "",
   matching_keywords: "",
   type: "list",
   validators: 
   {            
     values: [
                     {value: "m", display_label: "male"},
                     {value: "f", display_label: "female"} 
               ],
     case_sensitive: false
   },
   required: true
}
]

column_name is the only key that is mandatory for adding a dynamic column.

Configuration Options

Key	Description
column_name *	It is the column name that will be pushed to the data destination.
display_label	The user-friendly column label that the users will see in the importer.
info_hint	Info Hints are help tooltips that will get displayed when the users hover the mouse over the Display Label (or click it) in the importer.
matching_keywords	Comma-separated set of keywords as alternative matching options to help users match column names automatically.
type	It specifies the data type of the incoming data. Possible values are: text, number, email, date, boolean, regex, ip, url, credit_card, phone_number, currency, list, dependent_list, dynamic_list, dependent_dynamic_list, multiselect_list, and multiselect_dynamic_list.
validators	The validation rules for the data based on the column type. Validator options are mentioned below.
default_value	A default filler value for the column in case the incoming data is blank.
required	It indicates whether a column is mandatory.
position	It defines the display index of the column. Starts from 1.

Validator options

Column Type	Validators	Example
text	min_length max_length	"min_length": 2, "max_length": 50
number	min_value max_value number_type - Valid values: "any", "integer" - Default: "any" allow_commas - Valid values: true, false - Default: false	"min_value": -2, "max_value": 100, "number_type": "integer", "allow_commas": true
email	-
date	format	"format": ["MM/DD/YYYY", "MM.DD.YYYY", "MM-DD-YYYY"]
boolean	-
regex	expression	"expression": "^[\\w-\\.]+@([\\w-]+\\.)+[\\w-]{2,4}$" Note: The special characters in the expression need to be escaped. You may use a tool like this for escaping.
ip	version	"version": “ipv4”
url	-
credit_card	-
phone_number	country_code	"country_code": "de"
currency	symbol require_symbol allow_space_after_symbol symbol_after_digits allow_negatives parens_for_negatives negative_sign_before_digits negative_sign_after_digits thousands_separato decimal_separator allow_decimal require_decimal digits_after_decima allow_space_after_digits Note: The array digits_after_decimal is filled with the exact number of digits allowed not a range, for example a range 1 to 3 will be given as [1, 2, 3].	"symbol": "$", "require_symbol": false, "allow_space_after_symbol": false, "symbol_after_digits": false, "allow_negatives": true, "parens_for_negatives": false, "negative_sign_before_digits": false, "negative_sign_after_digits": false, "thousands_separator": ",", "decimal_separator": ".", "allow_decimal": true, "require_decimal": false, "digits_after_decimal": 2, "allow_space_after_digits": false
list	values value display_label (optional) dependents (optional) value display_label case_sensitive	"values": [ {"value": "USA", "display_label": "USA", "dependents": [ {"value": "ny", "display_label": "New York"}, {"value": "ch", "display_label": "Chicago"}, {"value": "se", "display_label": "Seatle"}, {"value": "mi", "display_label": "Miami"} ]}, {"value": "Canada", "display_label": "Canada", "dependents": [ {"value": "to", "display_label": "Toronto"}, {"value": "va", "display_label": "Vancouver"} ]} ], "case_sensitive": false
dependent_list	primary_column	"primary_column": "countries"
dynamic_list	source_url request_method request_headers custom_user_attributes (Optional. Default is true)	"source_url": "https://api.myapp.com/countries", "request_method": "POST", "request_headers": [ {"key": "Content-Type", "value": "application/json"}, {"key": "X-Access-Token", "value": "71ab1d73a4d1319b260e9a0sdbdbc1c"} ], custom_user_attributes: true
dependent_dynamic_list	primary_column	"primary_column": "countries"
multiselect_list	values delimiter (Optional. Default is comma ",") case_sensitive	"values": ["Red", "Green", "Blue"], "delimiter": ".", "case_sensitive": false
multiselect_dynamic_list	source_url request_method request_headers delimiter (Optional. Default is comma ",")	"source_url": "https://api.myapp.com/colors", "request_method": "POST", "request_headers": [ {"key": "Content-Type", "value": "application/json"}, {"key": "X-Access-Token", "value": "71ab1d73a4d1319b260e9a0sdbdbc1c"} ], "delimiter": "."

Column Position

In general, the dynamic columns are displayed only after the regular columns.

The positionparameter helps to re-order the position of the dynamic columns and get them displayed before or in between the regular columns.

The position value starts from 1 indicating the first position in the final column list. It is an optional parameter while defining the dynamic columns.

Receiving Dynamic Data

The data from the dynamic columns is available in the data destinations along with the data from the regular columns. Currently, dynamic columns are supported by the following destinations only:

1. None

2. API/Webhook

3. Amazon S3

API/Webhook Data Destination

In the API response JSON object, the dynamic data will be displayed inside the _dynamic_data object as shown below. The _dynamic_data object will be visible only if the dynamic columns are configured for the import. In the example below check lines 12 and 31.

[
  {
    "import_id": 79418895,
    "sheet_id": 55,
    "sheet_name": "Products",
    "row_number": 1,
    "row_data": {
          "Name": "TP-Link TL-WN822N Wireless N300 High Gain USB Adapter",
          "SKU": "AS-100221",
          "Price": "33.00",
          "Quantity": "3",
          "_dynamic_data":{
		"qualification": "MBA",
		"experience": "3"
           }
    },
    "custom_fields": {
      "user_id": "1002"
    }
  },
  {
    "import_id": 79418895,
    "sheet_id": 55,
    "sheet_name": "Products",
    "row_number": 2,
    "row_data":{
          "Name": "EPower Technology EP-600PM Power Supply 600W ATX12V 2.3 Single 120mm Cooling Fan Bare",
          "SKU": "AS-103824",
          "Price": "95.35",
          "Quantity": "8",
           "_dynamic_data":{
		"qualification": "MA",
		"experience": "6"
           }
        },
    "custom_fields": {
      "user_id": "1002"
    }
  },
]

S3 Data Destination

In the AWS S3 file store, the dynamic columns will be added as new columns in the uploaded file.