This app checks the validity of DDF datasets and generates datapackage

You can use this app in 3 ways: through a GUI of Gapminder Offline, as a command line tool or through the API

Normal people can use validator in Gapminder Offline app (version 3.3.0+)

• Download and install Gapminder Offline
• Go to the top-right menu and choose "DDF tools". Follow instructions on the screen for the rest of the process.

datapackage

• With Gapminder Offline DDF tools you can also create or update datapackage file if you choose an option to do so.

Advanced users can use validator as a command line tool

• System requiremet: you have node.js environment installed on your computer
• Open your terminal and install validator globally: in any folder run npm install ddf-validation -g
• Navigate to the folder where the DDF dataset you want to validate is located
• Run validation: validate-ddf, look for the terminal output, which may come in a while depending on the size of dataset
• If issues are found, the validator will create a human-readable text file with the timestamp, which you can read and debug your dataset

datapackage

• Generating a new datapackage json: run validator with -i flag: validate-ddf -i
• Updating existing datapackage json and preserving your headers: run validator with --content flag: validate-ddf --content

There is a ton of possible options you can use to customise the validation, make it faster, etc, see the complete reference here

Programmers can use validator via the API

See the API reference, also datapackage generation via APi

Gods can improve the validator

See the developer's guide, also see testing and release routines