Global variables

Global Variables

datavault4dbt is highly customizable by using many global variables. Since they are applied on multiple levels, a high rate of standardization across your data vault 2.0 solution is guaranteed.

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Prerequisites

The default values of those variables are set inside the packages dbt_project.yml under <your_dbt_project>/dbt_packages/datavault4dbt/dbt_project.yml and should be copied to your own dbt_project.yml. Copy all variables defined under the keyword vars, and paste them under the keyword varsin your file.

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Variables and their usages

All the following variables are prefixed with datavault4dbt.

Column aliases

Name	Usage	Explanation
ldts_alias	Stage, DV entities	The name of the load-date column in all DV entities. Is generated in the staging area.
rsrc_alias	Stage, DV entities	The name of the record-source column in all DV entities. Is generated in the staging area.
ledts_alias	Version 1 Satellites	The name of the load-end date column in version 1 Satellites and MA-Satellites.
sdts_alias	Snapshot Table, PITs	The name of the snapshot-date column in the snapshot table (+view) and all PITs.
snapshot_trigger_ column	Snapshot Table, PITs, Post-Hook	The name of the column that shows the activation state of single snapshots.
stg_alias	Record Tracking Satellite	The name of the column, that holds info about the staging model of each record.
is_current_col_alias	Version 1 Satellites	The name of the column that indicates the current row per hashkey.

Hash Configuration

Name	Usage	Explanation
hash	Stage	What hash algorithm should be used for generating hash values. MD5, SHA1 or SHA2.
hash_datatype	Stage	The datatype that hash columns should have. Needs to fit the output of the used hash algorithm.
hashkey_input_ case_sensititve	Stage	Whether the input business keys for hashkey calculation should be case sensitive or not.
hashdiff_input_ case_sensititve	Stage	Whether the input descriptive attributes for hashdiff calculation should be case sensitive or not.

Stage Configuration

Name	Usage	Explanation
copy_rsrc_ldts_ input_columns	Stage	Whether the columns that are used for ldts and rsrc should also be inside the stage, or not. If true, the stage would hold the ldts- & rsrc-alias columns, and the original columns. If false, only the aliased columns are kept.

Ghost Record and Zero Key Configuration

Name	Usage	Explanation
beginning_of_all_times	Stage, Satellites, PIT	The timestamp that represents your earliest technical timestamp.
end_of_all_times	Stage, Version 1 Satellites, PIT	The timestamp that represents your latest technical timestamp. We recommend to not use the maximum possible timestamp of your database.
timestamp_format	Stage, Version 1 Satellites, PIT	The timestamp format of the two previous variables.
beginning_of_all_times_date	Stage	The date that represents your earliest technical date. Used for ghost-record creation of columns with the date-datatype
end_of_all_times_date	Stage	The date that represents your latest technical date. Used for ghost-record creation of columns with the date-datatype
date_format	Stage	The date format of the two previous variables.
default_unknown_rsrc	Stage	The default unknown value for the record source column you want to use.
default_error_rsrc	Stage	The default error value for the record source column you want to use.
rsrc_default_dtype	Stage	The default datatype that should be used for the two variables above.
stg_default_dtype	Record Tracking Satellite	The default datatype for the 'stg_alias' column inside a record tracking satellite .
derived_columns_ default_dtype	Stage	The default datatype for derived columns, if no other datatype can be detected automatically.

Datatype specific default values

For each datatype there is a default unknown and error value defined. Additionally, an alternative, usually much shorter value is defined. See the applied default values in the table below.

Datatype	Error Value	Error Value alt.	Unknown Value	Unknown Value alt.
STRING	(error)	e	(unknown)	u
Numeric	-2		-1

Those values are best changed by adding a global variable inside your dbt project, that is called following this pattern: `datavault4dbt._value_<(alt)>__`. If you want to change the default alternative error value for datatype STRING, you would need to set the global variable `datavault4dbt.error_value_alt__STRING` to your desired value.