Object Overview

Contents:

Flow Structure and Objects

Within Trifacta® Wrangler, the basic unit for organizing your work is the flow.  The following diagram illustrates the component objects of a flow and how they are related:

Figure: Objects in a Flow

Flow

A flow is a container for holding one or more imported datasets, associated recipes and other objects. This container is a means for packaging Trifacta objects for the following types of actions:

• Creating relationships between datasets, their recipes, and other datasets.

• Copying

• Execution of pre-configured jobs

• Creating references between recipes and external flows

Imported Dataset

Data that is imported to the platform is referenced as an imported dataset. An imported dataset is simply a reference to the original data; the data does not exist within the platform. An imported dataset can be a reference to a file, multiple files, database table, or other type of data.

• An imported dataset can be referenced in recipes.
• Imported datasets are created through the Import Data Page.
• For more information on the process, see Import Basics.

After you have created an imported dataset, it becomes usable after it has been added to a flow. You can do this as part of the import process or later.

Recipe

A recipe is a user-defined sequence of steps that can be applied to transform a dataset.

• A recipe object is created from an imported dataset or another recipe. You can create a recipe from a recipe to chain together recipes.
• Recipes are interpreted by  Trifacta Wrangler and turned into commands that can be executed against data. 
• When initially created, a recipe contains no steps. Recipes are augmented and modified using the various visual tools in the Transformer Page.
• For more information on the process, see Transform Basics.

In a flow, the following objects are associated with each recipe, which are described below:

• Outputs
• References

Outputs and Publishing Destinations

Outputs contain one or more publishing destinations, which define the output format, location, and other publishing options that are applied to the results generated from a job run on the recipe. 

When you select a recipe's output object in a flow, you can:

• Define the publishing destinations for outputs that are generated when the recipe is executed. Publishing destinations specify output format, location, and other publishing actions. A single recipe can have multiple publishing destinations.
• Run an on-demand job using the specified destinations. The job is immediately queued for execution.

References and Reference Datasets

References allow you to create a reference to the output of the recipe's steps in another dataset. References are not depicted in the above diagram.

When you select a recipe's reference object, you can add it to another flow. This object is then added as a reference dataset in the target flow. A reference dataset is a read-only version of the output data generated from the execution of a recipe's steps.

Working with recipes

Recipes are edited in the Transformer page, which provides multiple methods for quickly selecting and building recipe steps.

Run Jobs: When you are satisfied with the recipe that you have created in the Transformer page, you can execute a job. A job may be composed of one or more of the following job types:

• Transform job: Executes the set of recipe steps that you have defined against your sample(s), generating the transformed set of results across the entire dataset.
• Profile job: Optionally, you can choose to generate a visual profile of the results of your transform job. This visual profile can provide important feedback on data quality and can be a key for further refinement of your recipe.
• When a job completes, you can review the resulting data and identify data that still needs fixing. See Job Results Page.
• For more information on the process, see Running Job Basics.

Flow Example

The following diagram illustrates the flexibility of object relationships within a flow. 

Figure: Flow Example

Flows are created in the Flows page. See Flows Page.