Data dictionary metadata for marketplace listings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11989164-B2
Application number	US-202218051447-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2022
Priority date	Sep 30, 2022
Publication date	May 21, 2024
Grant date	May 21, 2024

Abstract

A data dictionary generation system automatically populates and updates a data dictionary for listings offering shared data. A data dictionary includes metadata describing the shared data, including the individual objects, such as the individual tables, schemas, views, and functions. The shared data and each individual data object may be described in the data dictionary by a set of data fields that corresponds to the shared dataset or the object type of the individual object. The data dictionary can be presented to data consumers along with the description of the listing to provide data consumers with a comprehensive description of the shared data provided by a listing, including a high-level summary of the shared data and description of each individual object included in the shared data. The data dictionary allows data consumers to understand the contents of the shared data and how to use the shared data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
accessing a listing offering shared data through a data marketplace, the shared data including a first data object;
presenting a user interface comprising a plurality of user interface elements for configuring generation of a data dictionary, the plurality of user interface elements comprising one or more custom data fields;
receiving input that selects a set of data fields of the first data object to include in the listing based on the plurality of user interface elements of the user interface;
in response to receiving the input that selects the set of data fields, automatically generating a data dictionary describing the listing, the data dictionary including metadata describing the first data object and including data of the first data object corresponding to the selected set of data fields;
in response to receiving a request to view the listing, causing presentation of a description of the listing based on the data dictionary, the description of the listing including the metadata describing the first data object;
storing permissions in the data dictionary that grant access to the first data object;
based on storing the permissions in the data dictionary that grant access to the first data object, periodically scanning the listing offering to detect a change to the permissions associated with the first data object indicating that the access to the first data object has been revoked;
in response to detecting the change to permissions associated with the first data object, updating the data dictionary to indicate that access to the first data object has been revoked, wherein the listing is visible across a plurality of regions associated with a plurality of data exchanges, the operations comprising:
changing, at a particular time, visibility of the listing for an individual region of the plurality of regions, wherein a first consumer of the listing was a member of an individual data exchange of the plurality of data exchanges associated with the individual region at the particular time, and wherein a second consumer of the listing is a new member of the individual data exchange after the particular time, the first consumer being able to resolve the listing in response to changing the visibility while the second consumer is unable to resolve the listing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically generating the data dictionary describing the listing further comprises:
generating metadata describing a second data object included in the shared data offered by the listing, wherein the description of the listing also includes the metadata describing the second data object.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a modification to the shared data offered by the listing;
generating an updated data dictionary for the listing; and
in response to receiving a subsequent request to view the listing, causing presentation of an updated description of the listing based on the updated data dictionary.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein generating the updated data dictionary for the listing comprises:
generating metadata describing a new data object added to the shared data provided by the listing, wherein the updated description of the listing includes the metadata describing the new data object.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically generating the data dictionary describing the listing further comprises:
generating metadata describing a set of data objects included in the shared data offered by the listing, the metadata describing the set of data objects includes a set of values indicating a number of data objects in the set of data objects that are in each of a set of distinct data object types, wherein the description of the listing also includes the metadata describing the set of data objects.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the set of distinct data object types includes at least one of a data table, a data schema, a data view, a function, and a stored procedure.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object is a data table and the metadata describing the first data object includes at least one of a table name assigned to the data table, a description of the data table, a size of the data table, a number of rows included in the data table, and a number of columns included in the data table.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the metadata describing the first data object further includes metadata describing each column in the data table, the metadata describing each column in the data table including at least one of a name assigned to the column, a description of the column, a data type of values stored in the column, an example value stored in the column, a range of the values stored in the column, and a frequency of the values stored in the column.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object is a function or a stored procedure and the metadata describing the first data object includes at least one of a name assigned to the function or stored procedure, a description of the function or stored procedure, parameter names included in the function or stored procedure, and parameter types used by the function or stored procedure.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing presentation of the description of the listing based on the data dictionary comprises:
prioritizing presentation of metadata describing a set of featured data selected by a data provider associated with the listing.

11. A system comprising:
one or more computer processors; and
one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
accessing a listing offering shared data through a data marketplace, the shared data including a first data object;
presenting a user interface comprising a plurality of user interface elements for configuring generation of a data dictionary, the plurality of user interface elements comprising one or more custom data fields;
receiving input that selects a set of data fields of the first data object to include in the listing based on the plurality of user interface elements of the user interface;
in response to receiving the input that selects the set of data fields, automatically generating a data dictionary describing the listing, the data dictionary including metadata describing the first data object and including data of the first data object corresponding to the selected set of data fields;
in response to receiving a request to view the listing, causing presentation of a description of the listing based on the data dictionary, the description of the listing including the metadata describing the first data object;
detecting a change to permissions associated with the first data object; and
storing permissions in the data dictionary that grant access to the first data object;
based on storing the permissions in the data dictionary that grant access to the first data object, periodically scanning the listing offering to detect a change to the permissions associated with the first data object indicating that the access to the first data object has been revoked;
in response to detecting the change to permissions associated with the first data object, updating the data dictionary to indicate that access to the first data object has been revoked, wherein the listing is visible across a plurality of regions associated with a plurality of data exchanges, the operations comprising:
changing, at a particular time, visibility of the listing for an individual region of the plurality of regions, wherein a first consumer of the listing was a member of an individual data exchange of the

Assignees

• Snowflake Inc

Inventors

• Arikatla Durga Mahesh
• Chao Robert K
• He Li
• Lam Joyce
• Liu Xinyue
• Muralidhar Subramanian
• Paladugu Vishnu Dutt
• Pulatova Shakhina
• Stillman Stephanie
• Wen Xin
• Wu Di
• Xu Ziqi

Classifications

• G06F16/213 Primary

  with details for schema evolution support · CPC title