Bert Swope
Recently, the question was asked, If the Denodo Data Catalog Table description and Fields descriptions can be formatted. After some research, the short answer is: Yes, the Denodo Data Catalog descriptions (Table and Field) can be formatted. However, formatting in the Denodo Data Catalog descriptions is an undocumented capability and takes a little bit of a paradigm shift.
The content below is based on the fact that we maintain our Denodo Data Catalog descriptions through VDP Metadata properties:
The Paradigm Shift To Format Denodo Data Catalog Descriptions
There may be other ways but the only way that I have found to have formatting displayed in the data catalog is to use HTML coding tags. Otherwise, the formatting in Denodo Virtual DataPort (VDP) Metadata is usually passed to the data catalog and can be seen in the editor, but does not display as desired in the data catalog.
Tips For Format Denodo Data Catalog Descriptions
- Think of the Denodo Data Catalog HTML pages and descriptions as being rendered as HTML Text.
- If you are using Virtual Query Language (VQL) to update Denodo Virtual DataPort (VDP) Meta Data and to maintain the Data Catalog view description you will need to code the HTML Tags in a way that does not break the VQL syntax requirements.
- Keep in mind that the description fields have a 4,000-character limit, which includes HTML tags you may add.
Example HTML Tags to Format The Denodo Data Catalog:
Coding HTML Example
The screenshot below shows a coding example where the values have been entered into Microsoft Excel and loaded into the Denodo Data Catalog via VQL.
The coding examples are fairly self-explanatory, but just in case here is a list of the examples from top to bottom.
- Default bullet list
- Bolded text
- Italicized text
- Underlined Text
- Emphasized Text
- List without bullets
- List with square bullets
Text version of code samples
Here are the text versions of the code samples, if you should want to leverage them as an accelerator.
| Example Name | Code |
| Default bullet list | Example of simple bullet list. <br> <li>Aaaaaaaa</li> <li>Bbbbbbbbbb</li> </br> |
| Bolded text | Example of <b>bolded</b> text. |
| Italicized text | Example of <i>italic</i> text |
| Underlined Text | Example of <u>underline</u> text |
| Emphasized Text | Example of <em> emphasized</em> Text |
| List without bullets | Example of simple list without bullets. <br> <ul style=”list-style-type:none;”> <li>Ccccccccc</li> <li>Ddddddddddd</li> </ul> </br> |
| List with square bullets | Example of simple list square bullets. <br> <ul style=”list-style-type:square;”> <li>Eeeeeeeeeee</li> <li>Ffffffffffffffff</li> </ul> </br> |
Denodo Data Catalog Formatting Results
The screenshot below shows the Denodo Data Catalog field description displaying the description of the code above.
This list of what can be accomplished in the Denodo Data Catalog with a little HTML coding is by no means intended to be exhaustive but should be sufficient to illustrate the concept and to get you started down the path.