Variables

Learn how to use Runtime & Environment Variables with Sling

Runtime Variables

A powerful logic which allows dynamic configuration. The used parts will be replaced at runtime with the corresponding values. So you could name your target object {target_schema}.{stream_schema}_{stream_table}, and at runtime it will be formatted correctly as depicted below.

• run_timestamp: The run timestamp of the task (2006_01_02_150405)

• source_account: the name of the account of the source connection (when source conn is AZURE)

• source_bucket: the name of the bucket of the source connection (when source conn is GCS or S3)

• source_container: the name of the container of the source connection (when source conn is AZURE)

• source_name: the name of the source connection

• stream_file_folder: the file parent folder name of the stream (when source is a file system)

• stream_file_name: the file name of the stream (when source is a file system)

• stream_file_ext: the file extension of the stream (when source is a file system)

• stream_file_path: the file path of the stream (when source is a file system)

• stream_name: the name of the stream

• stream_schema: the schema name of the source stream (when source is a database)

• stream_table: the table name of the source stream (when source is a database)

• target_account: the name of the account of the target connection (when target is AZURE)

• target_bucket: the name of the bucket of the target connection (when target is GCS or S3)

• target_container: the name of the container of the target connection (when target is AZURE)

• target_name: the name of the target connection

• target_schema: the default target schema defined in connection (when target is a database)

• object_schema: the target object table schema (when target is a database)

• object_table: the target object table name (when target is a database)

• object_name: the target object name

Timestamp Patterns

• YYYY: The 4 digit year of the run timestamp of the task

• YY: The 2 digit year of the run timestamp of the task

• MMM: The abbreviation of the month of the run timestamp of the task

• MM: The 2 digit month of the run timestamp of the task

• DD: The 2 digit day of the run timestamp of the task

• HH: The 2 digit 24-hour of the run timestamp of the task

• hh: The 2 digit 12-hour of the run timestamp of the task

• mm: The 2 digit minute of the run timestamp of the task

• ss: The 2 digit second of the run timestamp of the task

• ISO8601: The ISO-8601 format of the run timestamp of the task (2006-01-02T15:04:05Z)

Environment Variables

Sling also allows you to pass-in environment variables in order to further customize configurations in a scalable manner. We are then able to reuse them in various places in our config files.

Definition

A convenient way to embed global variables is in the env.yaml file. You could also simply define it in the environment, the traditional way.

env.yaml

connections:
  MYSQL:
    type: mysql
  S3_ZONE_A:
    type: s3

# this sets environment variables in sling process
variables:
  path_prefix: /my/path/prefix
  schema_name: main

Replication

Below we are displaying the full use of Environment Variables as well as Runtime Vars (such as stream_schema, stream_table, YYYY, MM and DD).

replication.yaml

source: MYSQL
target: S3_ZONE_A

defaults:
  # {path_prefix} here is filled in from env var
  object: {path_prefix}/{stream_schema}/{stream_table}/{YYYY}_{MM}_{DD}.parquet
  target_options:
    format: parquet

streams:

  # all tables in schema
  my_schema.*:
    # overwrites default object
    object: {stream_schema}/{stream_table}/{YYYY}_{MM}_{DD}/
    target_options:
      file_max_rows: 400000 # will split files into folder
  
  mysql.my_table:
    sql: |
      select * from mysql.my_table
      where date between '{start_date}' and '{end_date}'

env:
  # ${path_prefix} pulls from environment variables in sling process or env
  path_prefix: '${path_prefix}' # From env.yaml (not in Environment)
  start_date: '${START_DATE}'   # From Environment
  end_date: '${END_DATE}'       # From Environment

Global Environment Variables

Sling utilizes the following global environment variables to further configure the load behavior. You can simply define them in your environment, the env.yaml file or the env section in a task or replication.

Variable Name	Description
SLING_HOME_DIR	The sling home directory, which contains env.yaml. Will use default if not provided.
SLING_LOADED_AT_COLUMN	Whether to add an audit timestamp column of _sling_loaded_at in target object.
SLING_STREAM_URL_COLUMN	If source is file, whether to add a column _sling_stream_url with the source file path / url in target object.
SLING_ROW_ID_COLUMN	Whether to add a column named _sling_row_id in the target object, which will have a random UUIDv7 value. This will be unique.
SLING_ROW_NUM_COLUMN	If source is file, whether to add a column named _sling_row_num in the target object, which will the row number of the stream (incremented in record processed).
SLING_ALLOW_EMPTY	This is useful to create tables using the stream columns structure, even if there is no data. To enable, set to true.
SLING_DISABLE_TELEMETRY	this disables any anonymous usage reporting. These are used to improve sling. To disable, set this to true.
SLING_SHOW_PROGRESS	Whether the progress of the stream should be displayed (true or false).
SLING_LOGGING	How sling formats the log lines. Accepts values JSON, NO_COLOR or CONSOLE (default).
SAMPLE_SIZE	The number of records to process in order to infer column types (especially for file sources). Default is 900.