Environment or Generated Documentation

Documentation is an essential component of building a sustainable data architecture, but is sometimes put aside to focus on development work to meet deadlines. Coalesce automatically produces and updates documentation as developers work, thereby freeing them to work on higher-value deliverables.

Accessing Generated Documentation

Generated documentation for a Workspace/Environment can be accessed in three different ways.

1. Both Workspaces and Environments - From the top of the user interface, through the Docs link.

2. Only Workspaces - From the Projects Dashboard, through the Docs icon.

3. Only Environments - From the Deploy Dashboard, via the ellipsis → View Docs.

Interface Overview

The new documentation interface consists of 3 sections highlighted in the following image:

1. Search

Users can search for node names, physical types, databases, schemas, and storage locations. Node names can be searched for using any portion of the node's name, while all other objects are searched using a prefix search only. For example - if the storage location is PROD_RAW, searching for RAW will not yield any results. On the other hand, if a node is named STG_CUSTOMER, searching for either STG or CUST will be effective.

2. Filters

The Filters dropdowns allow the user to limit the nodes currently visible in the Results List. For example, if one wanted to see only nodes of type Stage, then they would select Node type → Stage, and the Results List will be updated in real time.

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Searching for Columns

Individual columns are not currently searchable but this is a planned feature on the Coalesce roadmap.

3. Results List

This section will have the results, which come from a combination of search terms and filters used.

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Sharing Results

Search terms and filters automatically adjust/expand the URL, which makes results easy to share, as other users can use the same URL to access the same results.

Exporting Documentation

The Coalesce documentation as it is presented in the Coalesce user interface (UI) cannot be exported. However, the Command Line Interface and API can be used to programmatically gather information about your Coalesce organization, such as a list of your Environments with their details, Node contents, etc.