The Data Prep (Paxata) documentation is now available on the DataRobot public documentation site. See the Data Prep section for user documentation and connector information. After the 2021.2 SP1 release, the content on this site will be removed and replaced with a link to the DataRobot public documentation site.
Steps Editor-How to use in your Project
Use
The Steps Editor allows you to view, edit, add, rearrange, and delete Steps within a Project. The Steps in the Steps Editor are displayed sequentially, with the first step at the bottom and the most recent step at the top.
Overview
The following is an overview of the elements in the Steps Editor
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Steps history | Displays the Steps taken so far in the from Project, from "Start", up to the most recent Step at the top of the panel. |
| Copy Steps | Copies the Project Steps to a clipboard or a file for reuse in a different Project. See Reuse Project Steps for details. |
| Edit | Opens the Steps panel in editor mode where you can make changes to any Step in the Project |
| Publish | Publishes your Project as an AnswerSet in the Library. An AnswerSet is the published result of your data prep. |
| Annotations | Provides an annotation for any Step in your Project. See Actions section below for details. |
| Refresh datasets | Refreshes dataset(s) in the Project to use the most current version(s). See Update the Project Datasets for details. |
| Project stats | Displays stats about your Project—the number of columns and rows at any Step in your Project. Click on any Step to view the stats for that Step. |
| Debugging | Displays a raw script of your Project in JSON format. This is only used for debugging purposes if there is ever a problem with your Project. |
Actions you can take with the Steps tool
View – Clicking a Step in the Steps Editor displays the data as it appeared at that particular Step. Clicking the EYE button next to a Step mutes (hide) the Step from the Project without actually deleting it. Click the EYE again to show that Step again.
Edit – The Steps Editor allows you to edit Steps already committed to the Project at any time. When a Step is clicked in the Steps Editor, the data will adjust and display to show how the data appeared at that particular Step in the process. By clicking the EDIT button in the upper-right of the Steps Editor, you can edit the currently selected Step (be sure to click the SAVE button in the upper-right corner of the Steps Editor following any edits, otherwise your changes will not be kept). When in edit mode, the Steps Editor will also display the number of active Data Filters for each individual Step of the Project.
Add a Step – Anytime an action is saved within your Project, it is added to the Steps at the top of the Steps Editor in reverse chronological order (most recent actions are at the top). It's also possible to add a new Step at any historical point in the Project. Whenever you click a Step in the Editor, your data displays as it historically appeared at the completion of that particular Step. If you take a new action on the data while this historical view is shown, that new action (Step) will be added into the Steps Editor directly following the Step you initially selected.
Rearrange Steps – Rearranging Steps is as simple as clicking, dragging, and dropping Steps within the Steps Editor. As you rearrange Steps, the data will automatically refresh to reflect the new changes that result from the rearrangement. If the rearrangement of Steps causes errors with any of the Steps, an alert will display on the Steps button as well as on any individual Steps that have errors.
Delete Steps – When viewing the Steps in the Steps Editor, you will see the EYE button, which mutes (hides) Steps within the Project without completely deleting the Step. If you click the Edit button in the upper-right corner of the Steps Editor, you will notice that the EYE button disappears, and when you hover your cursor over an individual Step, an X button displays where the EYE button was previously displayed. Clicking this X button will delete the Step from the Project.
Add Annotations – You can easily provide an annotation for any Step in your Project. When you click the annotation button that appears on the right side of a Step, a free-text field opens where you can enter up to 1,000 characters for the annotation:
Replayability – The Steps Editor is very powerful in that it allows you to replay the same Steps against new data. Once you have built your Project with all of the Steps necessary to produce your AnswerSet, simply editing the first Step of the Project and replacing the Base dataset with a new Base dataset will result in all of the Steps in the Project automatically running on the new Base dataset.