Data component schema

Complete reference for DataComponent.xsd, the schema that drives row-level data extraction and deployment. Every element, every attribute, with types, defaults, and descriptions.

For the conceptual guide see Create a data component template. This page is the exhaustive lookup.

Element tree

DataComponent (root)
├── Option*                                : name/value configuration
├── SetUp*                                 : SQL run before extract/deploy
├── TempTable*
│   └── Column+                            : temp-table column definition
├── Table+                                 : tables the component reads from
│   ├── Option*
│   ├── Column*                            : column overrides
│   │   ├── Lookup*                        : FK resolution (mutually exclusive with XmlColumn)
│   │   │   ├── Criteria+
│   │   │   ├── Filters?
│   │   │   └── WhenNotFound?
│   │   │       └── IgnoreValue*
│   │   └── XmlColumn?                     : XML payload column
│   │       ├── Option*
│   │       └── Xpath*
│   │           ├── Lookup* | Xpath*
│   ├── JoinTable*                         : join to another table in the same component
│   │   └── JoinColumn+
│   └── Filters?
│       ├── Value*
│       ├── SubQuery*
│       └── Exists*
├── TearDown*                              : SQL run after extract/deploy
├── DynamicQuery*                          : bulk-generation driver query
├── Reference*
└── Deployment?
    └── Script*                            : pre/post static scripts

Legend: ? = optional, * = zero or more, + = one or more, (default: X) = attribute default.

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Root element

DataComponent

Root element. Defines a template that generates one re-runnable MERGE script per component, or, with OutputFormat="json", one data document that inflates to that script when it deploys.

Parents: (root) Children: Option, SetUp, TempTable, Table, TearDown, DynamicQuery, Reference, Deployment

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	✓	–	Component name. Used as the output filename. May contain ${…} placeholders when paired with <DynamicQuery>.
Category	string	✓	–	Logical grouping (e.g. currencies, reference-data). Appears as a folder in the UI.
Schema	string	–	–	Default schema for every <Table> unless overridden on the table itself.
Database	string	–	connection database	Database override resolved against the connection's database at runtime (SQL Server only). Accepts a literal name or an expression such as $(ConnectionDatabase|replace(_CORE,_REPORTING)). Applies to extraction, dynamic queries, and deployment; the resolved name is never written into the generated script. See Target a different database.
OutputFormat	sql | json	–	sql	What the component is committed as. json stores the rows as a data document and generates the MERGE when it deploys; sql writes the script itself, as before.
DeployMode	snapshot | changeset	–	snapshot	What deploying the component does. snapshot writes every row it holds, as before. changeset deploys only the rows one work item changed, checking the target still holds their before values first. Requires OutputFormat="json", on SQL Server Version 2 (the default), a key on every table that the target does not generate, and no BruteForce join. See changesets.
Definition	inline | shared	–	shared	Where a data document's table and column description lives. The default, shared, writes it once to definitions/<category>/<template>.<hash>.json and has each document point at it by content hash, rather than repeating it in every component the template generates. inline makes each document carry its own, so it stands alone. Only meaningful with OutputFormat="json"; on a sql template it is ignored. See sharing one definition.
Version	int	–	2	How SQL Server scripts the data. 2 (the default since 3.1) identifies deletes from the loaded rows and appends them at the end of the script, and cascades a parent's delete only to tables that set DeleteCascade="true". 1 is the older single MERGE with its own WHEN NOT MATCHED BY SOURCE THEN DELETE, which cascades unless a table says otherwise; set Version="1" explicitly if you rely on it. Oracle scripts are the same either way.
ExactComparison	bool	–	false	SQL Server only. Compares values byte for byte (COLLATE Latin1_General_BIN2) when the MERGE decides whether a row needs updating and when a changeset checks a row against the target, and adds the alternate keys rows are matched on to the columns an update sets, so a change of case, accent or width alone is deployed and a key renamed only in case is renamed in place. Rows are still matched, and deletes still found, under the database's collation. Oracle compares exactly regardless. See SQL Server: case-only changes.
DeleteEnabled	bool	–	true	When true, the MERGE includes WHEN NOT MATCHED BY SOURCE THEN DELETE. When false, the script only inserts/updates.
UseWithHoldLock	bool	–	true	Include WITH (HOLDLOCK) on the MERGE target. Reduces deadlocks under concurrent deploys.
IncludeHash	bool	–	false	Emit a content hash in the script header; useful for forcing VCS merge when content changes semantically but the lines are reordered.
GttSchema	string	–	–	Schema for the global temp table the deploy may use (when applicable).
GttActionColumn	string	–	–	Name of the action column on the temp table.
GttTableSuffix	string	–	–	Suffix appended to the temp table's name.
PttTablePrefix	string	–	–	Prefix for the primary temp table's name.
IconColorLight	string	–	auto	Icon background colour for the light theme, in hex (e.g. #2563EB). If set without IconColorDark, also used for dark theme.
IconColorDark	string	–	auto	Icon background colour for the dark theme, in hex (e.g. #60A5FA). If omitted, falls back to IconColorLight, or auto-generated.
IconForegroundLight	string	–	auto	Icon foreground (text) colour for the light theme, in hex. Auto-calculated from background luminance if omitted.
IconForegroundDark	string	–	auto	Icon foreground (text) colour for the dark theme, in hex. Auto-calculated from background luminance if omitted.
ExcludeDuplicates	bool	–	false	When true, duplicate components (same filename from a dynamic query) are silently excluded instead of flagged as errors. Duplicates already on the file system still appear with an Excluded status and cannot be pulled; duplicates not on disk are hidden entirely. A warning-level log entry is written for each excluded duplicate. See handling duplicates.
Cloneable	bool	–	true	When false, the Clone Wizard refuses to use components of this template, either as a clone source or as a dependency, and flags them in the dependency list. Set this for templates whose alternate keys are not freely renameable (system-managed identifiers, enum-bound codes, single-row configuration).

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Configuration

Option

Arbitrary name/value pair. Valid at root and at <Table> level (scope differs).

Parents: DataComponent, Table, XmlColumn Children: (none)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	✓	–	Option name. Unchecked by schema; valid names are vendor- and feature-specific.
Value	string	✓	–	Option value.

Common values:

Name	Value	Effect
ANSI_WARNINGS	ON / OFF	Emits SET ANSI_WARNINGS at the top of the script.
NOCOUNT	ON / OFF	Emits SET NOCOUNT.
DATEFORMAT	ymd / mdy / dmy	Emits SET DATEFORMAT.

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Reference

Declares an ID→variable binding used for cross-component references.

Parents: DataComponent Children: (none, mixed content)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Id	string	✓	–	Reference identifier.
Variable	string	✓	–	The ${variable} substituted when this reference is resolved.

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Table definition

Table

Declares a table the component reads from. At least one is required.

Parents: DataComponent Children: Option, Column, JoinTable, Filters

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Id	int	✓	–	Local identifier used by <JoinTable ReferenceId="..."> to link tables. Typically 1, 2, 3.
Name	string	✓	–	Table name in the database.
Schema	string	–	–	Schema/owner. Overrides DataComponent/@Schema.
Alias	string	–	–	Table alias used in the generated SQL. Auto-generated if omitted.
InsertEnabled	bool	–	true	When false, the MERGE skips WHEN NOT MATCHED BY TARGET.
UpdateEnabled	bool	–	true	When false, the MERGE skips WHEN MATCHED.
DeleteEnabled	bool	–	inherits DataComponent/@DeleteEnabled	Per-table override of delete behaviour.
DeleteCascade	bool	–	not set	When true, deleting a parent row cascades deletes through joined child tables. Under Version 2 (the default) a table cascades only when this is true; under Version="1" on SQL Server a table cascades unless this is false.
PrimaryKeyMerge	bool	–	true	When true, the MERGE matches on primary-key columns. Set false if you want to match only on alternative keys.

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Column (inside Table)

Column-level override. You only declare columns where default behaviour needs changing; untouched columns are picked up automatically.

Parents: Table Children: Lookup or XmlColumn (mutually exclusive)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	✓	–	Column name in the database.
PrimaryKey	bool	–	false	Column is part of the natural primary key. At least one PK or AlternativeKey is required per table.
AlternativeKey	bool	–	false	Column is part of a portable business key used to match rows when the PK is transient. See alternative keys.
Transient	bool	–	false	Column's value differs across environments (e.g. identity columns). Excluded from INSERT value lists.
InsertExclude	bool	–	false	Exclude this column from INSERT statements. Use for identity columns or server-generated values.
UpdateExclude	bool	–	false	Exclude this column from UPDATE statements. Use for write-once columns like CREATED_DATE.
UpdateTrigger	bool	–	true	When false, a difference in this column alone does not trigger an UPDATE. Use for metadata columns like UPDATED_BY.
CurrentDate	CurrentDateTypeEnum	–	–	Use the current time on insert/update. Values: Date, Time, DateTime.
Value	string	–	–	Hard-coded value to set regardless of what's in the source.
Default	string	–	–	Default value if source is NULL.
Increment	integer	–	–	Amount to increment an integer column by. Useful for version counters.
Generator	string	–	–	SQL fragment that generates a new value for this column on insert, e.g. EXEC dbo.GET_ID 'BROKER', @ID output.
CaseSensitive	bool	–	–	Controls whether string matching for this column is case-sensitive.
DataType	string	–	–	Override the detected data type.
Length	int	–	–	Override the detected length.
Precision	int	–	–	Override the detected precision.
Scale	int	–	–	Override the detected scale.
Collation	string	–	–	Override the column collation (SQL Server).
Include	bool	–	true	When false, this column is excluded entirely from extraction.
SortOrder	int	–	–	Position in a compound key. Lower numbers come first.
SortDirection	SortDirectionTypeEnum	–	Asc	Asc or Desc.
OnCloneAction	enum	–	KEEP	How the Clone Wizard treats this column's literal value. KEEP copies the source verbatim; EDIT surfaces the column on the wizard's Identity step as an editable card so the user can type a new value per source row; NEW_GUID (or NEW_GUID_D/_N/_B/_P) replaces it with a freshly-generated GUID, auto-detecting the format from the source unless one is forced; NULL replaces it so the deploy's key-generator assigns a fresh value. Mainly meaningful on AlternativeKey columns of related tables, since the wizard's Identity step already exposes top-level alternate keys to the user.

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JoinTable

Declares a join from this table to another table in the same component. Joins to external tables are done via <Lookup>.

Parents: Table Children: JoinColumn

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
ReferenceId	int	✓	–	The Id of the <Table> being joined to.
Relationship	RelationshipTypeEnum	–	–	OneToMany, OneToOne, or ManyToOne. Controls join cardinality and cascade behaviour.
FilterOnly	bool	–	false	When true, the join is used only for filtering; no columns are pulled from the joined table.
BruteForce	bool	–	false	When true, skip join-optimiser hints. Use only when the optimiser is making the wrong choice.

JoinColumn

One pair of columns in a join. Multiple JoinColumn elements create a compound join.

Parents: JoinTable Children: (none)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Column	string	✓	–	Column in the parent table.
ReferenceColumn	string	✓	–	Column in the joined table.

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Filtering

Filters

Restricts which rows are extracted. Appears inside <Table> and inside <Lookup>.

Parents: Table, Lookup Children: Value, SubQuery, Exists

Value

Equality / comparison filter against a literal.

Parents: Filters Children: (none)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Column	string	✓	–	Column to filter.
Operator	OperatorEnum	–	eq	See OperatorEnum.
Value	string	–	–	Literal value. May contain ${…} placeholders. Omit for IS NULL / IS NOT NULL style operators.
DataType	string	–	–	Override the literal's data type.
Length	int	–	–	Override the literal's length.
Precision	int	–	–	Override the literal's precision.
Scale	int	–	–	Override the literal's scale.
DeployTime	bool	–	false	(Lookup-scope only) When true, the filter is applied at deploy time instead of extract time.

SubQuery

Mixed-content element: the SQL subquery goes inside as text. Used as an IN (...) / NOT IN (...) clause.

Parents: Filters Children: (text content only)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Column	string	✓	–	Column being compared to the subquery results.
Operator	OperatorEnum	–	in	Usually in or notin.
DataType	string	–	–	Override the column's type when generating the subquery cast.
Length	int	–	–	Override the column's length.
Precision	int	–	–	Override the column's precision.
Scale	int	–	–	Override the column's scale.
DeployTime	bool	–	false	(Lookup-scope only) Apply at deploy time.

Exists

Mixed-content element: the SQL predicate goes inside. Generates EXISTS(...) or NOT EXISTS(...).

Parents: Filters Children: (text content only)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
NotExists	bool	–	false	When true, generates NOT EXISTS(...).
DeployTime	bool	–	false	(Lookup-scope only) Apply at deploy time.

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Lookups

Lookup

Resolves a transient foreign-key value via a business key. See lookups for the conceptual guide.

Parents: Column (inside Table), Xpath Children: Criteria, Filters, WhenNotFound

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Column	string	✓	–	Column in the lookup target table that holds the ID we want to resolve.
Table	string	✓	–	The lookup target table.
Schema	string	–	–	Schema of the lookup target.
Alias	string	–	–	Alias used in generated SQL for the lookup join.
As	string	–	–	Column alias in the result set.
Prefix	string	–	–	Prefix applied to lookup column names in the result set.
Suffix	string	–	–	Suffix applied to lookup column names in the result set.
Type	string	–	–	Custom lookup type hint.
Inner	bool	–	true	When true, inner-join semantics. When false, left-join.
Transient	bool	–	true	When true, the lookup's own key is treated as transient.
ReferenceId	string	–	–	Optional cross-reference to a declared <Reference>.
Length	integer	–	–	Override the result column's length.
Precision	int	–	–	Override the result column's precision.
Scale	int	–	–	Override the result column's scale.
Nullable	bool	–	false	When true, a NULL result from the lookup is allowed; when false (default), a missing match triggers the WhenNotFound handling. Not to be confused with the per-Criteria Nullable flag, which controls match behaviour for each criterion independently.

Criteria

One match criterion in a lookup. Multiple criteria form a compound match.

Parents: Lookup Children: (none)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Column	string	✓	–	Column in the lookup target used to match.
Nullable	bool	–	true	When false, the match fails if the source value is NULL.
Length	int	–	–	Override the matched column's length.

WhenNotFound

Action to take when a lookup doesn't resolve.

Parents: Lookup Children: IgnoreValue

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Action	ValidationTypeEnum	✓	–	None, Warn, or Error.
Assign	string	–	–	Value to substitute when the lookup fails (only meaningful with Action="None").

IgnoreValue

One value that's explicitly allowed to fail the lookup silently. Text-content element.

Parents: WhenNotFound Children: (text content: the ignored value)

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XML columns

XmlColumn

Models a column that contains XML, allowing individual paths inside the XML to be extracted or looked up.

Parents: Column (inside Table) Children: Option, Xpath

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Declaration	string	–	–	Optional XML namespace declaration prefixed to every XPath expression.

Xpath

One XPath into an XML column. May itself contain nested <Xpath> or <Lookup> children.

Parents: XmlColumn, Xpath Children: Lookup or Xpath

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Type	ElementTypeEnum	✓	–	Attribute or Element; controls how the XPath result is extracted.
Select	string	✓	–	The XPath expression.
Declaration	string	–	–	Optional namespace declaration for this expression.

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Lifecycle and generation

SetUp

Mixed-content element: SQL block that runs before the data operations.

Parents: DataComponent Children: (text content: the SQL)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
BuildTime	bool	–	true	Run this block when the script is generated.
DeployTime	bool	–	true	Include this block in the deployed script so it runs at deploy time.

TearDown

Mixed-content element: SQL block that runs after the data operations. Same shape as SetUp.

Parents: DataComponent Children: (text content: the SQL)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
BuildTime	bool	–	true	Run at script-generation time.
DeployTime	bool	–	true	Include in the deployed script.

TempTable

Declares a temporary table used by SetUp/TearDown SQL blocks.

Parents: DataComponent Children: Column

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	✓	–	Temp table name.

Column (inside TempTable)

Simpler shape than the Column inside Table. Just the column definition for the temp table.

Parents: TempTable Children: (none)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	✓	–	Column name.
DataType	string	✓	–	Data type.
Length	int	–	–	Length for string/binary types.
Precision	int	–	–	Precision for numeric types.
Scale	int	–	–	Scale for numeric types.

DynamicQuery

Text-content element: the SQL query whose result rows drive bulk generation. Each row becomes one generated component. Column aliases in the SELECT become ${placeholder} variables usable anywhere else in the template. See Generate components in bulk.

Parents: DataComponent Children: (text content: the SQL)

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Deployment

Deployment

Deployment ordering and pre/post static scripts.

Parents: DataComponent Children: Script

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Weight	int	✓	–	Controls deployment order. Lower weights deploy first. Conventional scheme: tables 100, functions 200, views 300, triggers 400, data 500.

Script

A static SQL script to run before or after this component during deployment.

Parents: Deployment Children: (none)

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
Path	string	✓	–	Path relative to the workspace root.
Weight	string	✓	–	Negative numbers (-1, -2, …) run before the component; positive (+1, +2, …) after.

See Include static scripts for the full pattern.

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Enumerations

OperatorEnum

Filter and lookup operators.

Value	SQL equivalent
eq	=
ne	<>
gt	>
ge	>=
lt	<
le	<=
like	LIKE
numeric	Numeric comparison (ignores padding, leading zeros).
in	IN (...)
notin	NOT IN (...)

RelationshipTypeEnum

Join cardinality hints for <JoinTable>.

Value	Meaning
OneToOne	The join returns at most one row on each side.
OneToMany	The current table has at most one row; the joined table can have many.
ManyToOne	The current table can have many rows; the joined table has at most one.

ValidationTypeEnum

Action when a lookup doesn't resolve.

Value	Behaviour
None	Silently use the Assign value (or NULL).
Warn	Log a warning at extract time, continue.
Error	Fail the extraction.

CurrentDateTypeEnum

Auto-timestamp granularity on column inserts/updates.

Value	Resolution
Date	Current date only.
Time	Current time only.
DateTime	Full timestamp.

SortDirectionTypeEnum

Sort direction for compound keys.

Value	Meaning
Asc	Ascending (default).
Desc	Descending.

ElementTypeEnum

How to interpret an XPath result.

Value	Meaning
Attribute	XPath selects an XML attribute value.
Element	XPath selects an XML element value.

OnOffTypeEnum

Used by some <Option> values.

Value
On
Off