Attribute Types

This reference documents all attribute types available in Rosetta Stone, including their properties, validations, and usage examples.

Attribute structure

All attributes share a common structure based on the platform’s type system:

{
  "id": 123,
  "name": "attribute_name",
  "display_name": "Human Readable Name",
  "description": "Description of the attribute",
  "type": "string",
  "validations": ["LENGTH($this) >= 1", "LENGTH($this) <= 255"]
}

Required properties:

id (number): Unique identifier for the attribute
name (string): Machine-readable name
type (string): One of the supported types

Optional properties:

display_name (string): Human-readable name for UI display
description (string): Explanation of the attribute’s purpose
validations (string[]): Array of validation rules
metadata (object): Additional metadata including co-occurrence data

Primitive types

Primitive types represent basic data values.

Type	Description	NQL equivalent	Example values
`string`	Variable-length text	`VARCHAR`	`"hello"`, `"[email protected]"`
`long`	Whole numbers (64-bit signed)	`BIGINT`	`42`, `-17`, `0`
`double`	Double-precision decimal	`DOUBLE`	`3.14159`, `-0.001`
`boolean`	True or false	`BOOLEAN`	`true`, `false`
`timestamptz`	Date and time with timezone	`TIMESTAMP`	`2024-01-15T14:30:00Z`

String

Variable-length Unicode text. Can optionally include an enum property to restrict allowed values. Basic definition:

{
  "id": 1001,
  "name": "customer_name",
  "type": "string",
  "description": "Full name of the customer"
}

With validations:

{
  "id": 1002,
  "name": "email_sha256",
  "type": "string",
  "description": "SHA-256 hash of email address",
  "validations": ["LENGTH($this) = 64"]
}

With enum (restricted values):

{
  "id": 1003,
  "name": "hl7_gender",
  "type": "string",
  "enum": ["male", "female", "other", "unknown"],
  "description": "Gender using HL7 administrative gender codes"
}

When a string attribute has an enum property, only those values are allowed. Values are case-sensitive.

Long

64-bit signed whole numbers. Range: -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807. Definition:

{
  "id": 1004,
  "name": "age",
  "type": "long",
  "description": "Age in years",
  "validations": ["$this >= 0", "$this <= 150"]
}

Double

Double-precision (64-bit) floating-point numbers. Definition:

{
  "id": 1005,
  "name": "latitude",
  "type": "double",
  "description": "Geographic latitude",
  "validations": ["$this >= -90", "$this <= 90"]
}

Boolean

True or false values. Definition:

{
  "id": 1006,
  "name": "opted_in",
  "type": "boolean",
  "description": "Whether the user has opted in to marketing"
}

Mapping from source data:

-- From string values
CASE UPPER(opt_in_col)
  WHEN 'Y' THEN true
  WHEN 'YES' THEN true
  WHEN 'TRUE' THEN true
  WHEN '1' THEN true
  ELSE false
END

Timestamptz

Date and time with timezone, stored in UTC. Follows ISO 8601 format. Definition:

{
  "id": 1007,
  "name": "event_timestamp",
  "type": "timestamptz",
  "description": "When the event occurred"
}

Mapping from source data:

-- From various formats
TO_TIMESTAMP(date_col, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
TO_TIMESTAMP(date_col, 'MM/DD/YYYY')

Object type

Objects group related fields into a single composite value. Use properties to define the fields and required to specify which fields are mandatory. Definition:

{
  "id": 2001,
  "name": "geo_coordinates",
  "type": "object",
  "description": "Geographic coordinates",
  "properties": {
    "latitude": {
      "type": "double"
    },
    "longitude": {
      "type": "double"
    },
    "accuracy_meters": {
      "type": "double"
    }
  },
  "required": ["latitude", "longitude"]
}

Properties:

properties: Object mapping field names to field definitions
required: Array of field names that must be present

Nested objects: Objects can contain other objects:

{
  "id": 2002,
  "name": "address",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "street": { "type": "string" },
    "city": { "type": "string" },
    "state": { "type": "string" },
    "postal_code": { "type": "string" },
    "coordinates": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "latitude": { "type": "double" },
        "longitude": { "type": "double" }
      }
    }
  },
  "required": ["street", "city"]
}

Mapping example:

STRUCT(
  CAST(lat AS DOUBLE) AS latitude,
  CAST(lon AS DOUBLE) AS longitude,
  CAST(acc AS DOUBLE) AS accuracy_meters
)

Accessing object fields in queries:

SELECT
  geo_coordinates.latitude,
  geo_coordinates.longitude
FROM narrative.rosetta_stone
WHERE geo_coordinates.accuracy_meters < 100

Array type

Arrays contain multiple values of the same type. Definition:

{
  "id": 3001,
  "name": "interest_categories",
  "type": "array",
  "items": {
    "type": "string"
  },
  "description": "List of interest categories"
}

Properties:

items: Definition of the element type

Array of objects:

{
  "id": 3002,
  "name": "identifiers",
  "type": "array",
  "items": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "type": { "type": "string" },
      "value": { "type": "string" }
    }
  }
}

Mapping examples:

-- From comma-separated string
SPLIT(interests, ',')

-- From JSON array
JSON_PARSE(json_array_col)

-- Building an array from multiple columns
ARRAY(email_sha256, phone_sha256)

Querying arrays:

-- Check if array contains a value
SELECT unique_id, interest_categories
FROM narrative.rosetta_stone
WHERE ARRAY_CONTAINS(interest_categories, 'sports')

-- Unnest array for row-level operations
SELECT
  id,
  interest
FROM narrative.rosetta_stone
CROSS JOIN UNNEST(interest_categories) AS t(interest)

Reference type

References link to other attribute definitions using their numeric ID. This enables reuse of standardized definitions. Definition:

{
  "id": 4001,
  "name": "purchase_event",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "timestamp": {
      "$ref": 1007
    },
    "user": {
      "$ref": 5001
    },
    "amount": {
      "type": "double"
    }
  },
  "required": ["timestamp", "user", "amount"]
}

Properties:

$ref: The numeric ID of the referenced attribute

Behavior:

The field inherits the full type definition of the referenced attribute
Validations from the referenced attribute apply
Changes to the referenced attribute automatically propagate

Use cases:

Reusing standardized definitions (like event_timestamp)
Ensuring consistency across attributes
Building complex schemas from well-defined components

Validation expressions

Validations are NQL expressions that filter out invalid values. Use $this to reference the value being validated. These expressions are injected into compiled NQL queries to enforce data quality.

Numeric validations

Comparison operators check value ranges:

{
  "id": 10,
  "name": "birth_year",
  "type": "long",
  "description": "The year that an entity was born",
  "validations": ["LENGTH($this) = 4", "$this >= 1900"]
}

Expression	Description
`$this >= 0`	Value must be at least 0
`$this <= 100`	Value must be at most 100
`$this > 0 AND $this < 1000`	Combined range check

String length validations

Use LENGTH() to validate string length:

Expression	Description
`LENGTH($this) >= 1`	At least 1 character
`LENGTH($this) <= 255`	At most 255 characters
`LENGTH($this) = 2`	Exactly 2 characters

Pattern matching

Use LIKE for pattern validation:

Expression	Description
`$this LIKE 'A%'`	Starts with “A”
`$this LIKE '%@%.%'`	Contains @ and . (email-like)

Examples

{
  "id": 5001,
  "name": "age",
  "type": "long",
  "validations": ["$this >= 0", "$this <= 150"]
}

{
  "id": 5002,
  "name": "country_code",
  "type": "string",
  "validations": ["LENGTH($this) = 2"]
}

Join key attributes

Primitive attributes can be marked as join keys using the is_join_key property:

{
  "id": 6001,
  "name": "email_sha256",
  "type": "string",
  "is_join_key": true,
  "description": "SHA-256 hash of email for identity matching"
}

Join key attributes are optimized for use in JOIN operations across datasets.

Transformation Functions

Functions for mapping transformations

How Rosetta Stone Works

Understand attributes and mappings

The Normalization Model

Type system and validation concepts

Creating Normalized Attributes

Best practices for designing attributes

Overview

Connectors

Integrations

Workflow Reference

Webhook Reference

Security Reference

Architecture Reference

Error Reference

Model Inference Reference

Rosetta Stone Reference

UI Reference

SDKs

Glossary

Billing

Attribute structure

Primitive types

String

Long

Double

Boolean

Timestamptz

Object type

Array type

Reference type

Validation expressions

Numeric validations

String length validations

Pattern matching

Examples

Join key attributes

Transformation Functions

How Rosetta Stone Works

The Normalization Model

Creating Normalized Attributes

​Attribute structure

​Primitive types

​String

​Long

​Double

​Boolean

​Timestamptz

​Object type

​Array type

​Reference type

​Validation expressions

​Numeric validations

​String length validations

​Pattern matching

​Examples

​Join key attributes

​Related content

Transformation Functions

How Rosetta Stone Works

The Normalization Model

Creating Normalized Attributes

Attribute structure

Primitive types

String

Long

Double

Boolean

Timestamptz

Object type

Array type

Reference type

Validation expressions

Numeric validations

String length validations

Pattern matching

Examples

Join key attributes

Related content