AML Partial

Introduction

Partial allows you to extract the shared logic into a new object, making it ready for reuse across multiple objects.

Example: Model partial to reuse timestamp dimensions

// partial_timestamps.aml — Reusable timestamp dimensions
PartialModel partial_timestamps {
  dimension created_at {
    type: 'datetime'
    definition: @sql {{ #SOURCE.created_at }};;
  }
  dimension updated_at {
    type: 'datetime'
    definition: @sql {{ #SOURCE.updated_at }};;
  }
}

// users_base.model.aml — Base model
Model users_base {
  type: 'table'
  table_name: 'public.users'
  data_source_name: 'demodb'

  dimension id { ... }
  dimension username { ... }
  dimension email { ... }
}

// users.model.aml — Final model composing base + timestamps
Model users = users_base.extend(partial_timestamps)

AML Partial is commonly used in conjunction with AML Extend. See syntax and example usages below for more details.

Many Holistics' built-in types support AML Partial: PartialModel, PartialTableModel, PartialQueryModel, PartialDataset, PartialDashboard, PartialVizBlock, PartialPageTheme and PartialBlockTheme.

Syntax

// Declaring a partial object
// type can be any of supported types: Model, TableModel, QueryModel, Dataset,
// Dashboard, VizBlock, PageTheme, BlockTheme
Partial<type> <partialName> {
    // properties
}

// Usage: extend a named object with the partial
<type> <newName> = <existingObject>.extend(<partialName>)

// Chaining multiple partials
<type> <newName> = <existingObject>
  .extend(<partial1>)
  .extend(<partial2>)

Example usages

Reusing metrics across multiple datasets

Our recommended approach is to split things into separate files for better organization:

revenue_metrics.aml

// File 1: Reusable metrics only
PartialDataset revenue_metrics {
    metric gmv { ... }
    metric mrr { ... }
    metric arr { ... }
}

company_base.dataset.aml

// File 2: Base dataset with models and relationships
Dataset company_base {
    label: "Company Base"
    models: [...]
    relationships: [...]
}

company.dataset.aml

// File 3: Final dataset that composes the base + metrics
Dataset company = company_base
  .extend(revenue_metrics)
  .extend({
    label: "Company"
  })

You can reuse the same partial across different datasets:

store.dataset.aml

Dataset store = store_base.extend(revenue_metrics)

Reusing widgets across multiple dashboards

common_widgets.aml

PartialDashboard common_widgets {
    block revenue_chart: VizBlock { ... }
    block sales_chart: VizBlock { ... }
}

dashboard1.dashboard.aml

Dashboard dashboard1_base {
    block new_chart: VizBlock { ... }
}
Dashboard dashboard1 = dashboard1_base.extend(common_widgets)

dashboard2.dashboard.aml

Dashboard dashboard2_base {
    block another_chart: VizBlock { ... }
}
Dashboard dashboard2 = dashboard2_base.extend(common_widgets)