Tabalyst Inspect

A JSON file can hold several arrays, and an Excel workbook several sheets. Tabalyst Inspect reads a JSON, JSONL, NDJSON or Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm) file once, finds which array, sheet or table holds the records and writes its answer in <source>-inspect.json beside the source:

tabalyst inspect orders.json
tabalyst inspect sales.xlsx

Inspect: orders.json-inspect.json
Selection: $.customers[] (the only eligible collection)

The config section of that file holds the rules that tabalyst scan and tabalyst report apply to the source: the collection, the flattening of nested objects, the array mode and the error policy. Edit it, then scan or report as usual. Inspect is optional: scan and report inspect a JSON file themselves when it has no Inspect file, and stop with exit code 2 when several arrays are equally plausible. Inspect reads JSON, JSONL and Excel files; CSV files are refused.

Pages

• Inspect JSON and JSONL files: detection, selection rule, editing the config, JSONL files and messages.
• Inspect Excel workbooks: sheets and named tables, the header row, selection, editing the config and messages.
• Inspect format: the structure of the Inspect file, and its changelog.
• Report JSON and JSONL files and Scan CSV and JSON files: the tools that apply the Inspect file.