Implementation:Datahub project Datahub Container Entity

Knowledge Sources	Datahub_project_Datahub
Domains	Java_SDK, Metadata_Management
Last Updated	2026-02-10 00:00 GMT

Overview

Container is a Java SDK V2 entity class representing a DataHub Container, a hierarchical grouping of data assets such as databases, schemas, folders, or projects.

Description

The Container class extends Entity and implements mixin interfaces (HasContainer, HasTags, HasGlossaryTerms, HasOwners, HasDomains, HasSubTypes, HasStructuredProperties) to support rich metadata operations on hierarchical data containers.

Key characteristics:

• Entity type: "container"
• URN format: urn:li:container:{guid} where the GUID is deterministically generated from properties (platform, database, schema, env, instance) using DataHubGuidGenerator.
• Hierarchical nesting: Containers can have parent containers via setContainer() (from HasContainer mixin), allowing representation of database-schema-table hierarchies.
• Patch-based mutations: The setDescription() method uses EditableContainerPropertiesPatchBuilder for patch-based updates.
• Server compatibility: Includes a static transformPatchToFullAspect() method for backward compatibility with older DataHub servers that lack the EditableContainerPropertiesTemplate, performing a read-modify-write pattern to convert patch MCPs into full aspect replacement MCPs.
• Builder GUID generation: The builder automatically computes a GUID from platform, database, schema, env, and platformInstance properties. Alternatively, a pre-computed URN can be provided directly.

Default aspects fetched: Ownership, GlobalTags, GlossaryTerms, Domains, Status, InstitutionalMemory, ContainerProperties, EditableContainerProperties.

Usage

Use the Container entity when you need to create or manage hierarchical groupings of data assets in DataHub, such as representing a Snowflake database, a BigQuery dataset, or a file system folder. It is constructed via its Builder and upserted through EntityClient.upsert(container).

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: Datahub_project_Datahub
• File: metadata-integration/java/datahub-client/src/main/java/datahub/client/v2/entity/Container.java

Signature

public class Container extends Entity
    implements HasContainer<Container>, HasTags<Container>, HasGlossaryTerms<Container>,
               HasOwners<Container>, HasDomains<Container>, HasSubTypes<Container>,
               HasStructuredProperties<Container> {

    // Factory
    public static Builder builder();

    // Identity
    public String getEntityType();           // returns "container"
    public String getContainerUrn();
    public Container mutable();

    // Metadata operations
    public Container setDescription(String description);
    public String getDescription();
    public String getDisplayName();
    public String getQualifiedName();
    public String getExternalUrl();
    public Map<String, String> getCustomProperties();
    public String getParentContainer();

    // Server compatibility
    public static MetadataChangeProposal transformPatchToFullAspect(
        MetadataChangeProposal patch, EntityClient client);
}

Import

import datahub.client.v2.entity.Container;

I/O Contract

Builder Inputs

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
platform	String	Yes (unless URN set)	Platform name (e.g., "snowflake", "bigquery")
displayName	String	Yes	Display name for the container
database	String	No	Database name (used in GUID generation)
schema	String	No	Schema name (used in GUID generation)
env	String	No	Environment, defaults to "PROD"
platformInstance	String	No	Platform instance identifier
description	String	No	Container description
qualifiedName	String	No	Fully qualified name
externalUrl	String	No	External URL for the container
parentContainer	String	No	Parent container URN for nesting
customProperties	Map<String, String>	No	Custom key-value properties
urn	Urn	No	Pre-computed URN (skips GUID generation)

Outputs

Method	Return Type	Description
build()	Container	New Container entity with GUID-based URN
getContainerUrn()	String	The container URN string
getParentContainer()	String	Parent container URN, or null

Usage Examples

// Create a database container
Container database = Container.builder()
    .platform("snowflake")
    .database("analytics_db")
    .env("PROD")
    .displayName("Analytics Database")
    .description("Central analytics database")
    .build();

// Create a schema container with parent
Container schema = Container.builder()
    .platform("snowflake")
    .database("analytics_db")
    .schema("public")
    .env("PROD")
    .displayName("Public Schema")
    .parentContainer(database.getUrn().toString())
    .build();

// Add metadata
database.addTag("production");
database.addOwner("urn:li:corpuser:dba", OwnershipType.DATA_STEWARD);
database.setDomain("urn:li:domain:Engineering");

// Upsert to DataHub
client.entities().upsert(database);
client.entities().upsert(schema);

Related Pages

• Environment:Datahub_project_Datahub_Java_17_Backend_Environment