import_metadata()

Import metadata from an external standard or file.

Usage

Source

import_metadata(
    source,
    format=None,
    **kwargs,
)

Reads metadata definitions from statistical package files (SPSS, SAS, Stata), standards documents (CDISC Define-XML, Frictionless), or scientific formats (NetCDF/CF) and returns a structured representation that can be converted to Pointblank validation workflows.

Parameters

source: str | Path | Any

Path to a metadata file, or an object containing metadata (e.g., an xarray Dataset). For file paths, the format will be auto-detected from the extension if not specified.

format: str | None = None

Explicit format identifier. If None, auto-detected from the file extension. Supported formats: "spss", "sav", "xpt", "sas", "stata", "dta", "frictionless", "datapackage", "table_schema", "csvw", "cdisc_define", "define_xml", "cdisc_ct".

**kwargs: Any

Additional format-specific options passed to the reader.

Returns

MetadataImport | MetadataPackage

A MetadataImport for single-dataset sources, or a MetadataPackage for multi-dataset sources (e.g., multi-domain CDISC studies).

Raises

ValueError

If the format cannot be determined or is not supported.

ImportError

If the required optional dependency is not installed.

Examples

Import SPSS metadata and generate validation:

import pointblank as pb

meta = pb.import_metadata("survey_data.sav")
meta.summary()

# Convert to a validation workflow
validation = meta.to_validate(data=df).interrogate()

Import SAS Transport metadata:

meta = pb.import_metadata("clinical_data.xpt", format="xpt")
schema = meta.to_schema()