alias

Usage

 view: view_name {   dimension: field_name {     alias: [old_field_name, old_field_name, ...]   } } 

Definition

The alias parameter provides alternative names for a field that might appear in the URL for a query. It can be useful in cases when field names in a model change, but you have pre-existing URLs to queries that you want to keep functioning.

The following example shows how you could change a field named count to the new name number_of_items, without breaking any existing queries that refer to count.

measure: number_of_items { # the new name alias: [count] # the old name type: count } 

You can also provide multiple aliases, in case you rename a field multiple times. For example, if you renamed the number_of_items field from the previous example to number_of_order_items, you could use the following:

measure: number_of_order_items { # the new name alias: [count, number_of_items] # the old names type: count } 

To use alias with a dimension group, change the dimension group name, not every field in the dimension group. For example, to rename the dimension group created_date to order_date:

dimension_group: order_date { # the new name alias: [created_date] # the old name type: time timeframes: [time, hour, date, week, month, year, hour_of_day, day_of_week, month_num, raw] sql: ${TABLE}.created_at ;; } 

Note that alias is used only to keep URLs functioning. It should not be used when referencing fields in LookML. For example:

measure: number_of_items { alias: [count] type: count } measure: percent_items_sold { sql: ${sold_items} / ${number_of_items} ;; # will work because there type: number # is a measure named number_of_items } measure: percent_items_sold { sql: ${sold_items} / ${count} ;; # will NOT work because you type: number # should not use alias names in LookML } 

Things to know

If you alias a field as a name already taken by another field, the LookML Validator will return an error.