Data Inspector (UI Element)

This article is about the current version of Grooper.

Note that some content may still need to be updated.

2025

The Grooper Data Inspector is a UI Element that can be found anywhere there is a Document Viewer showing extraction results. This UI Element allows a user to inspect the Data Instance hierarchies of an extracted result.

You may download the ZIP(s) below and upload it into your own Grooper environment (version 2025). The first contains one or more Batches of sample documents. The second contains one or more Projects with resources used in examples throughout this article.

About

The Data Inspector is a UI Element that allows you to inspect an extracted Data Instance to see the instance hierarchy and extraction logic. The Data Inspector is good for gaining a better understanding of how extraction works and is useful for troubleshooting extraction problems. You can inspect any object that extracts data. This can be an Data Element such as a Data Model, Data Section, or Data Field. This could also be an Extractor Node such as a Data Type or Value Reader.

When inspecting a Node Type with child nodes, you can see how the child nodes feed into the parent to arrive at the desired extraction. When inspecting a Data Section, you can see how the Data Section narrows down the Data Instance to make it easier for Grooper to extract specific information from a document.

To access the Data Inspector, test your extraction and/or select a result and click the Data Inspector icon (this should look like a small flashlight). The Data Inspector should open in a new tab in your web browser.

There are four main panels that comprise the Data Inspector:

The Data Hierarchy Panel - Located in the top left of the Inspector.
- This will show you not only what is extracted, but also any hierarchy contained within the extraction.
The Properties Panel - Located in the bottom left of the Inspector.
- You cannot edit these properties. It is informational only.
The Results Panel - Located in the bottom right of the Inspector.
- This panel shows the text of the extracted result based on the selected instance in the Hierarchy panel. It will also show you how the data will appear when extracted into a Data Element like a Data Field.
The Document Viewer - Located in the top right of the Inspector.
- The extracted value of the instance selected in your Hierarchy panel will be highlighted in green on the page.

How to

An instance can be inspected anywhere you test extraction and have the inspector icon available. Common areas to use a Data Inspector include the Tester tab of an Extractor Node Type like a Data Type, the Tester tab of an Extract Batch Process Step, or when testing the extraction on a Data Element like a Data Model.

Inspecting an instance

In your Node Tree, navigate to and select a configured Value Reader or Data Type.
Click over to the Tester tab.
In the Results Panel located in the bottom right of the screen below the Document Viewer, we can see all of the results returned by the Extractor object.
Select a single result in the Results panel.
Click the Data Inspector icon located in the top right of the Results panel.
The Data Inspector should open up in a new tab in your web browser.

Inspecting collated instances

Collated instances often have some kind of hierarchy involved with the extraction. Using the instance inspector not only allows you to see how the hierarchy is working, but also see how the final result will be presented when extracted.

Ordered Array Example

Using the Data Inspector, you can see how Grooper is using hierarchy to return a specific data instance when collating results.

Select a parent Data Type that has child extractor nodes that are collated with an Ordered Array.
Click over to the Tester tab.
In the results panel, select an extracted result.
Click the Inspector icon.
- The Data Inspector will open in a new tab in your web browser.
The hierarchy of extraction is shown in the Data Hierarchy Panel. Select one of the children in the Data Hierarchy panel.
- You will be able to see what the child extractor is extracting on its own in the Results panel.
Select the parent in the hierarchy.
- You will be able to see what the final extracted result will be.

If there were any issues with the extraction, you would be able to identify it here, and possibly see if the problem lies with the parent or a child extractor. This makes the Data Inspector a valuable tool in troubleshooting extraction issues.

Combine Example

A Combine Collation is a little different than other Collation Methods. Because of the way Grooper processes a Combine Collation, you will not see a hierarchy in the Hierarchy Panel when inspecting a Combine Data Instance.

Select a parent Data Type that has child extractor nodes that are collated with Combine.
Click over to the Tester tab.
In the results panel, select an extracted result.
Click the Inspector icon.
- The Data Inspector will open in a new tab in your web browser.
You should notice there is only one entry in the Hierarchy Panel.
- Selecting the entry will display the combined extracted result in the Results Panel.

Inspecting Section instances

Data Sections serve two main purposes:

Acting as a container for other Data Elements to keep your Data Model organized.
Narrowing down the instance from which the child Data Elements extract information.

Using the Data Inspector, you can see the details of how the Data Section is narrowing down the data instance.

Select the Data Section in your Node Tree.
Test the extraction on the Data Section.
- Before you test the extraction, Grooper will have nothing to inspect, so the inspector icon will be grayed out.
Click the inspector icon.

You will be presented with the hierarchy associated with your Data Section. In the Data Hierarchy panel, feel free to go through and open the different objects to explore the hierarchy. Each child feeds into the parent object. Through the hierarchy, you can see how the Data Section is narrowing down the instance of the document to make it easier for Grooper to extract data.