get_action_metadata()

Access step-level metadata when authoring custom actions.

Usage

Source

get_action_metadata()

Get the metadata for the validation step where an action was triggered. This can be called by user functions to get the metadata for the current action. This function can only be used within callables crafted for the Actions class.

Returns

dict | None

A dictionary containing the metadata for the current step. If called outside of an action (i.e., when no action is being executed), this function will return None.

Description Of The Metadata Fields

The metadata dictionary contains the following fields for a given validation step:

• step: The step number.
• column: The column name.
• value: The value being compared (only available in certain validation steps).
• type: The assertion type (e.g., "col_vals_gt", etc.).
• time: The time the validation step was executed (in ISO format).
• level: The severity level ("warning", "error", or "critical").
• level_num: The severity level as a numeric value (30, 40, or 50).
• autobrief: A localized and brief statement of the expectation for the step.
• failure_text: Localized text that explains how the validation step failed.

Examples

When creating a custom action, you can access the metadata for the current step using the get_action_metadata() function. Here’s an example of a custom action that logs the metadata for the current step:

import pointblank as pb

def log_issue():
    metadata = pb.get_action_metadata()
    print(f"Type: {metadata['type']}, Step: {metadata['step']}")

validation = (
    pb.Validate(
        data=pb.load_dataset(dataset="game_revenue", tbl_type="duckdb"),
        thresholds=pb.Thresholds(warning=0.05, error=0.10, critical=0.15),
        actions=pb.Actions(warning=log_issue),
    )
    .col_vals_regex(columns="player_id", pattern=r"[A-Z]{12}[0-9]{3}")
    .col_vals_gt(columns="item_revenue", value=0.05)
    .col_vals_gt(
        columns="session_duration",
        value=15,
    )
    .interrogate()
)

validation

Type: col_vals_gt, Step: 2
Type: col_vals_gt, Step: 3

Pointblank Validation
2026-10-15|14:06:22 DuckDBWARNING0.05ERROR0.1CRITICAL0.15
		STEP	COLUMNS	VALUES	TBL	EVAL	UNITS	PASS	FAIL	W	E	C	EXT
#4CA64C	1	col_vals_regex()	player_id	[A-Z]{12}[0-9]{3}		✓	2000	2000 1.00	0 0.00	○	○	○	—
#EBBC14	2	col_vals_gt()	item_revenue	0.05		✓	2000	1701 0.85	299 0.15	●	●	○
#FF3300	3	col_vals_gt()	session_duration	15		✓	2000	1675 0.84	325 0.16	●	●	●
2026-10-15 14:06:22 UTC< 1 s2026-10-15 14:06:22 UTC

Key pieces to note in the above example:

• log_issue() (the custom action) collects metadata by calling get_action_metadata()
• the metadata is a dictionary that is used to craft the log message
• the action is passed as a bare function to the Actions object within the Validate object (placing it within Validate(actions=) ensures it’s set as an action for every validation step)

See Also

Have a look at Actions for more information on how to create custom

actions for validation steps that exceed a set threshold value.