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DataBiosphere / data-explorer

BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
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FR: don't require sample-related tables to include a participant ID column #265

Open mbookman opened 5 years ago

mbookman commented 5 years ago

Data Explorer supports samples as an entity separate from participants. However it currently requires all tables related to samples to also include a participant ID.

Much of the time, the source data related to samples does not contain a participant ID, it contains a sample ID. The data design assumption is that there is a mapping table that maps sample IDs to participant IDs.

It is typically not difficult to add a participant id column to the sample-related tables, and it can simplify researchers code if the sample-related tables already include the participant ID, but it would be nice if Data Explorer didn't force this requirement.

melissachang commented 5 years ago

Note that we're already requiring one change to tables: Add columns with GCS paths.