probe_data_url
Check whether an SDMX data query returns observations using a lightweight probe that fetches just one record to verify data availability.
Instructions
Probe an exact SDMX data query and return whether it contains data.
This answers the question that validation and code-usage checks cannot:
does this exact query return observations right now?
Accepts either a complete data URL or structured parameters.
Uses lightweight probing (firstNObservations=1) to minimise payload.
Args:
data_url: Complete SDMX data URL to probe
dataflow_id: Dataflow ID (alternative to data_url)
filters: Dimension filters (alternative to data_url)
start_period: Start time period
end_period: End time period
agency_id: Owning agency when different from the session default.
Required for OECD sub-agency flows (e.g. pass "OECD.STI.STP"
alongside dataflow_id="DSD_RDS_GERD@DF_GERD_SOF"). Only consulted
when data_url is not provided; ignored when data_url is.
sample_observations_limit: Max sample observations to return
max_distinct_values_per_dimension: Max distinct values per dimension summary
timeout_ms: Probe timeout in milliseconds
endpoint: Optional endpoint key (e.g. "FBOS", "ECB") to target a
specific provider for this call only. Defaults to the session's
current endpoint.
Returns:
Probe result with status, observation count, shape, and sample data
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| filters | No | ||
| data_url | No | ||
| endpoint | No | ||
| agency_id | No | ||
| end_period | No | ||
| timeout_ms | No | ||
| dataflow_id | No | ||
| start_period | No | ||
| sample_observations_limit | No | ||
| max_distinct_values_per_dimension | No |
Output Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| notes | No | Diagnostic notes | |
| status | Yes | Probe outcome: 'nonempty' if observations were returned, 'empty' if the query resolved to zero observations, 'error' if the probe failed (HTTP error, parse failure, etc.) | |
| dimensions | No | Summary of observed dimension values | |
| series_count | No | Number of distinct series | |
| geo_dimension_id | No | Geography dimension ID if detected | |
| observation_count | No | Number of actual observations returned | |
| query_fingerprint | No | SHA-256 fingerprint of the normalised query | |
| time_period_count | No | Number of distinct time period values | |
| has_time_dimension | No | Whether a time dimension was detected | |
| sample_observations | No | Bounded sample of observations |