Transformations: Use an explicit join seperator when converting from an array to string field (#80169)

packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.test.ts

@@ -359,6 +359,38 @@ describe('field convert types transformer', () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it('will support custom join separators', () => {
+    const options = {
+      conversions: [{ targetField: 'vals', destinationType: FieldType.string, joinWith: '|' }],
+    };
+
+    const arrayValues = toDataFrame({
+      fields: [
+        {
+          name: 'vals',
+          type: FieldType.other,
+          values: [
+            ['a', 'b', 2],
+            [3, 'x', 'y'],
+          ],
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+
+    const stringified = convertFieldTypes(options, [arrayValues]);
+    expect(
+      stringified[0].fields.map((f) => ({
+        type: f.type,
+        values: f.values,
+      }))
+    ).toEqual([
+      {
+        type: FieldType.string,
+        values: ['a|b|2', '3|x|y'],
+      },
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it('will convert time fields to strings', () => {
     const options = {
       conversions: [{ targetField: 'time', destinationType: FieldType.string, dateFormat: 'YYYY-MM' }],

packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.ts

@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ export interface ConvertFieldTypeOptions {
    * Date format to parse a string datetime
    */
   dateFormat?: string;
+  /**
+   * When converting an array to a string, the values can be joined with a custom separator
+   */
+  joinWith?: string;
   /**
    * When converting a date to a string an option timezone.
    */
@@ -103,7 +107,7 @@ export function convertFieldType(field: Field, opts: ConvertFieldTypeOptions): F
     case FieldType.number:
       return fieldToNumberField(field);
     case FieldType.string:
-      return fieldToStringField(field, opts.dateFormat, { timeZone: opts.timezone });
+      return fieldToStringField(field, opts.dateFormat, { timeZone: opts.timezone }, opts.joinWith);
     case FieldType.boolean:
       return fieldToBooleanField(field);
     case FieldType.enum:
@@ -192,7 +196,8 @@ function fieldToBooleanField(field: Field): Field {
 export function fieldToStringField(
   field: Field,
   dateFormat?: string,
-  parseOptions?: DateTimeOptionsWhenParsing
+  parseOptions?: DateTimeOptionsWhenParsing,
+  joinWith?: string
 ): Field {
   let values = field.values;
 
@@ -202,7 +207,12 @@ export function fieldToStringField(
       break;
 
     case FieldType.other:
-      values = values.map((v) => JSON.stringify(v));
+      values = values.map((v) => {
+        if (joinWith?.length && Array.isArray(v)) {
+          return v.join(joinWith);
+        }
+        return JSON.stringify(v); // will quote strings and avoid "object"
+      });
       break;
 
     default:

packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/reduce.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { map } from 'rxjs/operators';
 
-import { guessFieldTypeForField } from '../../dataframe/processDataFrame';
+import { guessFieldTypeForField, guessFieldTypeFromValue } from '../../dataframe/processDataFrame';
 import { getFieldDisplayName } from '../../field';
 import { KeyValue } from '../../types/data';
 import { DataFrame, Field, FieldType } from '../../types/dataFrame';
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ export function reduceFields(data: DataFrame[], matcher: FieldMatcher, reducerId
           const value = results[reducer];
           const copy = {
             ...field,
+            type: guessFieldTypeFromValue(value),
             values: [value],
           };
           copy.state = undefined;

public/app/features/transformers/editors/ConvertFieldTypeTransformerEditor.tsx

@@ -82,6 +82,18 @@ export const ConvertFieldTypeTransformerEditor = ({
     [onChange, options]
   );
 
+  const onJoinWithChange = useCallback(
+    (idx: number) => (e: ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
+      const conversions = options.conversions;
+      conversions[idx] = { ...conversions[idx], joinWith: e.currentTarget.value };
+      onChange({
+        ...options,
+        conversions: conversions,
+      });
+    },
+    [onChange, options]
+  );
+
   const onAddConvertFieldType = useCallback(() => {
     onChange({
       ...options,
@@ -119,6 +131,7 @@ export const ConvertFieldTypeTransformerEditor = ({
   return (
     <>
       {options.conversions.map((c: ConvertFieldTypeOptions, idx: number) => {
+        const targetField = findField(input?.[0], c.targetField);
         return (
           <div key={`${c.targetField}-${idx}`}>
             <InlineFieldRow>
@@ -152,8 +165,15 @@ export const ConvertFieldTypeTransformerEditor = ({
                   />
                 </InlineField>
               )}
-              {c.destinationType === FieldType.string &&
+              {c.destinationType === FieldType.string && (
-                (c.dateFormat || findField(input?.[0], c.targetField)?.type === FieldType.time) && (
+                <>
+                  {(c.joinWith?.length || targetField?.type === FieldType.other) && (
+                    <InlineField label="Join with" tooltip="Use an explicit separator when joining array values">
+                      <Input value={c.joinWith} placeholder={'JSON'} onChange={onJoinWithChange(idx)} width={9} />
+                    </InlineField>
+                  )}
+                  {c.dateFormat ||
+                    (targetField?.type === FieldType.time && (
                       <>
                         <InlineField label="Date format" tooltip="Specify the output format.">
                           <Input
@@ -167,6 +187,8 @@ export const ConvertFieldTypeTransformerEditor = ({
                           <Select options={timeZoneOptions} value={c.timezone} onChange={onTzChange(idx)} isClearable />
                         </InlineField>
                       </>
+                    ))}
+                </>
               )}
               <Button
                 size="md"