Allow naming any dataset. Fixes #3806

build/vega-lite-schema.json

@@ -3380,7 +3380,11 @@
       "properties": {
         "format": {
           "$ref": "#/definitions/DataFormat",
-          "description": "An object that specifies the format for parsing the data values."
+          "description": "An object that specifies the format for parsing the data."
+        },
+        "name": {
+          "description": "Provide a placeholder name and bind data at runtime.",
+          "type": "string"
         },
         "values": {
           "$ref": "#/definitions/InlineDataset",
@@ -7337,7 +7341,11 @@
       "properties": {
         "format": {
           "$ref": "#/definitions/DataFormat",
-          "description": "An object that specifies the format for parsing the data file."
+          "description": "An object that specifies the format for parsing the data."
+        },
+        "name": {
+          "description": "Provide a placeholder name and bind data at runtime.",
+          "type": "string"
         },
         "url": {
           "description": "An URL from which to load the data set. Use the `format.type` property\nto ensure the loaded data is correctly parsed.",

site/docs/data.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Vega-Lite's `data` property describes the visualization's data source as part of
 Inline Data can be specified using `values` property.
 Here is a list of all properties of an inline `data` source:
 
-{% include table.html props="values,format" source="InlineData" %}
+{% include table.html props="values,name,format" source="InlineData" %}
 
 For example, the following specification embeds an inline data table with nine rows and two columns (`a` and `b`).
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Data can be loaded from a URL using the `url` property. In addition, the format
 
 Here is a list of all properties describing a `data` source from URL:
 
-{% include table.html props="url,format" source="UrlData" %}
+{% include table.html props="url,name,format" source="UrlData" %}
 
 For example, the following specification loads data from a relative `url`: `data/cars.json`. Note that the format type is implicitly `"json"` by default.
 

src/compile/data/source.ts

@@ -36,11 +36,15 @@ export class SourceNode extends DataFlowNode {
         data.format.type = defaultExtension as DataFormatType;
       }
     } else if (isNamedData(data)) {
-      this._name = data.name;
       this._data = {};
     }
 
-    if (!isNamedData(data) && data.format) {
+    // any dataset can be named
+    if (data.name) {
+      this._name = data.name;
+    }
+
+    if (data.format) {
       const {parse = null, ...format} = data.format;
       this._data.format = format;
     }

src/data.ts

@@ -92,36 +92,34 @@ export type Data = UrlData | InlineData | NamedData;
 
 export type InlineDataset = number[] | string[] | boolean[] | object[] | string | object;
 
-export interface UrlData {
+export interface DataBase {
   /**
-   * An object that specifies the format for parsing the data file.
+   * An object that specifies the format for parsing the data.
    */
   format?: DataFormat;
+  /**
+   * Provide a placeholder name and bind data at runtime.
+   */
+  name?: string;
+}
 
+export interface UrlData extends DataBase {
   /**
    * An URL from which to load the data set. Use the `format.type` property
    * to ensure the loaded data is correctly parsed.
    */
   url: string;
 }
 
-export interface InlineData {
-  /**
-   * An object that specifies the format for parsing the data values.
-   */
-  format?: DataFormat;
+export interface InlineData extends DataBase {
   /**
    * The full data set, included inline. This can be an array of objects or primitive values, an object, or a string.
    * Arrays of primitive values are ingested as objects with a `data` property. Strings are parsed according to the specified format type.
    */
   values: InlineDataset;
 }
 
-export interface NamedData {
-  /**
-   * An object that specifies the format for parsing the data.
-   */
-  format?: DataFormat;
+export interface NamedData extends DataBase {
   /**
    * Provide a placeholder name and bind data at runtime.
    */
@@ -137,7 +135,7 @@ export function isInlineData(data: Partial<Data> | Partial<VgData>): data is Inl
 }
 
 export function isNamedData(data: Partial<Data>): data is NamedData {
-  return !!data['name'];
+  return !isUrlData(data) && !isInlineData(data) && !!data[name];
 }
 
 export type DataSourceType = 'raw' | 'main' | 'row' | 'column' | 'lookup';