List Dimensions of a GHO Indicator

Returns the unique values of a given dimension across all observations of a GHO indicator. Useful for discovering which ages, sexes, regions, or other breakdowns are available before calling gho_data().

Usage

gho_dimensions(indicator, dimension = "SpatialDimType", backend = NULL)

Arguments

indicator: Character scalar. The indicator code (e.g. "NCDMORT3070").
dimension: Character. Name of the dimension column in the indicator data. Common values include "SpatialDim", "SpatialDimType", "TimeDim", "Dim1", "Dim2", and "Dim3". Case-sensitive (it is sent to the server as an OData $select field name). xMart also accepts exact named fields such as "DIM_SEX" or "DIM_AGE". Default "SpatialDimType".
backend: Character scalar. "auto", "xmart" or "legacy". Default NULL uses the DSIR.who_backend option, or "auto" when that option is unset. An explicit argument overrides the option for this call without changing it. Use the same backend for discovery and retrieval.

Value

A character vector of unique, sorted dimension values, or an empty character vector when the service is unreachable or the dimension is missing.

Details

Only the requested column is downloaded (via the OData $select query option), so this is a lightweight metadata query even for indicators with hundreds of thousands of observations. A dimension that is not a column of the GHO data table (e.g. a misspelling) makes the server reject the request; the failure surfaces as a warning and an empty character vector.

Retrieval metadata

Downloads and directories retain their existing classes and columns. dsir_metadata(x)$sources records the actual backend, endpoint, UTC retrieved_at, retrieval status, cache use, source record count, reported API version and release. Unknown versions and times remain NA. Each source row includes its own server query. query records the public selection, including local filters and reference-country/year restrictions. result describes the function's original return; current is computed from the supplied object. Source counts precede local filtering and GHE measure pivoting, so they can differ from returned row counts.

Result status distinguishes success, empty, failed, incomplete, invalid, partial and unverified. Completeness concerns the requested retrieval, not global indicator coverage. It is NA when the response lacks sufficient completeness information. A successful HTTP response alone does not establish completeness of an observation download.

Cached records retain their original retrieval time and set cache_hit. A historical fallback uses retrieval_status = "bundled_snapshot" and retains the original collection date. It does not prove live availability. Failed SDG list requests still return NULL with a warning; NULL cannot carry metadata. Other empty failure results record no successful retrieval time. Existing WHO who_provenance and catalog_snapshot attributes remain available for compatibility.

Cleaners preserve acquisition metadata even for empty input. This is independent of keep_metadata, which controls optional data columns. as_dsir_data() also retains sources, query and result. These are historical acquisition records, not an audit of arbitrary changes to a plain tibble. Use the S3 object's processing status to track supported transformations. saveRDS() preserves attributes; CSV does not.

Cleaning records live in cleaning, also for output = "tibble" and user-supplied input without acquisition records. They contain the cleaner, package version, UTC cleaning time, input/output sizes and columns, options, and a profile of semantic fields. Each profile records its retained column (or NA), distinct count including missing values, missing count and its constant value, if any. Varying omitted values are not stored row by row. Recorded aliases link equivalent core and named dimensions. Cleaning time never substitutes for retrieval time. These records describe the cleaning input; current coverage and subsequent field status remain separate.

Examples

# \donttest{
gho_dimensions("NCDMORT3070")
gho_dimensions("NCDMORT3070", dimension = "Dim1")
# }