[CT-2833] Make dimension list available on the semantic model documentation page

[siljamardla]

Describe the feature

When I open the documentation of a metric, I would like to see the dimensions available for this metric.

Describe alternatives you've considered

When scanning through the open issues list, I found this issue about exposing the metric yaml in the documentation. If that was exposed, it would provide the same value.

Additional context

When moving to MetricFlow the available dimension list will be extended thanks to additional functionality. However, I'm sure 'dbt compile' actually has to know the available dimension list anyway, so I'm guessing it will not be that much more difficult to make it available in documentation. And considering the MetricFlow functionality, the available dimension list will be even more valuable than in current metrics.

Who will this benefit?

When looking for metrics, it is very important to know at which granularities these metrics are available. Let's say I want to calculate country level 'number of orders' metric. I find the 'number of orders' metric in dbt docs, but I still have no idea if I can actually use it to calculate the country level values.

Are you interested in contributing this feature?

Sure, but I have no idea where to start.

[graciegoheen]

Hello! Thanks for opening up this issue.

We did some work for 1.6.1 to include semantic models in the docs site, would you want dimensions included in the semantic models page?

I think this would be pretty straightforward to add for the semantic models, but not possible (or would take significant effort) for metrics.

Candidly, our team isn't able to prioritize new feature development in dbt-docs, so this isn't something we'd be picking up ourselves.

[siljamardla]

would you want dimensions included in the semantic models page?

Absolutely!

[siljamardla]

Seems like you already have an idea of how this could be implemented. How can I support?

[jtcohen6]

The code to add dimensions to the semantic model page would probably be quite similar to the code we already have for displaying entities:

dbt-docs/src/app/docs/semantic_model.html

Lines 61 to 85 in b8b0dc1

	<section class="section" ng-show = "semantic_model.entities.length != 0">
	<div class="section-target" id="entities"></div>
	<div class="section-content">
	<h6>Entities</h6>
	<div class="panel">
	<div class="detail-group" style="padding-bottom: 0">
	<div class="detail-body" style="padding-left: 0">
	<dl class="detail" ng-style="{'padding-left': $index == 0 ? 0 : 'auto'}"
	ng-repeat="entity in semantic_model.entities">
	<dt class="detail-label">Name</dt>
	<dd class="detail-value" ng-if="entity.name">{{ entity.name }}</dd>
	<dd class="detail-value" ng-if="!entity.name">None</dd>
	<dt class="detail-label">Type</dt>
	<dd class="detail-value" ng-if="entity.type">{{ entity.type }}</dd>
	<dd class="detail-value" ng-if="!entity.type">None</dd>
	<dt class="detail-label">Expression</dt>
	<dd class="detail-value" ng-if="entity.expr">{{ entity.expr }}</dd>
	<dd class="detail-value" ng-if="!entity.expr">None</dd>
	</dl>
	</div>
	</div>
	</div>
	</div>
	</section>

To reiterate Grace above, we won't be able to prioritize this one ourselves - but if you're interested in having a go at it, we'd welcome a PR!

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[SOVALINUX]

Hi
Linked a PR of a friend of mine that might be useful (or even can be merged). I did solve mine issue with simple visualization, but obviously other attributes might be visualized as well and expand/collapse logic might be added.
Hope it's helpful