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Data validation

Data validation tools surface inconsistencies in a project before they cause analysis errors or surprise drawings. The most-used tool in this group is the Explosive Scrubber, which removes orphaned explosive entries that no longer correspond to any active feature.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  • Run the Explosive Scrubber and review what it would remove
  • Recognize when a validation tool's output indicates a deeper data issue
  • Decide whether to scrub now or investigate first

Explosive Scrubber​

The Explosive Scrubber removes explosive entries that are not referenced by any active feature in the project. These typically accumulate after deletions, imports, or bulk edits — the explosive record outlives the facility it belonged to and lingers in the project as dead data.

[TODO: FILL IN — exact UI flow for invoking the Explosive Scrubber: which menu, the preview/dry-run view, and the confirm step.]

Preview before committing​

Always review the Scrubber's preview before confirming. Most of the time the listed entries are pure orphans — features that were deleted and left their explosives behind. Occasionally, an entry on the preview list reveals a deeper issue: a feature that exists but has lost its association with its explosives, which would cause analysis to fail silently.

If a preview entry references a feature that should still exist, do not run the Scrubber. Investigate the feature first; the orphan record may be the only evidence that something has gone wrong.

When to scrub​

Run the Scrubber:

  • After bulk deletions
  • After importing a project from an external source
  • Before major deliverables, to ensure clean state
  • When a "stuck" explosive entry is causing UI noise

Do not run the Scrubber when you have unexplained orphans — investigate first.

Other validations​

[TODO: FILL IN — additional validation tools available in the project: feature consistency checks, attribute validators, geometry validators, criteria conformance checks, and so on. List each with a one-line description.]

Try it​

In a sandbox project:

  1. Add a feature with explosives entered
  2. Note any record of the explosives in the data validation panel (or wherever Explosive Scrubber surfaces project-level explosive state)
  3. Delete the feature
  4. Run the Explosive Scrubber preview and confirm the orphaned entry appears
  5. Confirm the cleanup and verify the entry is gone