How to select from an array

[advapiIT]

Hello,
I've started using DataMasker today and I'm not able to randomly choose between a set of values... it's possible? I've searched on documentation but have not found a way to do that

Thanks

[Steveiwonder]

Hey @advapiIT, I'm glad you found DataMasker, I hope I can help you out.

I need to understand a little more about what kind of data you want to use? Is this a static list of predefined values from yourself? or you just want to use random ints, strings or some other data? Can you elaborate?

If you just need random data you can use Bogus type and specificy the Randomizer option for the column here are some examples

Generate random int between 0-100

   {
       "name": "...",
       "type": "Bogus",
       "stringFormatPattern": "{{randomizer.int(0,100}}",
       "retainNullValues": false
   },

Generate random string

   {
       "name": "...",
       "type": "Bogus",
       "stringFormatPattern": "{{randomizer.string}}",
       "retainNullValues": false
   },

Checkout the https://github.com/bchavez/Bogus/ home page under "Random/Randomizer"

Please let me know what exactly you need

[advapiIT]

Hello!, Thanks for your reply.. its simple I need to pick a random value from an array example [10,20,56 ,80] (those are some id of a Product type) . Thanks Il Gio 21 Ago 2025, 00:29 Steven Yates ***@***.***> ha scritto:

…

*Steveiwonder* left a comment (Steveiwonder/DataMasker#50) <#50 (comment)> Hey @advapiIT <https://github.com/advapiIT>, I'm glad you found DataMasker, I hope I can help you out. I need to understand a little more about what kind of data you want to use? Is this a static list of predefined values from yourself? or you just want to use random ints, strings or some other data? Can you elaborate? If you just need random data you can use Bogus type and specificy the Randomizer option for the column here are some examples Generate random int between 0-100 { "name": "...", "type": "Bogus", "stringFormatPattern": "{{randomizer.int(0,100}}", "retainNullValues": false }, Generate random string { "name": "...", "type": "Bogus", "stringFormatPattern": "{{randomizer.string}}", "retainNullValues": false }, Checkout the https://github.com/bchavez/Bogus/ home page under "Random/Randomizer" — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#50 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABDZBJWEYKDAHBPZIB5CCRD3OTZFZAVCNFSM6AAAAACEKQXLEWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTEMBYGI3DINBSGE> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[aflockermann]

Hello,
Is there a way to generate names and addresses for specific countries like France, Germany, etc.? If so, can the values ​​also be generated dynamically, e.g., via a country code in the table, i.e., FR -> City: Paris, IT: City: Rome...?
Regards

[Steveiwonder]

Hey @advapiIT, great news — this is now supported!

I've added a new useList property to the column configuration. You simply provide an array of values and DataMasker will randomly pick one for each row.

For your exact use case with Product Type IDs:

{
    "name": "ProductTypeId",
    "type": "None",
    "useList": [10, 20, 56, 80],
    "retainNullValues": false
}

Each row will be assigned a random value from that list. It works with strings too:

{
    "name": "Status",
    "type": "None",
    "useList": ["Active", "Inactive", "Pending"],
    "retainNullValues": false
}

The retainNullValues behaviour still applies — if the existing value is null and retainNullValues is true (the default), the row will be left as null. Set it to false if you want nulls to be replaced with a value from the list too.

The README has been updated with full documentation on this. Let me know if you run into any issues!

[Steveiwonder]

@aflockermann
What we currently support, fixed locale for the entire run

You can configure a locale in your config file under dataGeneration, and all generated names, addresses, phone numbers etc. will use that locale for every row:

{
  "dataGeneration": {
    "locale": "fr"
  }
}

Supported locale codes come from the Bogus library. Examples:

Code	Language/Region
en	English (default)
fr	French
de	German
it	Italian
es	Spanish
nl	Dutch
pt_BR	Brazilian Portuguese
ja	Japanese
zh_CN	Chinese (Simplified)

This covers the first part of the request — if your entire dataset belongs to one country, this works today.

---

What we don't currently support ❌

Dynamic locale per row based on a column value

It is not currently possible to say "use French generation for rows where CountryCode = 'FR', and German generation for rows where CountryCode = 'DE'".

The locale is fixed at startup when the Faker instance is created, and there is no equivalent of useGenderColumn for locale. Every row in a table is processed with the same locale regardless of any column value in that row.

---

Workaround (today)

If your data is cleanly segmented by country, you can run DataMasker multiple times — once per locale — targeting a filtered subset of rows each time via separate config files:

config-fr.json

{
  "dataGeneration": { "locale": "fr" },
  "dataSource": {
    "type": "SqlServer",
    "config": { "connectionString": "..." }
  },
  "tables": [
    {
      "name": "Users",
      "primaryKeyColumn": "UserId",
      "columns": [ ... ]
    }
  ]
}

You would need to filter the table (e.g. via a view or WHERE CountryCode = 'FR') for each run. This is not ideal, but it works without any code changes.

---

I don't currently have plans to support the per-row dynamic locale yet.