# Grid Central Preview

Astera Dataprep features a preview-centric grid, an Excel-like, dynamic, and interactive grid that updates in real time. This interface, with its familiar rows and columns layout, allows for easy navigation and data manipulation, mimicking the traditional spreadsheet format. It displays transformed data immediately after each operation, providing you with an instant preview. This allows you to see the impact of their transformations right away, enabling quick verification and ensuring that changes are applied correctly.

![](/files/t6sM5EVTEirpOBtAvxrl)

You can directly apply transformations to columns by right clicking the column header and selecting the required transformation.

![](/files/wLQ0Nz6htpPzTNnqqtgM)

If multiple columns are selected when right clicking, different transformations are available for application. For example, *Concatenate Columns.*

![](/files/nXLCY7dtbhAoHjTDbHbl)

You can rename columns by double clicking the column headers.

![](/files/zfwvF8rh8aQMtZmfDuBT)

To change a column’s data type, you can select the data type icon next to the column name and select a different data type from the drop-down menu.

![](/files/CTNhKecWXUBzV9Kx6jq3)

You can also change column order by dragging and dropping columns to a different place in the table. Small black markers help guide you when moving columns.

![](/files/GW5bbJIhLd0ljqWSPY7v)

In case there are any errors or warnings in the dataset, they are displayed on the Grid for easier identification. For example, here we’ve created a validation rule for Null values in the Region column:

![](/files/UEmsMSZe2q2Qe8KrUUXv)

Once the validation rule has been applied successfully, it will show the errors in the preview grid like so:

![](/files/XbDLPySdy8dsmRJntMQE)


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://documentation.astera.com/dataprep/grid-central-preview.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.