Using Variables in Get_Columns_In_Relation Dbt Function
I'm Fairly New to Macros and Variables in Dbt So Apologize If This Is Really Straightforward but I'm Attempting the Below but It's Not Recognizing the...
I'm fairly new to macros and variables in dbt so apologize if this is really straightforward but I'm attempting the below but it's not recognizing the {{customer_dataset}}.{{table_name}} part
{%- set table_name = 'orders' -%}
{%- set customer_dataset = customer.id -%}
{%- set columns = adapter.get_columns_in_relation(`{{customer_dataset}}.{{table_name}}`) -%}
How do I do this properly if I want to dynamically loop through a bunch of tables for the get_columns_in_relation function?
1 Answer
First off, don't nest your curlies.
Second, get_columns_in_relation expects a Relation, not a string. A Relation is the thing returned by {{ ref() }} or {{ source() }}, so it's easiest to get a Relation from a model name, not a database identifier. If you want to use a table in your database that isn't a dbt model, create a source for it first.
In short, your code should probably look like this:
{%- set columns = adapter.get_columns_in_relation(source(customer_dataset, table_name)) -%}
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