metabase / metabase/metabase

Make manually-named model fields more prominent in column picker

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.Auto triaged .Team/QueryingPlatform Querying/Models Semantic Layer/Models Type:New Feature
Dominant language
Clojure
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

**What problem will this feature request solve?**

A common use case is to build a Model for consumers to avoid doing manual joins, then renaming a column for clarity. For example, we can join the Orders and People tables, and rename the `Email` column to `User email`:

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However, this name is not shown alone in the column picker for summarizing or filtering. It also shows the tables and columns where the data is coming from, which the model is supposed to hide/abstract away:

Image

The column in the resulting table does have the correct name of `User email`:

Image

**Describe the solution you'd like.**

In the column picker, show user-specified column names for models instead of table names with foreign key relationships. Disambiguate by showing the relationship only if it's necessary.

**How does this feature request impact you?**

Can be confusing for self-service users. The only workaround is to build the model with an equivalent database view.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the column picker and trace how model fields are labeled for summarizing and filtering. Check how user-specified names and table or relationship names are supplied to that UI. Done means manually named model fields appear by their specified names, with relationship details shown only when needed to disambiguate.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
clojure
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
40/100

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