Troubleshoot join operations
Learn how to troubleshoot common behaviors and errors that may occur when using
the join
package.
Submit issues for unexplained behaviors or errors
This is a “living” document that may be updated with common issues
that users may run into when using the join
package.
If you have questions about a behavior or error that is not documented here,
please submit an issue to either the InfluxData Documentation or Flux GitHub repositories:
Troubleshoot join behaviors
Columns explicitly mapped in the join are null
In some cases, your join output may include null values in columns where you expect non-null values. This may be caused by one of the following issues:
Cause
The group keys of each input stream aren’t the same.
Functions in the join
package use group keys to quickly identify what tables
should be compared.
Solution
Use group()
to regroup
your two input streams so their group keys match before attempting to join
them together.
Cause
There are no matching group key instances in your data streams.
Functions in the join
package only compare tables with matching
group key instances.
Input streams may have matching group keys, but there are no matching group
key instances in your stream.
This may happen when joining two separate fields
queried from InfluxDB. By default, InfluxDB returns data with _field
as part
of the group key. If each stream contains a different field, tables in the two
streams won’t be compared because they won’t have any matching group key instances.
Solution
Use group()
to remove
any columns from the group keys of each input stream that would prevent
group key instances from matching.
Troubleshoot join error messages
- table is missing column '<column>'
- table is missing label <label>
- record is missing label <label>
- cannot join on an empty table
table is missing column '<column>'
Error message
cannot set join columns in left table stream: table is missing column '<column>'
Cause
Your on
join predicate uses a column that doesn’t exist.
In the on
predicate function, you’re trying to compare a column
that doesn’t exist in one of your input streams.
Solution
Ensure the columns that you’re comparing in the on
predicate
function exist in the input streams.
If necessary, update column names in the predicate function.
table is missing label <label>
Error message
table is missing label <label>
Cause
Your on
join predicate uses a column that doesn’t exist.
In the on
predicate function for an outer join, you’re trying to use a value
from a column that doesn’t exist in the “primary” input stream
(left
for join.left()
and right
for join.right()
).
Solution
Ensure the columns that you’re comparing in the on
predicate
function actually exist in the input streams.
If necessary, update column names in the predicate function.
record is missing label <label>
Error message
record is missing label <label> (argument <left or right>)
Cause
Your on
join predicate uses a column that doesn’t exist.
In the on
predicate function, you’re trying to compare a column
that doesn’t exist in one of your input streams.
Solution
Ensure the columns that you’re comparing in the on
predicate
function actually exist in the input streams.
If necessary, update column names in the predicate function.
Cause
Your as
output schema function uses a column that doesn’t exist.
If using an outer join, the as
is trying to use a value
from a column that doesn’t exist in the “primary” input stream
(left
for join.left()
and right
for join.right()
).
Solution
Ensure the columns that you’re using in the as
output function to assign
values to the output actually exist in the input streams.
cannot join on an empty table
Error message
error preparing <left or right> side of join: cannot join on an empty table
Cause
One of your input streams is an empty stream of tables. Functions in the join package error when one or both of the input streams are empty.
Solution
Use array.from()
and
union()
to insert a dummy table into each
stream that you filter out after the join operation.
The dummy table needs to include all group key columns of the stream it is unioned with.
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