FAQ.md

Frequently asked questions

1. Unable to execute command e.g. error command vscode-dataform-tools.xxx not found

   • It is likely that the vscode workspace folder is not opened at the root of your dataform project. For example, if your dataform project is located at ~/Documents/repos/my_dataform_project ensure that workspace is opened at ~/Documents/repos/my_dataform_project NOT ~/Documents/repos/my_dataform_project
   • The above design is to facilitate the exection of sqlanvil compile --json command without infering the dataform root at run time

2. Error compiling Dataform, process existed with exit code 1

   • Check if correct dataform cli version is installed by running dataform --version in your terminal
   • Ensure that dataform cli version matches the version required by the project
   • Try compiling the project by running sqlanvil compile on your terminal from the root of your dataform project
   • In case you need to install a specific dataform cli version by running npm i -g @sqlanvil/cli@2.9.0. Make sure you verify the version by running the dataform --version
   • In case the error is not due to all the above reasons it is likely that you have a compilation error in your pipeline

3. Dataform encountered an error: Missing credentials JSON file; not found at path <your_project_path>/.df-credentials.json

   • Run dataform init-creds from the from the root of your dataform project in your terminal
   • You will be promted to pick the location and type of authentication json/adc. Choosing adc will be use your default gcp credentials that you had setup using gcloud

4. I do not want to see compiled query each time I save it

   • Open vscode settings and search for Dataform and uncheck the following setting

5. I want the autocompletion to be of the format ${ref('dataset_name', 'table_name)} instead of ${ref('table_name')}

   • Open vscode settings and search for Dataform and select the prefered autocompletion format

6. I want to use local installation of dataform cli instead of global one | OR | I have to use different version of Dataform cli for a workspace

   • If you install dataform cli using npm install -g @sqlanvil/cli it will install the dataform cli globally making only one version available everywhere. If you have varing Dataform version requeriement for a workspace you can installation dataform cli version specific to that workspace by running npm install @sqlanvil/cli notice the absence of -g flag as compared to the previous command. Running npm install @sqlanvil/cli will install dataform cli at ./node_modules/.bin/dataform. To make the extension use dataform cli installated in local scope open settings and select local for Dataform Cli Scope as shown in the screenshot below.

     

7. I do not see go to definition option when right clicking references ${ref('table_name')}

   • Check if you language mode when sqlx file is open is set to sqlx. VSCode sometimes sets it as a different flavour of sql. You can change that by opening the command pallet and searching for change language mode followed by Configure language association for "sqlx" and selecting sqlx from the list of available options. This should also resolve hover information not being visible as the all the language specific behaviors are tied to file being inferred as sqlx file.