Double left join -> wrong NULL inference -> runtime exception.

[Palmik]

Bug Description

Double left join leads to faulty Option / nullability inference. I have provided a minimal repro. There are two nullability inference issues:

1. LEFT JOIN-ed table columns are inferred as not Optional
2. The FROM table columns are inferred as Optional

Minimal Reproduction

https://github.com/Palmik/sqlx-issue-repro

The schema:

CREATE TABLE foo (
    id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT NOT NULL
);

CREATE TABLE baz (
    id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT NOT NULL
);

CREATE TABLE bar (
    id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
    foo_id BIGINT NOT NULL REFERENCES foo(id),
    baz_id BIGINT REFERENCES baz(id),
    name TEXT NOT NULL
);

The sql query:

        SELECT
            foo.id,
            foo.name,
            bar.id AS "bar_id",
            bar.name AS "bar_name",
            baz.id AS "baz_id",
            baz.name AS "baz_name"
        FROM foo
        LEFT JOIN bar ON bar.foo_id = foo.id
        LEFT JOIN baz ON baz.id = bar.baz_id 

You would expect foo.id and foo.name to not be optional, and the other columns to be optional. SQLx infers foo.* and baz.* as optional, and bar.* as not optional. One can circumvent the issue by using the AS "bar_id?" syntax to mark the columns as optional manually.

Running the code produces:

thread 'main' panicked at 'called `Result::unwrap()` on an `Err` value: ColumnDecode { index: "2", source: UnexpectedNullError }', src/main.rs:77:6

If you make sure that all rows exist, e.g. commenting out line 27, you get:

Record { id: Some(1), name: Some("foo1"), bar_id: 1, bar_name: "bar1", baz_id: Some(1), baz_name: Some("baz1") }
Record { id: Some(2), name: Some("foo2"), bar_id: 2, bar_name: "bar2", baz_id: Some(2), baz_name: Some("baz2") }
Record { id: Some(1), name: Some("foo1"), bar_id: 3, bar_name: "bar3", baz_id: None, baz_name: None }
Record { id: Some(2), name: Some("foo2"), bar_id: 4, bar_name: "bar4", baz_id: None, baz_name: None }

Info

• SQLx version: 0.7.2
• SQLx features enabled: sqlx = { version = "0.7.2", features = ["postgres", "uuid", "runtime-tokio-native-tls"] }
• Database server and version: PostgreSQL 16, but also reproducible on 15.2
• Operating system: linux
• rustc --version: rustc 1.71.1 (eb26296b5 2023-08-03)

[abonander]

@Palmik can you please post the output of EXPLAIN (VERBOSE, FORMAT JSON) <query>

[Palmik]

                                     QUERY PLAN                                      
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [                                                                                  +
   {                                                                                +
     "Plan": {                                                                      +
       "Node Type": "Hash Join",                                                    +
       "Parallel Aware": false,                                                     +
       "Async Capable": false,                                                      +
       "Join Type": "Left",                                                         +
       "Startup Cost": 16.61,                                                       +
       "Total Cost": 44.65,                                                         +
       "Plan Rows": 1200,                                                           +
       "Plan Width": 93,                                                            +
       "Output": ["foo.id", "foo.name", "bar.id", "bar.name", "baz.id", "baz.name"],+
       "Inner Unique": false,                                                       +
       "Hash Cond": "(foo.id = bar.foo_id)",                                        +
       "Plans": [                                                                   +
         {                                                                          +
           "Node Type": "Seq Scan",                                                 +
           "Parent Relationship": "Outer",                                          +
           "Parallel Aware": false,                                                 +
           "Async Capable": false,                                                  +
           "Relation Name": "foo",                                                  +
           "Schema": "public",                                                      +
           "Alias": "foo",                                                          +
           "Startup Cost": 0.00,                                                    +
           "Total Cost": 22.00,                                                     +
           "Plan Rows": 1200,                                                       +
           "Plan Width": 40,                                                        +
           "Output": ["foo.id", "foo.name"]                                         +
         },                                                                         +
         {                                                                          +
           "Node Type": "Hash",                                                     +
           "Parent Relationship": "Inner",                                          +
           "Parallel Aware": false,                                                 +
           "Async Capable": false,                                                  +
           "Startup Cost": 16.56,                                                   +
           "Total Cost": 16.56,                                                     +
           "Plan Rows": 4,                                                          +
           "Plan Width": 61,                                                        +
           "Output": ["bar.id", "bar.name", "bar.foo_id", "baz.id", "baz.name"],    +
           "Plans": [                                                               +
             {                                                                      +
               "Node Type": "Nested Loop",                                          +
               "Parent Relationship": "Outer",                                      +
               "Parallel Aware": false,                                             +
               "Async Capable": false,                                              +
               "Join Type": "Left",                                                 +
               "Startup Cost": 0.16,                                                +
               "Total Cost": 16.56,                                                 +
               "Plan Rows": 4,                                                      +
               "Plan Width": 61,                                                    +
               "Output": ["bar.id", "bar.name", "bar.foo_id", "baz.id", "baz.name"],+
               "Inner Unique": true,                                                +
               "Plans": [                                                           +
                 {                                                                  +
                   "Node Type": "Seq Scan",                                         +
                   "Parent Relationship": "Outer",                                  +
                   "Parallel Aware": false,                                         +
                   "Async Capable": false,                                          +
                   "Relation Name": "bar",                                          +
                   "Schema": "public",                                              +
                   "Alias": "bar",                                                  +
                   "Startup Cost": 0.00,                                            +
                   "Total Cost": 1.04,                                              +
                   "Plan Rows": 4,                                                  +
                   "Plan Width": 29,                                                +
                   "Output": ["bar.id", "bar.foo_id", "bar.baz_id", "bar.name"]     +
                 },                                                                 +
                 {                                                                  +
                   "Node Type": "Memoize",                                          +
                   "Parent Relationship": "Inner",                                  +
                   "Parallel Aware": false,                                         +
                   "Async Capable": false,                                          +
                   "Startup Cost": 0.16,                                            +
                   "Total Cost": 6.18,                                              +
                   "Plan Rows": 1,                                                  +
                   "Plan Width": 40,                                                +
                   "Output": ["baz.id", "baz.name"],                                +
                   "Cache Key": "bar.baz_id",                                       +
                   "Cache Mode": "logical",                                         +
                   "Plans": [                                                       +
                     {                                                              +
                       "Node Type": "Index Scan",                                   +
                       "Parent Relationship": "Outer",                              +
                       "Parallel Aware": false,                                     +
                       "Async Capable": false,                                      +
                       "Scan Direction": "Forward",                                 +
                       "Index Name": "baz_pkey",                                    +
                       "Relation Name": "baz",                                      +
                       "Schema": "public",                                          +
                       "Alias": "baz",                                              +
                       "Startup Cost": 0.15,                                        +
                       "Total Cost": 6.17,                                          +
                       "Plan Rows": 1,                                              +
                       "Plan Width": 40,                                            +
                       "Output": ["baz.id", "baz.name"],                            +
                       "Index Cond": "(baz.id = bar.baz_id)"                        +
                     }                                                              +
                   ]                                                                +
                 }                                                                  +
               ]                                                                    +
             }                                                                      +
           ]                                                                        +
         }                                                                          +
       ]                                                                            +
     }                                                                              +
   }                                                                                +
 ]
(1 row)

[Palmik]

Hi, are you able to reproduce?

[tdrozdowski]

I ran into this as well on my project with similar table structure & joins. What I discovered is using sqlx::query_as_unchecked! seemed to work properly. This was on sqlx v0.7.3. Feels like query_as should work properly though - but I'm new to sqlx so not sure what should really happen here.

[rbaumier]

Hello!

I ran into this issue with a single left join.

create table a (
  id_a text primary key not null
);

create table b (
  id_b text primary key not null,
  id_a text references a (id_a)
);

insert into b (id_b) values ('1');

use serde::Deserialize;
use sqlx::{postgres::PgPoolOptions, query_as};

#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
pub struct Rows {
    pub id_a: Option<String>,
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
    let db = PgPoolOptions::new().connect("postgresql://127.0.0.1/labs").await.unwrap();
    query_as!(
        Rows,
        r#"
            select a.id_a
            from b
            left join a on a.id_a = b.id_a
            where b.id_b = $1
        "#,
        "1"
    )
    .fetch_all(&db)
    .await
    .unwrap();
}

the query plan:

[
  {
    "Plan": {
      "Node Type": "Nested Loop",
      "Parallel Aware": false,
      "Async Capable": false,
      "Join Type": "Left",
      "Startup Cost": 0.3,
      "Total Cost": 16.35,
      "Plan Rows": 1,
      "Plan Width": 32,
      "Output": ["a.id_a"],
      "Inner Unique": true,
      "Plans": [
        {
          "Node Type": "Index Scan",
          "Parent Relationship": "Outer",
          "Parallel Aware": false,
          "Async Capable": false,
          "Scan Direction": "Forward",
          "Index Name": "b_pkey",
          "Relation Name": "b",
          "Schema": "public",
          "Alias": "b",
          "Startup Cost": 0.15,
          "Total Cost": 8.17,
          "Plan Rows": 1,
          "Plan Width": 32,
          "Output": ["b.id_b", "b.id_a"],
          "Index Cond": "(b.id_b = '1'::text)"
        },
        {
          "Node Type": "Index Only Scan",
          "Parent Relationship": "Inner",
          "Parallel Aware": false,
          "Async Capable": false,
          "Scan Direction": "Forward",
          "Index Name": "a_pkey",
          "Relation Name": "a",
          "Schema": "public",
          "Alias": "a",
          "Startup Cost": 0.15,
          "Total Cost": 8.17,
          "Plan Rows": 1,
          "Plan Width": 32,
          "Output": ["a.id_a"],
          "Index Cond": "(a.id_a = b.id_a)"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
]

It works correctly if I force the id_a as optionnal :

query_as!(
    Rows,
    r#"
        select a.id_a as "id_a?"
        from b
        left join a on a.id_a = b.id_a
        where b.id_b = $1
    "#,
    "1"
)
.fetch_all(&db)
.await
.unwrap()

Strangely, it also works without the parameter binding:

query_as!(
    Rows,
    r#"
        select a.id_a
        from b
        left join a on a.id_a = b.id_a
        where b.id_b = '1'
    "#,
)
.fetch_all(&db)
.await
.unwrap();

[c0nscience]

~Hi there I run into the same issue with a many-to-many left join query. Do you made progress? I get try decoding as an 'Option' when my left join is empty.~

Edit: I got my many-to-many work: I had to filter the aggregated array to get a null value in the result set. Since I use Option<Vec<T>> it is now None ... I don't know though how I could maybe have it as an empty vector.