TypeError: Invalid column syntax: "source-layer".

[stepankuzmin]

It seems that pg-promise doesn't support column names with - sign.

Expected behavior

ColumnSet {
    columns: [
        Column {
            name: "source-layer"
        }
    ]
}

Actual behavior

TypeError: Invalid column syntax: "source-layer".
    at parseColumn (/Users/stepan/projects/protoproto/node_modules/pg-promise/lib/helpers/column.js:279:11)
    at new Column (/Users/stepan/projects/protoproto/node_modules/pg-promise/lib/helpers/column.js:136:22)
    at ColumnSet.columns.columns.map.c (/Users/stepan/projects/protoproto/node_modules/pg-promise/lib/helpers/columnSet.js:213:57)
    at Array.map (<anonymous>)
    at new ColumnSet (/Users/stepan/projects/protoproto/node_modules/pg-promise/lib/helpers/columnSet.js:212:32)

Steps to reproduce

const pgp = require('pg-promise')();
new pgp.helpers.ColumnSet(['source-layer']);

Environment

• Version of pg-promise: 8.2.2
• Version of Node.js: 9.7.1

P.S. I've tried different modifiers with

new pgp.helpers.Column({ name: '"source-layer"', mod: ':raw' })

but it didn't succeeded.

[vitaly-t]

This is by design, see the API: http://vitaly-t.github.io/pg-promise/helpers.Column.html

Destination column name + source property name (if prop is skipped). The name must adhere to JavaScript syntax for variables, unless prop is specified, in which case name represents only the column name, and therefore can be any string.

[stepankuzmin]

So there is no way to use helpers with this kind of columns then?

[vitaly-t]

Are you using string presentation for your source property names? If not, then what is your source property name?

[stepankuzmin]

I've "source-layer" text in my create table. I'm trying to use insert and update helpers on this table.

[vitaly-t]

I understand that, I asked about the name of the property in the source object that contains the value.

[stepankuzmin]

What do you mean by source object? Query result object? If yes, then it is source-layer too. Actually I'm refering to it as source-layer everywhere.

Yes, I'm using string presentation for property names.

[vitaly-t]

I'm using string presentation for property names.

If property names in your source object do not satisfy the open-variable syntax for JavaScript, then type Column cannot directly map to such properties.

This is because the whole idea of the helpers namespace is around preparing high-performance formatting templates that use Named Parameters, which in turn can only use open-variable syntax for properties.

What you are doing is unusual, and can only happen when trying to work-around some legacy bad written database. New databases should never use names like column-bla-name, that's a horrible idea. The standard is column_bla_name, which then can be auto-camelized with pg-promise, if you want.

If you still have such awkward columns to deal with, you would have to provide a value override, i.e. your column would be:

{name: 'column-layer', prop: 'unused', init: c => c.source['column-layer']}

i.e. you'd have to provide any prop just to indicate that name no longer represents the source property, only the column name, and thus can be any string, as explained in the API.

Just shorter alternative:

{name: 'column-layer', prop: '_', init: c => c.source['column-layer']}

[stepankuzmin]

Thanks for the reply! That makes things clear.

[vitaly-t]

Related issue, with explanation - #937