feat: add a table description and name to the Delta Table from Python

[fvaleye]

Hey 👋,

Let's start with a simple one.

Description

Adds convenient methods to set the table description and name through the Python API:

• Add table.alter.set_table_description(desc) method in Python
• Add table.alter.set_table_name(name) method in Python
• Properly handles metadata storage in the Delta table metadata

Related issue

• closes Alter table description #3401

Implementation Details

• Leverage the validator crate
• Limit the number of characters for update operation to a Delta Table: name (255 characters, not empty) and description (4000 characters)
• Added Python bindings in lib.rs for set_table_name and set_table_description
• Extended TableAlterer class with convenient API methods

Use Case

Previously, users had to use set_table_properties with specific property keys and faced issues with property validation. Now they can simply call:

  table.alter.set_table_description('my wonderful table')
  table.alter.set_table_name('my_table')

This resolves the DeltaError about property values needing to be in TableProperty enum by directly handling description/name metadata rather than as generic properties.

This update fixes the table description setting, which previously required manual property management, and provides a clean, intuitive API for standard table metadata operations.

[github-actions]

ACTION NEEDED

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The PR title and description are used as the merge commit message. Please update your PR title and description to match the specification.

[ion-elgreco]

👋 @fvaleye! This looks useful for sure, but I think it makes more sense to have a new operation that updates a subset of the table_metadata and maybe takes an Enum::TableName/TableDescription as input instead of going through the set_table_properties

[fvaleye]

I hesitated whether to reuse this method or create a new one: set_table_property.rs. I'm going to rework the implementation by creating dedicated methods!

[ion-elgreco]

@fvaleye Maybe we can use https://github.com/Keats/validator to validate the enum properties directly? Then you don't have to check downstream again in case users directly construct the enum

[fvaleye]

@fvaleye Maybe we can use https://github.com/Keats/validator to validate the enum properties directly? Then you don't have to check downstream again in case users directly construct the enum

Thanks for the idea, loved it.
Since it's a new dependency, I would rather use it everywhere by letting contributors agree on its usage, WDYT?

[ion-elgreco]

@fvaleye Maybe we can use https://github.com/Keats/validator to validate the enum properties directly? Then you don't have to check downstream again in case users directly construct the enum

Thanks for the idea, loved it. Since it's a new dependency, I would rather use it everywhere by letting contributors agree on its usage, WDYT?

Yes, let's see what others have to say, @roeap, @rtyler any thoughts on this?

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Attention: Patch coverage is 60.30534% with 52 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.

Project coverage is 71.22%. Comparing base (ecf6ebc) to head (710fe74).
Report is 2 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
python/src/lib.rs	0.00%	48 Missing ⚠️
...rates/core/src/operations/update_table_metadata.rs	94.93%	1 Missing and 3 partials ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff            @@
##             main    #3464    +/-   ##
========================================
  Coverage   71.22%   71.22%            
========================================
  Files         148      149     +1     
  Lines       44707    44836   +129     
  Branches    44707    44836   +129     
========================================
+ Hits        31843    31935    +92     
- Misses      10794    10831    +37     
  Partials     2070     2070            

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[ion-elgreco]

There is also https://docs.rs/garde/latest/garde/ btw, which is a drop-in replacement/rewrite of validator, has some more functions. Both seem well maintained in terms of updates

[roeap]

generally speaking I am a great fan of validating data and failing early if we encounter invalid data.

I have experience with neither crate, but it seems validator has a smaller size footprint and its dependencies are already covered by the existing ones.

[fvaleye]

Let's add validator then! 👍
I will include the lib and ping you when it's done @ion-elgreco

[fvaleye]

I added the validator crate and some validation rules.
Ready for review @ion-elgreco

[ion-elgreco]

Great stuff!

[fvaleye]

FYI: I didn't add more Python tests in lib.rs because it is already tested (not covered by the coverage tool).

[ion-elgreco]

FYI: I didn't add more Python tests in lib.rs because it is already tested (not covered by the coverage tool).

That's fine, I only test pyo3 code in python :) because that's what matters in the end