Problem creating "AS" for string name with spaces.

[OlegEgoism]

Bug description

I am using version 4.1.2.
I encountered an issue!

In SQL Lab, I write the query:
SELECT
TO_DATE('01.' || on_period, 'DD.MM.YYYY') AS "Дата отчетного периода",
CASE
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '01' THEN 'Январь'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '02' THEN 'Февраль'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '03' THEN 'Март'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '04' THEN 'Апрель'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '05' THEN 'Май'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '06' THEN 'Июнь'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '07' THEN 'Июль'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '08' THEN 'Август'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '09' THEN 'Сентябрь'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '10' THEN 'Октябрь'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '11' THEN 'Ноябрь'
WHEN SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 1 FOR 2) = '12' THEN 'Декабрь'
END AS "Месяц",
SUBSTRING(on_period FROM 4 FOR 4) AS "Год",
revocable_deposits AS "Отзывные поля 1",
irrevocable_deposits_1_6 AS "Безотзывные поля 1",
credits_legal AS "Новые поля 2",
credits_individuals AS "Старые поля 2"
FROM dd11_rvsr.dd11405_dinamica_rvsr;

The query is executed, the database returns the data. I execute "Save or Overwrite Dataset"

After switching to "Chart Source" I get the error -
"Unexpected error
Custom SQL fields cannot contain subqueries"

I noticed that there is a problem when adding "AS" in a column that has text with multiple spaces..
How to fix this problem?

Screenshots/recordings

No response

Superset version

master / latest-dev

Python version

3.9

Node version

16

Browser

Chrome

Additional context

No response

Checklist

• I have searched Superset docs and Slack and didn't find a solution to my problem.
• I have searched the GitHub issue tracker and didn't find a similar bug report.
• I have checked Superset's logs for errors and if I found a relevant Python stacktrace, I included it here as text in the "additional context" section.

[dosubot]

Based on what I found, the error message "Custom SQL fields cannot contain subqueries" is a recognized error in Superset and is defined in the codebase, but there is no further documentation or explanation available about its specific cause or handling in the official sources I checked (source).

I did not find any documentation or existing issues specifically related to using AS with string names containing spaces in Superset. In standard SQL, using AS with quoted identifiers (including spaces or non-Latin characters) is valid, and your query executes successfully in SQL Lab, which suggests the database itself accepts your syntax.

However, the error appears when you try to "Save or Overwrite Dataset" and then switch to "Chart Source." This suggests that Superset may be parsing or transforming the SQL in a way that triggers this error, possibly due to how it handles custom SQL fields or aliases with spaces or special characters.

Since I could not find any official workaround or documentation addressing this specific scenario, here are some suggestions you can try:

• Use underscores (_) instead of spaces in your column aliases, e.g., AS "Дата_отчетного_периода", to see if this avoids the error.
• Try using simple ASCII-only aliases to check if the issue is related to non-Latin characters.
• If possible, simplify your query to remove any expressions or CASE statements and see if the error persists, then gradually add complexity back to isolate the trigger.

If none of these workarounds help, the issue may be a limitation or bug in how Superset processes custom SQL fields when saving datasets or generating charts. If you have already searched the issue tracker and found nothing similar, it may be worth reporting this as a potential bug with a minimal reproducible example.

Let me know if you want help narrowing down the cause further or if you have more details from Superset logs or stack traces.

To continue talking to Dosu, mention @dosu-bot.

---

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[OlegEgoism]

Thanks for the answer!
But I would like to see spaces in my names using AS.
I didn't have such problems in version 3.1.1.
How else can this be fixed?

[dosubot]

I understand your need to use spaces in column aliases with AS, especially since this worked in Superset 3.1.1 but is now causing issues in 4.1.2.

Based on what I found, there is no documentation or changelog entry that explains a change in SQL alias handling or parsing between these versions, and nothing specifically addresses this regression or limitation in the official sources I checked. The error message you see—"Custom SQL fields cannot contain subqueries"—is a recognized error in the Superset codebase, but there is no further explanation or workaround documented for your specific scenario.

This suggests that the issue may be due to a change in how Superset parses or validates custom SQL fields when saving datasets or generating charts, possibly introducing stricter checks or a bug that affects aliases with spaces. Unfortunately, I could not find any configuration option or setting in 4.1.2 that would allow you to restore the previous behavior or explicitly permit spaces in column aliases.

If you need to keep spaces in your column names for display purposes, and the workarounds (such as using underscores or ASCII-only names) are not acceptable, this may be a regression or unintended side effect in the newer version. Since there is no documented fix or workaround, the best next step would be to report this as a potential bug with a minimal reproducible example, highlighting that it worked in 3.1.1 but not in 4.1.2.

If you have access to Superset logs or stack traces when the error occurs, including those details could help the maintainers diagnose the root cause more quickly.

Let me know if you want help narrowing down the cause further or if you have more details from logs that could help with troubleshooting.

To continue talking to Dosu, mention @dosu-bot.

---

^{Help Dosu learn! Give it feedback: Great Response | Irrelevant Answer | Incorrect Sources | Too Verbose | Hallucination | Bug Report | Other}

[kyun99]

Perhaps you can rename columns to include spaces by using the Custom SQL tab when selecting the column?

[OlegEgoism]

Thanks for the answer! I checked it.
But for me the biggest problem is that I need to redo everything.
I have a lot of graphs and tables, 500. And it's a lot of work =((

[rusackas]

Not sure if @betodealmeida @Vitor-Avila @sadpandajoe are aware of anything changing in that time that may have affected things.

[sfirke]

Is this the same as #32879 ?

[OlegEgoism]

Thanks for your reply and help.

[betodealmeida]

Ah, I'll take a look. I'm finishing the work on #26786, it might help with this.

[OlegEgoism]

We use a database Greenplum and PostgreSQL

[OlegEgoism]

Ah, I'll take a look. I'm finishing the work on #26786, it might help with this.

I will wait for new information from you.