Hi everyone, I'd like to start a discussion on FLIP-618: Edit, Inspect and Build VARIANT Values.
Wiki: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/spaces/FLINK/pages/461570450/FLIP-618+Edit+Inspect+and+Build+VARIANT+Values Flink can store and read VARIANT values since 2.1. SQL users still cannot inspect or change one field and keep the rest, ask what a value contains, or build an object from columns without going through JSON text. Today each of these needs a UDF that rebuilds the whole value. The FLIP proposes built-in functions to edit (VARIANT_SET, VARIANT_DELETE, VARIANT_MERGE, ...), inspect (IS_VARIANT_NULL, VARIANT_KEYS, SCHEMA_OF_VARIANT, ...) and build (VARIANT_OBJECT, VARIANT_OBJECT_AGG) VARIANT values, plus a Java API to edit a value inside a UDF. Looking forward to your feedback. Best, Ramin Gharib
