dbt-unit-testing: `ref` and `source` overrides not working when importing models from another project

Hello ! I found a bug in the ref() (and potentially also in source()) macro override. Here’s the setup to reproduce :

Create a dbt project project_a in which you create model_a
Then, create a dbt project project_b in which :
- you create model_b that uses model_a
- you add the dependency to dbt-unit-testing in packages.yml
- you add the macro override for ref() and source()
In project_a import project_b as a package, depending on your setup, it will look like :
```
packages:
  - local: "../../../project_b"
```

Now, if you try to perform a dbt ls command from project_a, you’ll have the following error :

Compilation Error
  Model 'model.project_b.model_b' (models/model_b.sql) depends on a node named 'model_a' in package or project 'project_b' which was not found

But if you remove the macro override for ref() it will work just fine.

-> The issue is that now it simply performs a look-up in the project in which the model is defined and not in the project that imports the model which contains the model in this case

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 7 months ago
Reactions: 1
Comments: 18 (6 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

Hi @rantibi, your test file is in common or in my_project? And in which are you running the dbt test command?

psousa50 on Jan 17, 2024

It seems to have worked indeed thank’s!

NicolasGuary on Jan 15, 2024

Oh ok, now it’s clear, thank you! 🙂

Let me try to find a way to fix this, not sure if it’s possible, we’ll see.

Thank you again for your report.

psousa50 on Jan 10, 2024

This seems to work, but not sure if 100% correct :

{% macro ref(project_or_package, model_name) %}
  {% if running_unit_test() %}
    {% set project_or_package, model_name = setup_project_and_model_name(project_or_package, model_name) %}
    {% set node_version = kwargs["version"] | default (kwargs["v"]) %}
    {% set node = {"package_name": project_or_package, "name": model_name, "version": node_version} %}
    {{ return (ref_cte_name(node)) }}
  {% else %}
    {{ return (builtins.ref(project_or_package, **kwargs)) }}
  {% endif %}
{% endmacro %}

NicolasGuary on Dec 5, 2023