__exact lookup on nested arrays with None values fails on PostgreSQL.

[Ion Alberdi]

PR:
​https://github.com/pricemoov/django/pull/2/files

How to reproduce:
tox -e py39-postgres -- --settings=test_postgres postgres_tests.test_array.TestQuerying

django.db.utils.DataError: invalid input syntax for type integer: "{NULL,NULL}"
LINE 1: ...ullableintegerarraymodel"."field_nested" = (ARRAY['{NULL,NUL...

The error seems to be due to the query being generated as

...ARRAY['{NULL,NULL}']...

instead of

...ARRAY[ARRAY[NULL,NULL]]...

Note that the bug is not reproduced if at least one of the elements in the nested array is not null.

[Mariusz Felisiak]

Thanks for the report (see related 84633905273fc916e3d17883810d9969c03f73c2 and #27808). It's an issue in ​ArrayRHSMixin.

[Ion Alberdi]

Replying to Mariusz Felisiak:

Thanks for the report (see related 84633905273fc916e3d17883810d9969c03f73c2 and #27808). It's an issue in ​ArrayRHSMixin.

Actually by running both test cases (bug=None nested array, fix=nested array with one element that is not null.

    def test_exact_nested_null(self):
        instance = NullableIntegerArrayModel.objects.create(field_nested=[[None, None], [None, None]])
        self.assertSequenceEqual(
            NullableIntegerArrayModel.objects.filter(field_nested=[[None, None], [None, None]]), [instance]
        )

    def test_exact_nested_null_and_not_null(self):
        instance = NullableIntegerArrayModel.objects.create(field_nested=[[None, 1], [None, None]])
        self.assertSequenceEqual(
            NullableIntegerArrayModel.objects.filter(field_nested=[[None, 1], [None, None]]), [instance]
        )

class ArrayRHSMixin:
    def __init__(self, lhs, rhs):
        if isinstance(rhs, (tuple, list)):
            expressions = []
            for value in rhs:
                if not hasattr(value, "resolve_expression"):
                    field = lhs.output_field
                    value = Value(field.base_field.get_prep_value(value))
                expressions.append(value)
            rhs = Func(
                *expressions,
                function="ARRAY",
                template="%(function)s[%(expressions)s]",
            )
        super().__init__(lhs, rhs)

By looking at the rhs variable in both scenarios:

• test_exact_nested_null(bug)

 Func(Value([None, None]), Value([None, None]), function=ARRAY, template=%(function)s[%(expressions)s])

• test_exact_nested_null_and_not_null(correct)

Func(Value([None, 1]), Value([None, None]), function=ARRAY, template=%(function)s[%(expressions)s])

The rhs variables look correct to me. I'll continue digging, so far I tend to go towards the psycopg2 bug hypothesis. Thanks a lot for these links Mariusz,
​https://github.com/psycopg/psycopg2/issues/325 seems indeed to be pretty related to this one.

[Mariusz Felisiak]

The rhs variables look correct to me. I'll continue digging, so far I tend to go towards the psycopg2 bug hypothesis.

As far as I'm aware it's not a psycopg2 issue but PostgreSQL-behavior. Regression tests work when we skip wrapping values in ARRAY() for None-only arrays, so this should be fixable on Django side.

[Ion Alberdi]

Given the values above, Django generates queries as

'(ARRAY[%s, %s])::integer[][]', [[None, 1], [None, None]]'

with

def test_psycopg2_all_none(self):
        with connection.cursor() as cursor:
            cursor.execute("SELECT ARRAY[%s]::integer[][]", ([None, None],))

I reproduce the bug in psycopg2 (2.9.3) as it fails with

invalid input syntax for type integer: "{NULL,NULL}"
               LINE 1: SELECT ARRAY['{NULL,NULL}']::integer[][]

By removing the ArrayRHSMixin, the test added in the PR above passes but 12 others fail.

I'll open an issue in psycopg2 to get their point of view on

def test_psycopg2_all_none(self):
        with connection.cursor() as cursor:
            cursor.execute("SELECT ARRAY[%s]::integer[][]", ([None, None],))

Thanks again Mariusz!

[Ion Alberdi]

Putting the link to ​https://github.com/psycopg/psycopg2/issues/1507 for the sake of tracking.

[Ion Alberdi]

A PR is available at
​https://github.com/django/django/pull/16175

[David Sanders]

Thanks for the patch Ion :)

I have some time today to take a look at this otherwise Mariusz or Carlton will also take a look.

[David Sanders]

ok so just my 2¢ worth in investigating this:

Mix-n-matching array[] constructor with array literals {} seems to be the issue which I reckon has to do with postgres not understanding how to infer the appropriate types when nested and NULLs are present. In my experience postgres generally won't do this for complex types including json; see my related ticket #33905. The solution often involves just being more explicit.

I tried manually altering the SQL Django has output for a sample model with nested ArrayField with the following problematic output:

# SELECT *
  FROM "ticket_34080_foo"
 WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = (ARRAY['{NULL}'])::integer[][]
 LIMIT 21;
ERROR:  invalid input syntax for type integer: "{NULL}"
LINE 3:  WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = (ARRAY['{NULL}'])...
                                                          ^

Using array[] at both levels works:

# SELECT *
  FROM "ticket_34080_foo"
 WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = (ARRAY[ARRAY[NULL]])::integer[][]
 LIMIT 21;
 id | field | field_nested
----+-------+--------------
(0 rows)

Using an array literal for both levels works:

# SELECT *
  FROM "ticket_34080_foo"
 WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = ('{{NULL}}')::integer[][]
 LIMIT 21;
 id | field | field_nested
----+-------+--------------
(0 rows)

Explicitly casting the literal also work when mixing with a constructor:

# SELECT *
  FROM "ticket_34080_foo"
 WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = (ARRAY['{NULL}'::integer[]])::integer[][]
 LIMIT 21;
 id | field | field_nested
----+-------+--------------
(0 rows)

[David Sanders]

ok so further looking into this it appears that the array constructor doesn't try to infer types in literals at all even if the literal contains only int; using an array literal within a constructor should always be cast.

# SELECT *
  FROM "ticket_34080_foo"
 WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = (ARRAY['{1}'])::integer[][]
 LIMIT 21;
ERROR:  invalid input syntax for type integer: "{1}"
LINE 3:  WHERE "ticket_34080_foo"."field_nested" = (ARRAY['{1}'])::i...
                                                          ^

[David Sanders]

ok so…

after trailing through multiple threads here, psycopg2 and the ML I see the issue with ArrayRHSMixin being used in an incompatible way with psycopg2 :)

the stuff I reported above is interesting but can probably be ignored.

I've gone through the submitted PR and have some comments to make :)

[Mariusz Felisiak <felisiak.mariusz@…>]

In 34d63d5a:

Refs #34080 -- Added tests for exact lookup when non-nested arrays contain only NULL values.

[Mariusz Felisiak <felisiak.mariusz@…>]

In 3dc9f3ac:

Fixed #34080 -- Fixed exact lookup when nested arrays contain only NULL values.

Thanks jerch and David Sanders for reviews.