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Copilot AI commented Aug 26, 2025

This PR resolves an incompatibility between MySQL and SQLite when handling unqualified column names in ORDER BY clauses within JOIN queries.

Problem

SQLite treats ambiguous column names in ORDER BY clauses more strictly than MySQL. When a SELECT clause uses a fully qualified column reference but ORDER BY uses an unqualified reference to the same column, MySQL correctly infers the qualification while SQLite throws an "ambiguous column name" error.

For example, these queries work in MySQL but fail in SQLite:

-- Works in MySQL, fails in SQLite
SELECT t1.name FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON t2.t1_id = t1.id ORDER BY name;

-- Works in MySQL, fails in SQLite  
SELECT t2.name FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON t2.t1_id = t1.id ORDER BY name;

Solution

The fix adds intelligent column qualification resolution at the queryExpression level in the AST translator. When an ORDER BY clause contains unqualified column references:

  1. Extract qualifications from the SELECT list to build a mapping of unqualified → qualified column names
  2. Resolve unambiguous cases where exactly one qualified column in SELECT matches the unqualified ORDER BY column
  3. Preserve existing behavior for truly ambiguous cases and already-qualified ORDER BY columns

Implementation Details

  • Added translate_query_expression_with_order_by_fix() method to handle ORDER BY qualification
  • Created helper methods to extract and analyze column qualifications from SELECT lists
  • Added logic to automatically qualify ORDER BY columns when unambiguous
  • Maintains backward compatibility - all existing functionality continues to work

Test Results

The fix successfully resolves the target cases while preserving expected failures:

✅ Now Working:

SELECT t1.name FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON t2.t1_id = t1.id ORDER BY name;  -- Resolves to t1.name
SELECT t2.name FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON t2.t1_id = t1.id ORDER BY name;  -- Resolves to t2.name

✅ Still Fail (As Expected):

SELECT t1.name, t2.name FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON t2.t1_id = t1.id ORDER BY name;  -- Truly ambiguous
SELECT t1.id FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON t2.t1_id = t1.id ORDER BY name;            -- Column not in SELECT

✅ Edge Cases Handled:

  • Multiple ORDER BY columns with mixed qualification
  • ORDER BY with DESC/ASC
  • Table aliases and full table name qualification
  • Complex expressions and function calls
  • UNION queries and subqueries

Fixes #228.

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Copilot AI commented Aug 26, 2025

@adamziel 👋 This repository doesn't have Copilot instructions. With Copilot instructions, I can understand the repository better, work faster and produce higher quality PRs.

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Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Query Error: ambiguous column name in ORDER BY clause Fix ambiguous column name error in ORDER BY clauses for JOIN queries Aug 26, 2025
Copilot finished work on behalf of adamziel August 26, 2025 11:44
Copilot AI requested a review from adamziel August 26, 2025 11:44
@adamziel
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This isn't a very good fix

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Query Error: ambiguous column name in ORDER BY clause

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