Qian/make vector col optional (#950)

remote SDK tests were completed through lancedb_integtest

python/lancedb/embeddings/instructor.py

@@ -102,9 +102,9 @@ class InstructorEmbeddingFunction(TextEmbeddingFunction):
     # convert_to_numpy: bool = True # Hardcoding this as numpy can be ingested directly
 
     source_instruction: str = "represent the document for retrieval"
-    query_instruction: str = (
-        "represent the document for retrieving the most similar documents"
-    )
+    query_instruction: (
+        str
+    ) = "represent the document for retrieving the most similar documents"
 
     @weak_lru(maxsize=1)
     def ndims(self):

python/lancedb/query.py

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import pyarrow as pa
 import pydantic
 
 from . import __version__
-from .common import VEC, VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME
+from .common import VEC
 from .rerankers.base import Reranker
 from .rerankers.linear_combination import LinearCombinationReranker
 from .util import safe_import_pandas
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class Query(pydantic.BaseModel):
           tuning advice.
     """
 
-    vector_column: str = VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME
+    vector_column: Optional[str] = None
 
     # vector to search for
     vector: Union[List[float], List[List[float]]]
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ class LanceVectorQueryBuilder(LanceQueryBuilder):
         self,
         table: "Table",
         query: Union[np.ndarray, list, "PIL.Image.Image"],
-        vector_column: str = VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME,
+        vector_column: str,
     ):
         super().__init__(table)
         self._query = query

python/lancedb/remote/table.py

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from lancedb.merge import LanceMergeInsertBuilder
 
 from ..query import LanceVectorQueryBuilder
 from ..table import Query, Table, _sanitize_data
-from ..util import value_to_sql
+from ..util import inf_vector_column_query, value_to_sql
 from .arrow import to_ipc_binary
 from .client import ARROW_STREAM_CONTENT_TYPE
 from .db import RemoteDBConnection
@@ -198,7 +198,9 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
         )
 
     def search(
-        self, query: Union[VEC, str], vector_column_name: str = VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME
+        self,
+        query: Union[VEC, str],
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
     ) -> LanceVectorQueryBuilder:
         """Create a search query to find the nearest neighbors
         of the given query vector. We currently support [vector search][search]
@@ -217,7 +219,7 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
         ... ]
         >>> table = db.create_table("my_table", data) # doctest: +SKIP
         >>> query = [0.4, 1.4, 2.4]
-        >>> (table.search(query, vector_column_name="vector") # doctest: +SKIP
+        >>> (table.search(query) # doctest: +SKIP
         ...     .where("original_width > 1000", prefilter=True) # doctest: +SKIP
         ...     .select(["caption", "original_width"]) # doctest: +SKIP
         ...     .limit(2) # doctest: +SKIP
@@ -236,9 +238,14 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
 
             - If None then the select/where/limit clauses are applied to filter
             the table
-        vector_column_name: str
+        vector_column_name: str, optional
             The name of the vector column to search.
-            *default "vector"*
+
+            - If not specified then the vector column is inferred from
+            the table schema
+
+            - If the table has multiple vector columns then the *vector_column_name*
+            needs to be specified. Otherwise, an error is raised.
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -253,6 +260,8 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
             - and also the "_distance" column which is the distance between the query
             vector and the returned vector.
         """
+        if vector_column_name is None:
+            vector_column_name = inf_vector_column_query(self.schema)
         return LanceVectorQueryBuilder(self, query, vector_column_name)
 
     def _execute_query(self, query: Query) -> pa.Table:

python/lancedb/table.py

@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ from .pydantic import LanceModel, model_to_dict
 from .query import LanceQueryBuilder, Query
 from .util import (
     fs_from_uri,
+    inf_vector_column_query,
     join_uri,
     safe_import_pandas,
     safe_import_polars,
@@ -412,7 +413,7 @@ class Table(ABC):
     def search(
         self,
         query: Optional[Union[VEC, str, "PIL.Image.Image", Tuple]] = None,
-        vector_column_name: str = VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
         query_type: str = "auto",
     ) -> LanceQueryBuilder:
         """Create a search query to find the nearest neighbors
@@ -432,7 +433,7 @@ class Table(ABC):
         ... ]
         >>> table = db.create_table("my_table", data)
         >>> query = [0.4, 1.4, 2.4]
-        >>> (table.search(query, vector_column_name="vector")
+        >>> (table.search(query)
         ...     .where("original_width > 1000", prefilter=True)
         ...     .select(["caption", "original_width"])
         ...     .limit(2)
@@ -451,11 +452,16 @@ class Table(ABC):
 
             - If None then the select/where/limit clauses are applied to filter
             the table
-        vector_column_name: str
+        vector_column_name: str, optional
             The name of the vector column to search.
 
             The vector column needs to be a pyarrow fixed size list type
-            *default "vector"*
+
+            - If not specified then the vector column is inferred from
+            the table schema
+
+            - If the table has multiple vector columns then the *vector_column_name*
+            needs to be specified. Otherwise, an error is raised.
         query_type: str
             *default "auto"*.
             Acceptable types are: "vector", "fts", "hybrid", or "auto"
@@ -1188,7 +1194,7 @@ class LanceTable(Table):
     def search(
         self,
         query: Optional[Union[VEC, str, "PIL.Image.Image", Tuple]] = None,
-        vector_column_name: str = VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
         query_type: str = "auto",
     ) -> LanceQueryBuilder:
         """Create a search query to find the nearest neighbors
@@ -1206,7 +1212,7 @@ class LanceTable(Table):
         ... ]
         >>> table = db.create_table("my_table", data)
         >>> query = [0.4, 1.4, 2.4]
-        >>> (table.search(query, vector_column_name="vector")
+        >>> (table.search(query)
         ...     .where("original_width > 1000", prefilter=True)
         ...     .select(["caption", "original_width"])
         ...     .limit(2)
@@ -1225,8 +1231,17 @@ class LanceTable(Table):
 
             - If None then the select/[where][sql]/limit clauses are applied
             to filter the table
-        vector_column_name: str, default "vector"
+        vector_column_name: str, optional
             The name of the vector column to search.
+
+            The vector column needs to be a pyarrow fixed size list type
+            *default "vector"*
+
+            - If not specified then the vector column is inferred from
+            the table schema
+
+            - If the table has multiple vector columns then the *vector_column_name*
+            needs to be specified. Otherwise, an error is raised.
         query_type: str, default "auto"
             "vector", "fts", or "auto"
             If "auto" then the query type is inferred from the query;
@@ -1244,6 +1259,8 @@ class LanceTable(Table):
             and also the "_distance" column which is the distance between the query
             vector and the returned vector.
         """
+        if vector_column_name is None and query is not None:
+            vector_column_name = inf_vector_column_query(self.schema)
         return LanceQueryBuilder.create(
             self, query, query_type, vector_column_name=vector_column_name
         )
@@ -1427,6 +1444,7 @@ class LanceTable(Table):
 
     def _execute_query(self, query: Query) -> pa.Table:
         ds = self.to_lance()
+
         return ds.to_table(
             columns=query.columns,
             filter=query.filter,

python/lancedb/util.py

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ from typing import Tuple, Union
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 import numpy as np
+import pyarrow as pa
 import pyarrow.fs as pa_fs
 
 
@@ -152,6 +153,44 @@ def safe_import_polars():
         return None
 
 
+def inf_vector_column_query(schema: pa.Schema) -> str:
+    """
+    Get the vector column name
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    schema : pa.Schema
+        The schema of the vector column.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    str: the vector column name.
+    """
+    vector_col_name = ""
+    vector_col_count = 0
+    for field_name in schema.names:
+        field = schema.field(field_name)
+        if pa.types.is_fixed_size_list(field.type) and pa.types.is_floating(
+            field.type.value_type
+        ):
+            vector_col_count += 1
+            if vector_col_count > 1:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "Schema has more than one vector column. "
+                    "Please specify the vector column name "
+                    "for vector search"
+                )
+                break
+            elif vector_col_count == 1:
+                vector_col_name = field_name
+    if vector_col_count == 0:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "There is no vector column in the data. "
+            "Please specify the vector column name for vector search"
+        )
+    return vector_col_name
+
+
 @singledispatch
 def value_to_sql(value):
     raise NotImplementedError("SQL conversion is not implemented for this type")