Fix empty unnest columns handling when pushdown_projection_inexact

src/materialized/dependencies.rs

@@ -603,6 +603,21 @@ fn pushdown_projection_inexact(plan: LogicalPlan, indices: &HashSet<usize>) -> R
                 .map(Expr::Column)
                 .collect_vec();
 
+            // GUARD: if after pushdown the set of relevant unnest columns is empty,
+            // avoid constructing an Unnest node with zero exec columns (which will
+            // later error in Unnest::try_new). Instead, simply project the
+            // desired output columns from the child plan (after pushing down the child projection).
+            // Related PR: https://github.com/apache/datafusion/pull/16632, after that we must
+            // also check for empty exec columns here.
+            if columns_to_unnest.is_empty() {
+                return LogicalPlanBuilder::from(pushdown_projection_inexact(
+                    Arc::unwrap_or_clone(unnest.input),
+                    &child_indices,
+                )?)
+                .project(columns_to_project)?
+                .build();
+            }
+
             LogicalPlanBuilder::from(pushdown_projection_inexact(
                 Arc::unwrap_or_clone(unnest.input),
                 &child_indices,
@@ -922,16 +937,17 @@ mod test {
     use std::{any::Any, collections::HashSet, sync::Arc};
 
     use arrow::util::pretty::pretty_format_batches;
-    use arrow_schema::SchemaRef;
+    use arrow_schema::{DataType, Field, FieldRef, Fields, SchemaRef};
     use datafusion::{
         assert_batches_eq, assert_batches_sorted_eq,
         catalog::{Session, TableProvider},
         datasource::listing::ListingTableUrl,
         execution::session_state::SessionStateBuilder,
         prelude::{DataFrame, SessionConfig, SessionContext},
     };
-    use datafusion_common::{Column, Result, ScalarValue};
-    use datafusion_expr::{Expr, JoinType, LogicalPlan, TableType};
+    use datafusion_common::{Column, DFSchema, Result, ScalarValue};
+    use datafusion_expr::builder::unnest;
+    use datafusion_expr::{EmptyRelation, Expr, JoinType, LogicalPlan, TableType};
     use datafusion_physical_plan::ExecutionPlan;
     use itertools::Itertools;
 
@@ -1837,4 +1853,86 @@ mod test {
 
         Ok(())
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_pushdown_unnest_guard_partition_date_only() -> Result<()> {
+        // This test simulates a simplified MV scenario:
+        //
+        // WITH events_structs AS (
+        //   SELECT id, date, unnest(events) AS evs
+        //   FROM base_table
+        // ),
+        // flattened_events AS (
+        //   SELECT id, date, evs.event_type, evs.event_time
+        //   FROM events_structs
+        // ),
+        // SELECT id, date, MAX(...) ...
+        // GROUP BY id, date
+        //
+        // The partition column is "date". During dependency plan
+        // building we only request "date" from this subtree,
+        // so pushdown_projection_inexact receives indices for
+        // the `date` column only. The guard must kick in:
+        // unnest(events) becomes unused, and the plan should
+        // collapse to just projecting `date` from the child.
+
+        // 1. Build schema for base table
+        let id = Field::new("id", DataType::Utf8, true);
+        let date = Field::new("date", DataType::Utf8, true);
+
+        // events: list<struct<event_type, event_time>>
+        let event_type = Field::new("event_type", DataType::Utf8, true);
+        let event_time = Field::new("event_time", DataType::Utf8, true);
+        let events_struct = Field::new(
+            "item",
+            DataType::Struct(Fields::from(vec![event_type, event_time])),
+            true,
+        );
+        let events = Field::new(
+            "events",
+            DataType::List(FieldRef::from(Box::new(events_struct))),
+            true,
+        );
+
+        // Build DFSchema: (id, date, events)
+        let qualified_fields = vec![
+            (None, Arc::new(id.clone())),
+            (None, Arc::new(date.clone())),
+            (None, Arc::new(events.clone())),
+        ];
+        let df_schema =
+            DFSchema::new_with_metadata(qualified_fields, std::collections::HashMap::new())?;
+
+        // 2. Build a dummy child plan (EmptyRelation with the schema)
+        let empty = LogicalPlan::EmptyRelation(EmptyRelation {
+            produce_one_row: false,
+            schema: Arc::new(df_schema),
+        });
+
+        // 3. Wrap it with an Unnest node on the "events" column
+        let events_col = Column::from_name("events");
+        let unnest_plan = unnest(empty.clone(), vec![events_col.clone()])?;
+
+        // 4. Partition column is "date". Look up its actual index dynamically.
+        let date_idx = unnest_plan
+            .schema()
+            .index_of_column(&Column::from_name("date"))?;
+        let mut indices: HashSet<usize> = HashSet::new();
+        indices.insert(date_idx);
+
+        // 5. Call pushdown_projection_inexact with {date}
+        let res = pushdown_projection_inexact(unnest_plan, &indices)?;
+
+        // 6. Assert the result schema only contains `date`
+        let cols: Vec<String> = res
+            .schema()
+            .fields()
+            .iter()
+            .map(|f| f.name().to_string())
+            .collect();
+
+        assert_eq!(cols, vec!["date"]);
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }