ObjectRef functions
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GoogleSQL for BigQuery supports the following ObjectRef functions.

This topic includes functions that let you create and interact with ObjectRef and ObjectRefRuntime values.

Function list

Name	Summary
`OBJ.FETCH_METADATA`	Fetches Cloud Storage metadata for a partially populated `ObjectRef` value.
`OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL`	Returns access URLs for a Cloud Storage object.
`OBJ.MAKE_REF`	Creates an `ObjectRef` value that contains reference information for a Cloud Storage object.

`OBJ.FETCH_METADATA`

OBJ.FETCH_METADATA(
  objectref
)

Description

The OBJ.FETCH_METADATA function returns Cloud Storage metadata for a partially populated ObjectRef value.

To fetch object metadata, you must have the bigquery.objectRefs.read permission on the Cloud resource connection specified in the authorizer field of the input ObjectRef value. You can get this permission from the BigQuery ObjectRef Reader (roles/bigquery.objectRefReader) or BigQuery ObjectRef Admin (roles/bigquery.objectRefAdmin) role.

This function still succeeds if there is a problem fetching metadata. In this case, the details field contains an error field with the error message, as shown in the following example:

{
  "details": {
    "errors":{
      "OBJ.FETCH_METADATA":"Connection credential for projects/myproject/locations/us/connections/connection1 cannot be used. Either the connection does not exist, or the user does not have sufficient permissions to use it."
    }
  }
}

Definitions

objectref: A partially populated ObjectRef value, in which the uri and authorizer fields are populated and the details field isn't.

Output

A fully populated ObjectRef value. The metadata is provided in the details field of the returned ObjectRef value.

Example

This example returns the metadata for a JPG object.

SELECT OBJ.FETCH_METADATA(OBJ.MAKE_REF("gs://mybucket/path/to/file.jpg", "us.connection1"));

`OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL`

OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL(
  objectref,
  mode
  [, duration]
)

Description

The OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL function returns JSON that contains reference information for the input ObjectRef value, and also access URLs that you can use to read or modify the Cloud Storage object.

To create a URL to read the object, you must have the bigquery.objectRefs.read permission on the Cloud resource connection specified in the authorizer field of the input ObjectRef value. You can get this permission from the BigQuery ObjectRef Reader (roles/bigquery.objectRefReader) or BigQuery ObjectRef Admin (roles/bigquery.objectRefAdmin) role.

To create a URL to modify the object, you must have the bigquery.objectRefs.write permission on the Cloud resource connection specified in the authorizer field of the input ObjectRef value. You can get this permission from the BigQuery ObjectRef Admin (roles/bigquery.objectRefAdmin) role.

If the function encounters an error, the returned JSON contains a runtime_errors field with the error message instead of the access_urls field with the access URLs. This is shown in the following example:

{
  "objectref": {
    "authorizer": "myproject.us.connection1",
    "uri": "gs://mybucket/path/to/file.jpg"
  },
  "runtime_errors": {
    "OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL": "Connection credential for projects/myproject/locations/us/connections/connection1 cannot be used. Either the connection does not exist, or the user does not have sufficient permissions to use it."
  }
}

Definitions

objectref: An ObjectRef value that represents a Cloud Storage object.
mode: A STRING value that identifies the type of URL that you want to be returned. The following values are supported:
- r: Returns a URL that lets you read the object.
- rw: Returns two URLs, one that lets you read the object, and one that lets you modify the object.
duration: An optional INTERVAL value that specifies how long the generated access URLs remain valid. You can specify a value between 30 minutes and 6 hours. For example, you could specify INTERVAL 2 HOUR to generate URLs that expire after 2 hours. The default value is 6 hours.

Output

A JSON value that contains the Cloud Storage object reference information from the input ObjectRef value, and also one or more URLs that you can use to access the Cloud Storage object.

The JSON output is returned in the ObjectRefRuntime schema:

obj_ref_runtime json {
  obj_ref json {
    uri string, // Cloud Storage object URI
    version string, // Cloud Storage object version
    authorizer string, // Cloud resource connection to use for object access
    details json { // Cloud Storage managed object metadata
      gcs_metadata json {
      }
    }
  }
  access_urls json {
    read_url string, // read-only signed url
    write_url string, // writeable signed url
    expiry_time string // the URL expiration time in YYYY-MM-DD'T'HH:MM:SS'Z' format
  }
}

Example

This example returns read URLs for all of the image objects associated with the films in the mydataset.films table, where the poster column is a struct in the ObjectRef schema. The URLs expire in 45 minutes.

SELECT
  OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL(poster, 'r', INTERVAL 45 MINUTE) AS read_url
FROM mydataset.films;

`OBJ.MAKE_REF`

OBJ.MAKE_REF(
  uri,
  authorizer
)

OBJ.MAKE_REF(
  objectref_json
)

Description

Use the OBJ.MAKE_REF function to create an ObjectRef value that contains reference information for a Cloud Storage object. You can use this function in workflows similar to the following:

Transform an object.
Save it to Cloud Storage using a writable signed URL that you created by using the OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL function.
Create an ObjectRef value for the transformation output by using the OBJ.MAKE_REF function
Save the ObjectRef value by writing it to a table column.

Definitions

uri: A STRING value that contains the URI for the Cloud Storage object, for example, gs://mybucket/flowers/12345.jpg. You can also specify a column name in place of a string literal. For example, if you have URI data in a uri field, you can specify OBJ.MAKE_REF(uri, "myproject.us.conn").
authorizer: A STRING value that contains the Cloud resource connection that can be used to access the Cloud Storage object. You must grant the Storage Object User (roles/storage.objectUser) role to the connection's service account on any Cloud Storage bucket where you are using it to access objects.

The authorizer value must be in the format location.connection_id. For example, use-west1.myconnection. You can get the connection ID by viewing the connection details in the Cloud console and copying the value in the last section of the fully qualified connection ID that is shown in Connection ID. For example, projects/myproject/locations/connection_location/connections/myconnection.

The connection must be in the same project and region as the query where you are calling the function.
objectref_json: A JSON value that represents a Cloud Storage object, using the following schema:
```
obj_ref json {
  uri string,
  authorizer string
}
```

No validations are performed on the input values.

Output

An ObjectRef value.

An ObjectRef value represents a Cloud Storage object, including the object URI, size, type, and similar metadata. It also contains an authorizer, which identifies the Cloud resource connection to use to access the Cloud Storage object from BigQuery. An ObjectRef value is a struct in the following format:

struct {
  uri string,  // Cloud Storage object URI
  version string,  // Cloud Storage object version
  authorizer string,  // Cloud resource connection to use for object access
  details json {  // Cloud Storage managed object metadata
    gcs_metadata json {
      "content_type": string,  // for example, "image/png"
      "md5_hash": string,  // for example, "d9c38814e44028bf7a012131941d5631"
      "size": number,  // for example, 23000
      "updated": number  // for example, 1741374857000000
    }
  }
}

When you use the uri and authorizer arguments as input, the output ObjectRef value contains a reference to a Cloud Storage object. When you use the objectref_json argument as input, the output ObjectRef value contains a struct that is equivalent to the input JSON value.

Examples

This example creates an ObjectRef value using a URI and a Cloud resource connection as input:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE `mydataset.movies` AS (
  SELECT
    f.title,
    f.director
    OBJ.MAKE_REF(p.uri, 'asia-south2.storage_connection') AS movie_poster
  FROM mydataset.movie_posters p
  join mydataset.films f
  using(title)
  where region = 'US'
  and release_year = 2024
);

This example creates an ObjectRef value using JSON input:

OBJ.MAKE_REF(JSON '{"uri": "gs://mybucket/flowers/12345.jpg", "authorizer": "asia-south2.storage_connection"}');

Limitations

You can't have more than 20 connections in the project where you are running queries that reference ObjectRef or ObjectRefRuntime values.

ObjectRef functions Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

Function list

OBJ.FETCH_METADATA

OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL

OBJ.MAKE_REF

ObjectRef functions
Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

`OBJ.FETCH_METADATA`

`OBJ.GET_ACCESS_URL`

`OBJ.MAKE_REF`