Table of Contents

Handle common failures

  • 2026-07-02
  • Greg Baldini
Applies to:
  • ❌ Tabular Editor 2
  • Tabular Editor 3 (Available since 3.25.0)
    ❌ Desktop
    ❌ Business
    ✔ Enterprise

This how-to shows how to handle several common failure modes when working with Metric Views in C# scripts: invalid YAML, missing files, operations with no loaded metric view, and an import that does not complete.

Note

These how-tos target Tabular Editor 3.26.2 and later. Earlier versions do not support the v1.1 Metric View features shown here.

A failed load or deserialize

Load and Deserialize throw System.IO.InvalidDataException when the input does not represent valid Metric View YAML. The exception itself only signals that loading failed; the specific reasons are captured in ImportDiagnostics. On failure, the current Metric View (SemanticBridge.MetricView.Model) is set to null.

try
{
    // This Metric View is missing the required `source`, so it fails to deserialize.
    SemanticBridge.MetricView.Deserialize("""
        version: 1.1
        fields:
          - name: revenue
            expr: source.revenue
        """);
}
catch (System.IO.InvalidDataException)
{
    var sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
    sb.AppendLine("Could not load the Metric View:");
    foreach (var diag in SemanticBridge.MetricView.ImportDiagnostics)
    {
        sb.AppendLine($"  [{diag.Severity}] {diag.Code}: {diag.Message}");
    }
    Output(sb.ToString());
}

Output

Could not load the Metric View:
  [Error] VIEW_SOURCE_REQUIRED: View source cannot be empty
Note

Load reads from a file path, so a path that does not exist throws System.IO.FileNotFoundException instead of InvalidDataException. Catch that (or a broader System.Exception) when loading by path.

Guard against no loaded Metric View

Validate, Serialize, Save, and ImportToTabular throw System.InvalidOperationException if no Metric View is loaded. Model is null when nothing is loaded, so guard against it.

Run this script in a fresh Tabular Editor 3 instance to ensure you have no loaded Metric View:

if (SemanticBridge.MetricView.Model == null)
{
    Output("No Metric View is loaded. Load or deserialize one first.");
}
else
{
    var diagnostics = SemanticBridge.MetricView.Validate();
    Output($"Found {diagnostics.Count()} issue(s).");
}

Output

No Metric View is loaded. Load or deserialize one first.

Without the guard, calling SemanticBridge.MetricView.Validate() with nothing loaded throws InvalidOperationException.

An import that does not complete

ImportToTabular and ImportToTabularFromFile return false when the import cannot complete, rather than throwing an exception. Check the return value and read the out diagnostics to see why.

The example below deserializes a valid Metric View, then edits a field's expression to be blank, which yields a validation error. Because failOnValidationErrors defaults to true, the import stops before translating and returns false, with the reasons in the out diagnostics. A Tabular model must be open.

// Load a valid Metric View, then make it invalid
SemanticBridge.MetricView.Deserialize("""
    version: 1.1
    source: sales.fact.orders
    fields:
      - name: order_year
        expr: source.order_year
    measures:
      - name: total_revenue
        expr: SUM(source.revenue)
    """);

var view = SemanticBridge.MetricView.Model;
view.Fields["order_year"].Expr = ""; // an empty expression is invalid

var success = SemanticBridge.MetricView.ImportToTabular(
    Model,
    "your-workspace.azuredatabricks.net",
    "/sql/1.0/warehouses/abc123def456",
    out var diagnostics
);

var sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
if (success)
{
    sb.AppendLine("Import complete.");
}
else
{
    sb.AppendLine("Import did not complete:");
    foreach (var diag in diagnostics)
    {
        sb.AppendLine($"  [{diag.Severity}] {diag.Code}: {diag.Message}");
    }
}
Output(sb.ToString());

Output

Import did not complete:
  [Error] FIELD_EXPR_REQUIRED: Field 'order_year' expr cannot be empty

Pass failOnValidationErrors: false at your own risk if you'd like to import despite validation issues. If no Metric View is loaded when you call this, it throws InvalidOperationException as described above.

Next steps

See also