Remote Function via sql | Action name required

[Gerald]

I added a simple sql statement that triggers a remote function at the end of my dataform pipeline.

I get this error message:
Action name is not specified

However, if I add action_name in my config block, it tells me that action_name is an unexpected property:

Unexpected property “action_name” in operation config. Supported properties are: [“columns”,“database”,“dependencies”,“description”,“disabled”,“hasOutput”,“hermetic”,“name”,“schema”,“tags”,“type”,“dependOnDependencyAssertions”]

So I tried with the property name instead. But I still get the error Action name is not specified

Here’s my setup:
definitions/operations/trigger_test.sqlx

config {
    type: "operations",
    name: "trigger_test",
    hasOutput: false,

}

SELECT 
...    

Is it even possible to call remote functions via dataform?

[kolban]

Can you paste an unclassified .SQLX file showing a complete definition? I’d like to try and recreate and see what I can find.

[iTazB]

Hey,

Hope you’re keeping well.

Dataform doesn’t natively support calling BigQuery remote functions as an “operation” without explicitly defining them as a standard SQL query or part of a dataset. The Action name is not specified error usually means Dataform can’t map the SQL file to a named action in the pipeline. In your case, the config block is correct for an operations type, but the remote function call should be inside a valid SELECT statement that produces output or is explicitly marked with hasOutput: false if it’s not returning a table.

If the remote function is in BigQuery, you can invoke it like any other SQL function inside a SELECT within an operations file, but Dataform will still need the name property to match the filename or be unique in the project. Also ensure the remote function’s dataset is accessible from the Dataform connection’s service account. You can test the query directly in BigQuery first, then paste it into your .sqlx operation to confirm it runs end-to-end.

Thanks and regards,
Taz