`as_duckplyr_tibble()` works but `as_duckdb_tibble()` does not

[stephenbalogun]

While converting a tibble dataset to duckplyr data frame, I observed that as_duckplyr_tibble() works for ordinal/factored variable but as_duckdb_tibble() does not. Bringing this up because as_duckplyr_tibble(_) has been deprecated. Should we expect as_duckdb_tibble() to work for ordinal/factored variable in the future or is there already a solution to this that you can share?

library(tidyverse)
library(duckplyr)
#> The duckplyr package is configured to fall back to dplyr when it encounters an
#> incompatibility. Fallback events can be collected and uploaded for analysis to
#> guide future development. By default, data will be collected but no data will
#> be uploaded.
#> ℹ Automatic fallback uploading is not controlled and therefore disabled, see
#>   `?duckplyr::fallback()`.
#> ✔ Number of reports ready for upload: 3.
#> → Review with `duckplyr::fallback_review()`, upload with
#>   `duckplyr::fallback_upload()`.
#> ℹ Configure automatic uploading with `duckplyr::fallback_config()`.
#> ✔ Overwriting dplyr methods with duckplyr methods.
#> ℹ Turn off with `duckplyr::methods_restore()`.

diamonds |> 
  as_duckplyr_tibble()
#> Warning: `as_duckplyr_tibble()` was deprecated in duckplyr 1.0.0.
#> ℹ Please use `as_duckdb_tibble()` instead.
#> This warning is displayed once every 8 hours.
#> Call `lifecycle::last_lifecycle_warnings()` to see where this warning was
#> generated.
#> # A duckplyr data frame: 10 variables
#>    carat cut       color clarity depth table price     x     y     z
#>    <dbl> <ord>     <ord> <ord>   <dbl> <dbl> <int> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#>  1  0.23 Ideal     E     SI2      61.5    55   326  3.95  3.98  2.43
#>  2  0.21 Premium   E     SI1      59.8    61   326  3.89  3.84  2.31
#>  3  0.23 Good      E     VS1      56.9    65   327  4.05  4.07  2.31
#>  4  0.29 Premium   I     VS2      62.4    58   334  4.2   4.23  2.63
#>  5  0.31 Good      J     SI2      63.3    58   335  4.34  4.35  2.75
#>  6  0.24 Very Good J     VVS2     62.8    57   336  3.94  3.96  2.48
#>  7  0.24 Very Good I     VVS1     62.3    57   336  3.95  3.98  2.47
#>  8  0.26 Very Good H     SI1      61.9    55   337  4.07  4.11  2.53
#>  9  0.22 Fair      E     VS2      65.1    61   337  3.87  3.78  2.49
#> 10  0.23 Very Good H     VS1      59.4    61   338  4     4.05  2.39
#> # ℹ more rows

diamonds |> 
  as_duckdb_tibble()
#> Error in `as_duckdb_tibble()`:
#> ! Can't convert columns of class <ordered/factor> to relational.
#>   Affected column: `cut`.

^{Created on 2025-06-20 with reprex v2.1.1}

[gevro]

I'm seeing this same issue. And it is preventing duckplyr functions from being activated for most data tables because they cannot be converted using as_duckdb_tibble. Seems like a bug.

[krlmlr]

Thanks. This is intentional, unfortunately. It's a mistake that as_duckplyr_tibble() works for factor/ordinal variables, it should have thrown an error.

Ideally, we would roundtrip whatever we can't process, this affects many more column types: #162.

Can you work around by converting to character for now?

options(conflicts.policy = list(warn = FALSE))
library(duckplyr)
#> Loading required package: dplyr
#> ✔ Overwriting dplyr methods with duckplyr methods.
#> ℹ Turn off with `duckplyr::methods_restore()`.

ggplot2::diamonds |>
  mutate(across(where(is.factor), ~ as.character(.))) |>
  as_duckdb_tibble()
#> # A duckplyr data frame: 10 variables
#>    carat cut       color clarity depth table price     x     y     z
#>    <dbl> <chr>     <chr> <chr>   <dbl> <dbl> <int> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#>  1  0.23 Ideal     E     SI2      61.5    55   326  3.95  3.98  2.43
#>  2  0.21 Premium   E     SI1      59.8    61   326  3.89  3.84  2.31
#>  3  0.23 Good      E     VS1      56.9    65   327  4.05  4.07  2.31
#>  4  0.29 Premium   I     VS2      62.4    58   334  4.2   4.23  2.63
#>  5  0.31 Good      J     SI2      63.3    58   335  4.34  4.35  2.75
#>  6  0.24 Very Good J     VVS2     62.8    57   336  3.94  3.96  2.48
#>  7  0.24 Very Good I     VVS1     62.3    57   336  3.95  3.98  2.47
#>  8  0.26 Very Good H     SI1      61.9    55   337  4.07  4.11  2.53
#>  9  0.22 Fair      E     VS2      65.1    61   337  3.87  3.78  2.49
#> 10  0.23 Very Good H     VS1      59.4    61   338  4     4.05  2.39
#> # ℹ more rows

^{Created on 2025-06-27 with reprex v2.1.1}

[gevro]

Yup I can convert factors to character, but factor is extremely common in data analysis, especially in R, and converting back and forth would require constantly tracking which columns should be transformed back to factor after duckdb operations.

Can support for factor be added? i.e. internally it could convert to character for duckdb operations and then back to factor automatically before outputting the final table.

[math-mcshane]

Yup I can convert factors to character, but factor is extremely common in data analysis, especially in R, and converting back and forth would require constantly tracking which columns should be transformed back to factor after duckdb operations.

Just ran into this myself and agree on this point. It seems that the enum type even exists in duckdb and appears to be comparable to factor type.