The warning "A column referenced by the query could not be found" appears on random objects in SAS® Visual Analytics reports


SAS Visual Analytics might display the following warning for one or more objects: 

A column referenced by the query could not be found.

Note: In this scenario, data is still visible in the report object.

The warning appears on multiple different objects depending on whether you open the report in SAS Visual Analytics Viewer or SAS Visual Analytics Designer.

Warning in the Viewer

Alert with text "A column referenced by the query could not be found."

Warning in the Builder

Alert with text "A column referenced by the query could not be found."

This issue can occur if columns within the data have changed (such as case changes), and now the table metadata is out of sync with the LASR table. 

If the SAS® LASR™ Analytic Server table is not used as an input data source to a query in SAS® Visual Data Builder, then you can delete its metadata and reload it. Here are the steps: 

  1. Ensure that you have applied the latest hot fixes. Otherwise, when you reload the data, you might encounter the issue that is described in SAS Note 66230, "An error occurs when you reload a table after you unload and delete an entry from the 'LASR Tables' view."
  2. Unload the SAS LASR table.
  3. Delete the SAS LASR table metadata.
  4. Reload or re-import the table to the SAS LASR Analytic Server. Refreshing the metadata and reloading the table ensures that the correct case for all data items is stored in metadata.

If the table is used as an input data source to a query, then you must not delete the metadata. Instead, modify the source table to match the original casing.