feat: Support entity fields in feature view schema parameter by dropping them

sdk/python/feast/entity.py

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class Entity:
         owner: The owner of the entity, typically the email of the primary maintainer.
         created_timestamp: The time when the entity was created.
         last_updated_timestamp: The time when the entity was last updated.
-        join_keys: A list of property that uniquely identifies different entities within the
+        join_keys: A list of properties that uniquely identifies different entities within the
             collection. This is meant to replace the `join_key` parameter, but currently only
             supports a list of size one.
     """
@@ -67,7 +67,25 @@ def __init__(
         owner: str = "",
         join_keys: Optional[List[str]] = None,
     ):
-        """Creates an Entity object."""
+        """
+        Creates an Entity object.
+
+        Args:
+            name: The unique name of the entity.
+            value_type: The type of the entity, such as string or float.
+            description: A human-readable description.
+            join_key (deprecated): A property that uniquely identifies different entities within the
+                collection. The join_key property is typically used for joining entities
+                with their associated features. If not specified, defaults to the name.
+            tags: A dictionary of key-value pairs to store arbitrary metadata.
+            owner: The owner of the entity, typically the email of the primary maintainer.
+            join_keys: A list of properties that uniquely identifies different entities within the
+                collection. This is meant to replace the `join_key` parameter, but currently only
+                supports a list of size one.
+
+        Raises:
+            ValueError: Parameters are specified incorrectly.
+        """
         if len(args) == 1:
             warnings.warn(
                 (
@@ -88,6 +106,15 @@ def __init__(
 
         self.value_type = value_type
 
+        if join_key:
+            warnings.warn(
+                (
+                    "The `join_key` parameter is being deprecated in favor of the `join_keys` parameter. "
+                    "Please switch from using `join_key` to `join_keys`. Feast 0.22 and onwards will not "
+                    "support the `join_key` parameter."
+                ),
+                DeprecationWarning,
+            )
         self.join_keys = join_keys or []
         if join_keys and len(join_keys) > 1:
             raise ValueError(

sdk/python/feast/inference.py

@@ -150,8 +150,13 @@ def update_feature_views_with_inferred_features(
         config: The config for the current feature store.
     """
     entity_name_to_join_key_map = {entity.name: entity.join_key for entity in entities}
+    join_keys = entity_name_to_join_key_map.values()
 
     for fv in fvs:
+        # First drop all Entity fields. Then infer features if necessary.
+        fv.schema = [field for field in fv.schema if field.name not in join_keys]
+        fv.features = [field for field in fv.features if field.name not in join_keys]
+
         if not fv.features:
             columns_to_exclude = {
                 fv.batch_source.timestamp_field,

sdk/python/tests/integration/registration/test_inference.py

@@ -24,12 +24,13 @@
 from feast.inference import (
     update_data_sources_with_inferred_event_timestamp_col,
     update_entities_with_inferred_types_from_feature_views,
+    update_feature_views_with_inferred_features,
 )
 from feast.infra.offline_stores.contrib.spark_offline_store.spark_source import (
     SparkSource,
 )
 from feast.on_demand_feature_view import on_demand_feature_view
-from feast.types import PrimitiveFeastType, String, UnixTimestamp
+from feast.types import Float32, PrimitiveFeastType, String, UnixTimestamp
 from tests.utils.data_source_utils import (
     prep_file_source,
     simple_bq_source_using_query_arg,
@@ -168,15 +169,14 @@ def test_update_data_sources_with_inferred_event_timestamp_col(universal_data_so
 def test_on_demand_features_type_inference():
     # Create Feature Views
     date_request = RequestSource(
-        name="date_request",
-        schema=[Field(name="some_date", dtype=PrimitiveFeastType.UNIX_TIMESTAMP)],
+        name="date_request", schema=[Field(name="some_date", dtype=UnixTimestamp)],
     )
 
     @on_demand_feature_view(
         sources={"date_request": date_request},
-        features=[
-            Feature(name="output", dtype=ValueType.UNIX_TIMESTAMP),
-            Feature(name="string_output", dtype=ValueType.STRING),
+        schema=[
+            Field(name="output", dtype=UnixTimestamp),
+            Field(name="string_output", dtype=String),
         ],
     )
     def test_view(features_df: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.DataFrame:
@@ -285,3 +285,50 @@ def test_view_with_missing_feature(features_df: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.DataFrame:
 
     with pytest.raises(SpecifiedFeaturesNotPresentError):
         test_view_with_missing_feature.infer_features()
+
+
+def test_update_feature_views_with_inferred_features():
+    file_source = FileSource(name="test", path="test path")
+    entity1 = Entity(name="test1", join_key="test_column_1")
+    entity2 = Entity(name="test2", join_key="test_column_2")
+    feature_view_1 = FeatureView(
+        name="test1",
+        entities=[entity1],
+        schema=[
+            Field(name="feature", dtype=Float32),
+            Field(name="test_column_1", dtype=String),
+        ],
+        source=file_source,
+    )
+    feature_view_2 = FeatureView(
+        name="test2",
+        entities=[entity1, entity2],
+        schema=[
+            Field(name="feature", dtype=Float32),
+            Field(name="test_column_1", dtype=String),
+            Field(name="test_column_2", dtype=String),
+        ],
+        source=file_source,
+    )
+
+    assert len(feature_view_1.schema) == 2
+    assert len(feature_view_1.features) == 2
+
+    # The entity field should be deleted from the schema and features of the feature view.
+    update_feature_views_with_inferred_features(
+        [feature_view_1], [entity1], RepoConfig(provider="local", project="test")
+    )
+    assert len(feature_view_1.schema) == 1
+    assert len(feature_view_1.features) == 1
+
+    assert len(feature_view_2.schema) == 3
+    assert len(feature_view_2.features) == 3
+
+    # The entity fields should be deleted from the schema and features of the feature view.
+    update_feature_views_with_inferred_features(
+        [feature_view_2],
+        [entity1, entity2],
+        RepoConfig(provider="local", project="test"),
+    )
+    assert len(feature_view_2.schema) == 1
+    assert len(feature_view_2.features) == 1