[bigquery][jdbc] DatabaseMetaData.getTables() fails for Analytics Hub linked datasets

[abdusalam2015]

[bigquery][jdbc] DatabaseMetaData.getTables() fails for Analytics Hub linked datasets

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Environment details

1. API: BigQuery (JDBC / metadata discovery)
2. OS type and version: macOS 14.x (Apple Silicon)
3. Java version: OpenJDK 17
4. Version(s):
   • BigQuery JDBC driver (Simba-based, JDBC 4.2, Google-distributed)
   • Tested with the latest available driver at time of writing

Steps to reproduce

1. Create or subscribe to a dataset using BigQuery Analytics Hub (linked dataset).
2. Connect to BigQuery using the BigQuery JDBC driver.
3. Call JDBC metadata discovery:

   DatabaseMetaData meta = connection.getMetaData();
   meta.getTables(null, "<linked_dataset>", null, null);

Code example

Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(jdbcUrl);
DatabaseMetaData meta = conn.getMetaData();
meta.getTables(null, "<linked_dataset>", null, null);

Stack trace

 Error fetching metadata.
Cause: java.lang.NullPointerException
Cannot invoke "java.lang.Boolean.booleanValue()" because
the return value of
"com.google.api.services.bigquery.model.TableList$Tables$View.getUseLegacySql()"
is null

at com.simba.googlebigquery.jdbc42.BQS42DatabaseMetaData.createMetaDataResult(...)

External references such as API reference guides

BigQuery JDBC driver documentation
https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/reference/odbc-jdbc-drivers

BigQuery INFORMATION_SCHEMA (works correctly in this scenario)
https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/information-schema-tables

Related issue (general JDBC metadata discussion):
https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-java/issues/2477

Any additional information below

This issue is not related to permissions or IAM.

Using the same service account:

SQL queries against tables/views work

Queries against project.dataset.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES work

The failure only occurs when using JDBC metadata discovery (getTables).

The same code works when using a normal (non-linked) BigQuery dataset.

This impacts tools that rely on JDBC metadata discovery (e.g. visual schema browsers), while SQL-based access works correctly.

[abdusalam2015]

Filed a corresponding BigQuery bug in Google Issue Tracker - 476947755 and linked it there for backend triage.
Happy to provide additional details or test with a specific JDBC driver version if needed.