Add a metastore method that returns all available tables

[yruslan]

Background

Since the metastore can be used as a library, it could be useful to enumerate which tables exist.

Feature

Add a method to the metastore reader that lists all tables that are available.

• Scala
• Python

Proposed Solution

val tables: Seq[String] = metastore.getTables()

An idea to discuss. Usually, metastores have the concept of databases. We can simulate it by a dot prefix (db.table1). We can use this to segregate uat and prod tables, for instance.

// Fetch all tables starting with 'uat.'
val tablesUat: Seq[String] = metastore.getTables("uat")

Idea. What if instead of Seq[String] the method would return Seq[Table], which would contain table name and description?

[jirifilip]

The segregation by prefixes is a very nice idea. Users could even organize the tables into "hierarchies", like uat.bronze.customers and prod.gold.purchases (if using medallion architecture) etc. And then query all production gold tables for example.

Just adding this potential idea here so we don't forget.