Replace the field `properties` in TableMetadata using `TableProperties` rather than `HashMap<String, String>`.

[liurenjie1024]

Apache Iceberg Rust version

None

Describe the bug

Current https://github.com/liurenjie1024/iceberg-rust/blob/459db8a13fd038df8ed18dd1d2685bdcaecb845e/crates/iceberg/src/spec/table_metadata.rs#L365 returns a TableProperties, and construct it every time. We should replace the properties field with TableProperties

To Reproduce

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Willingness to contribute

None

[vigneshsiva11]

Hello, I'd like to work on this issue. Can you please assign it to me?

[liurenjie1024]

Hello, I'd like to work on this issue. Can you please assign it to me?

Hi, @vigneshsiva11 welcome to contribute.

[vigneshsiva11]

Hi @liurenjie1024,

I cloned the current main branch and searched for the code referenced in the issue (TableMetadata, table_metadata.rs, TableProperties), but it looks like the Iceberg spec code is no longer present in this branch (only a few Rust files exist under crates/).

It seems the file linked in the description belongs to an older commit or a different branch/crate. Could you please confirm:

whether this issue should be addressed on a specific branch, or

if the work has moved to another crate or repository (e.g., Apache Iceberg main repo or an experimental branch)?

I’d be happy to work on this once I have the correct context.

Thanks!

[pratik0316]

@vigneshsiva11 its still present

iceberg-rust/crates/iceberg/src/spec/table_metadata.rs

Line 365 in b05a675

pub fn table_properties(&self) -> Result<TableProperties> {

In crux we want to update the type here https://github.com/apache/iceberg-rust/blob/b05a675db44645becc60422b596f16cca8816a89/crates/iceberg/src/spec/table_metadata.rs#L94C5-L94C52

[vigneshsiva11]

Hi @liurenjie1024,

I’ve opened a PR addressing this issue by refactoring TableMetadata to use the typed TableProperties struct instead of a raw HashMap. This improves type safety and avoids repeated property reconstruction while preserving existing behavior.

Please let me know if any changes are needed. Thanks!

[sdf-jkl]

Hey @vigneshsiva11,
Let me know if you plan to pick up your PR. If not, I'd like to give it a shot.

[jdwil]

I've opened a PR for this: #2469 (#2469)

This takes a different approach from the earlier #2037 (which was closed as stale). Rather than adding a separate additional_properties field, TableProperties now owns the raw HashMap<String, String> internally and provides both typed
access to known properties and delegate methods (get, contains_key, iter, as_raw) for arbitrary/unknown keys. This addresses the original review feedback about removing the properties() -> &HashMap accessor and using TryFrom instead of
unwrap.