May 2023¶

The following new features, behavior changes, and updates (enhancements, fixes, etc.) have been introduced this month. If you have any questions about these additions, please contact Snowflake Support.

Important

Each release may include updates that require the web interface to be refreshed.

As a general practice, to ensure these updates do not impact your usage, we recommend refreshing the web interface after each Snowflake release has been deployed.

New Features¶

Logging and Tracing in Procedures and Functions — Preview¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the preview of event tables, logging, and tracing. With this feature, you can emit log message data and trace data from procedure and function handler code and have the data collected in an event table for analysis later. Snowflake supports APIs for each of the supported handler languages.

SQL Updates¶

New SQL Functions¶

The following function(s) are now available with this release:

Function Category	New Function	Description
Semi-Structured Data Functions (Array/Object)	ARRAY_GENERATE_RANGE	Returns an ARRAY of integer values within a specified range (e.g. [2, 3, 4]).
Semi-Structured Data Functions (Array/Object)	ARRAY_REMOVE	Given a source ARRAY, returns an ARRAY with elements of the specified value removed.
Semi-Structured Data Functions (Array/Object)	ARRAY_REMOVE_AT	Given a source ARRAY, returns an ARRAY with the element at the specified position removed.

Support for GEOMETRY Data Type — General Availability¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the general availability of support for the new GEOMETRY data type. The GEOMETRY data type represents features in a planar (Euclidean, Cartesian) coordinate system. This feature is available to all Snowflake accounts.

This release provides functions for constructing, formatting, measuring, and computing relationships between GEOMETRY objects. Using these functions, you can construct GEOMETRY objects from data in standard formats, including WKT, WKB, and GeoJSON.

For more information, refer to Geospatial Data Types.

Geospatial Functions for Shape Transformation and Orientation — General Availability¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the general availability of the following geospatial functions for shape transformation and orientation:

Function	Description
ST_BUFFER (for GEOMETRY objects)	Returns a GEOMETRY object that represents a MultiPolygon containing the points within a specified distance of the input GEOMETRY object. The returned object effectively represents a “buffer” around the input object.
ST_SIMPLIFY (forGEOMETRY objects)	Given an input GEOMETRY object that represents a line or polygon, returns a simpler approximation of the object. The function identifies and removes selected vertices, resulting in a similar object that has fewer vertices.
ST_AZIMUTH (for GEOMETRY objects)	Given two Points that are GEOMETRY objects, returns the azimuth (in radians) of the line segment formed by the two Points.
ST_MAKEPOLYGONORIENTED (for GEOGRAPHY objects)	Constructs a GEOGRAPHY object that represents a polygon without holes. The function uses the specified LineString as the outer loop. This function does not attempt to correct the orientation of the loop, thus allowing for the creation of polygons that span more than half of the globe, as opposed to ST_MAKEPOLYGON , ST_POLYGON, which inverts the orientation of those large shapes.

Support for Specifying How to Handle Invalid Geospatial Shapes — General Availability¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the general availability of support for handling invalid geospatial shapes.

By default, when you use a geospatial conversion function to convert data in a supported input format to a GEOGRAPHY or GEOMETRY object, the function attempts to validate the shape and repair the shape if the shape is invalid. If the shape cannot be repaired, the function does not create a GEOGRAPHY or GEOMETRY object.

With this feature, you have more control over the validation and repair process. You can:

Allow these conversion functions to create GEOGRAPHY and GEOMETRY objects for invalid shapes.
Determine if the shape for a GEOGRAPHY or GEOMETRY object is invalid.

For more information, refer to Specifying How Invalid Geospatial Shapes Are Handled.

Data Collaboration Updates¶

Cross-Cloud Auto-Fulfillment for Listings — General Availability¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the general availability of cross-cloud auto-fulfillment for listings, whether you share listings publicly or with specific accounts.

Ensure consumers have fresh, up-to-date data across cloud regions by using cross-cloud auto-fulfillment to offer your data product directly to specific accounts across the globe or on-demand in regions you choose.

For more information, refer to Configuring Cross-Cloud Auto-Fulfillment.

Data Governance Updates¶

Memoizable Functions — General Availability¶

With this release, Snowflake is pleased to announce the general availability of memoizable functions. A memoizable function caches the result of calling a user-defined function (UDF) and then returns the cached result when the output is needed at a later time.

Using memoizable functions improves performance for complex queries, such as multiple column lookups in mapping tables referenced within a row access policy or masking policy. Currently, memoizable functions are available for scalar SQL UDFs only. This feature was announced in preview in January 2023.

For more information, refer to Memoizable UDFs.

Web Interface Updates¶

Access Snowsight with an Account Name URL — General Availability¶

With this release, Snowflake is pleased to announce a new URL format for Snowsight that identifies an account using its name and organization. From now on, users should access Snowsight using the following URL format:

https://app.snowflake.com/<orgname>/<account_name>

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This change automatically applies to all accounts and organizations.

Previously, Snowsight URLs identified an account by region and account locator. Bookmarks and links that use this legacy format will continue to work and will automatically redirect to the new URL.

If you have network policies or firewall rules that specify a URL, you might need to update the policies and rules to match the new URL format.

If you are unable to access Classic Console from Snowsight, temporarily change the default web interface for your user profile to Classic Console and contact Snowflake Support.

Note

This change is happening over time and might not be available in your Snowflake region immediately.

Create Named Stages using Snowsight — Preview¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the preview of creating and editing named stages using Snowsight without writing SQL.

To create or edit named stages, you can enter details into Snowsight including information about authentication or encryption for the stage.

For more information, refer to:

Managing Data Governance in Snowsight — Preview¶

With this release, we are pleased to announce the preview of the Data » Governance interface in Snowsight. The Governance interface includes a Dashboard tab to monitor the most frequently used masking policies, row access policies, and tags with their usage on tables and columns. The Governance interface also includes a Tagged Objects tab to report on the Dashboard data, with the option to manually report on the usage of tags and policies on tables and columns.

When you select an element in the Dashboard, Snowsight automatically updates the Tagged Objects tab filters. Additionally, when you select a row in the Tagged Objects tab, Snowsight automatically redirects you to the object or column in the Data » Databases interface. You can then manage the policy and tag assignments as needed.