[CT-3246] Make specifying semantic layer object label attributes optional

[QMalcolm]

Housekeeping

• I am a maintainer of dbt-core

Short description

Currently different semantic layer objects treat their label attributes differently. Additionally on some semantic model objects label is Optional, meaning that consumers of the manifest have too look at both the name and label of a semantic layer object to determine what its "Display Name" should be.

To simplify things for people writing yaml, we want to make specifying a label optional. Additionally we want to make life easier people consuming the manifest to only have to look in one place, label, for a semantic layer object's "Display Name".

Acceptance criteria

For the following objects metric, semantic_model, saved_query, dimension, entity, or measure

• When defining in YAML, the label attribute should be optional
• If the label attribute is undefined in YAML, it should be defaulted the object's name value

Impact to Other Teams

The semantic layer will be able to depend on the label attribute being present

Will backports be required?

Required? No

Context

No response

[jtcohen6]

Alternative proposal from @nhandel: Keep label as required, and just default it to the metric's name if the user doesn't specify a custom value.

[nhandel]

I think this is fairly intuitive as a default and relieves some of the burden of customizing every option for the laissez-faire folks.

[QMalcolm]

Removing the backport 1.7.latest label for now because I don't remember getting permission to add said label 🙃

[QMalcolm]

@nhandel + @jtcohen6
It's worth noting that we set label as optional on for all semantic layer objects in the protocols. Thus populating it in core doesn't give consumers of the semantic layer objects or artifacts guarantees of it's existence. The question comes down to how do we want consumers/integrators of the semantic layer objects/artifacts to display what a semantic layer object is called. Should they use the name unless label is specified or should they always use the label?

If it's the former then we should move to make label optional in core, as it is currently in core for all other semantic layer objects. If it's the latter, then we should update all semantic layer objects to make label required and add user friendliness that it defaults to the name value during parsing here in core (this means also updating the protocols in dbt-semantic-interfaces)

[jtcohen6]

I lean toward the latter approach. It feels much simpler for downstream consumers to say, "If you want a human-friendly name for this semantic object (e.g. to show in a UI), always use label."

[QMalcolm]

@jtcohen6 That's a good enough argument for me. I'll get this issue updated, and get a relevant issue created in #dbt-labs/dbt-semantic-interfaces/issues