[#11980] fix(core): sort column ordinal positions while fetching from entity store

[MehulBatra]

Closes: #11980

What changes were proposed in this pull request?

Proposed fix:

Sort by position in toGenericTable():

.withColumns(                                                                                                                                                   
    tableEntity.columns().stream()                                                                                                                              
        .sorted(Comparator.comparingInt(ColumnEntity::position))                                                                                                
        .map(this::toGenericColumn)                                                                                                                             
        .toArray(Column[]::new))    

column_position is already persisted correctly, so this fixes existing tables on read with no migration or re-registration. Comparator and ColumnEntity are already imported in the file.

Why are the changes needed?

ManagedTableOperations.toGenericTable() builds the column list from tableEntity.columns() without sorting by position, so loaded tables can return columns in an arbitrary, unstable order even though column_position is stored correctly. This breaks position-based consumers (e.g. the Lance REST catalog), causing wrong column mapping or crashes. The fix sorts columns by position on load, matching what the alter path already does.

Fix: #11980

Does this PR introduce any user-facing change?

No API or property changes.
Behavior fix only: loadTable/describe now always returns columns in their declared position order (previously they could come back unordered). No user-facing API changes, and no property keys added or removed.

How was this patch tested?

Before Fix:

After Fix:

Without sorting:

With sorting:

[github-actions]

Code Coverage Report

Overall Project	67.67% +0.08%	🟢
Files changed	92.25%	🟢

Module	Coverage
aliyun	1.72%	🔴
api	46.54%	🟢
authorization-common	85.96%	🟢
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catalog-fileset	80.23%	🟢
catalog-glue	66.91%	🟢
catalog-hive	79.42%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-clickhouse	81.16%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-common	44.22%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-doris	81.6%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-hologres	54.03%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-mysql	79.23%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-oceanbase	80.91%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-postgresql	82.29%	🟢
catalog-jdbc-starrocks	78.51%	🟢
catalog-kafka	77.01%	🟢
catalog-lakehouse-generic	59.18%	🟢
catalog-lakehouse-hudi	79.1%	🟢
catalog-lakehouse-iceberg	86.14%	🟢
catalog-lakehouse-paimon	84.25%	🟢
catalog-model	77.72%	🟢
cli	44.49%	🟢
client-java	78.15%	🟢
common	51.45%	🟢
core	82.44% +0.11%	🟢
filesystem-hadoop3	77.3%	🟢
flink	0.0%	🔴
flink-common	47.09%	🟢
flink-runtime	0.0%	🔴
gcp	14.12%	🔴
hadoop-auth	68.0%	🟢
hadoop-common	12.7%	🔴
hive-metastore-common	53.29%	🟢
iceberg-common	63.63%	🟢
iceberg-rest-server	74.3%	🟢
idp-basic	85.71%	🟢
integration-test-common	0.0%	🔴
jobs	66.17%	🟢
lance-common	20.67%	🔴
lance-rest-server	64.84%	🟢
lineage	53.02%	🟢
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optimizer-api	21.95%	🔴
server	85.97%	🟢
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spark-common	46.01%	🟢
tencent	69.84%	🟢
trino-connector	40.29%	🟢

Files

Module	File	Coverage
core	ManagedTableOperations.java	92.25%	🟢

[MehulBatra]

Hi @yuqi1129 could you please help me with the review!

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Fixes an ordering bug in the core table load path by ensuring columns are returned in stable ordinal-position order when converting stored TableEntity metadata into a GenericTable. This aligns loadTable/describe behavior with the existing alter-table path and prevents position-based consumers from misinterpreting column mappings.

Changes:

• Sort tableEntity.columns() by ColumnEntity::position in ManagedTableOperations.toGenericTable() before mapping to Column[].
• Add a unit test that persists a TableEntity with an intentionally unordered column list and verifies loadTable() returns columns ordered by position.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

File	Description
core/src/main/java/org/apache/gravitino/catalog/ManagedTableOperations.java	Sort columns by stored ordinal position when loading tables from the entity store.
core/src/test/java/org/apache/gravitino/catalog/TestManagedTableOperations.java	Adds coverage ensuring loadTable() returns columns ordered by position even if the store returns them unordered.

[yuqi1129]

@MehulBatra
Thanks for your contributions!!!