[CT-1519] [Bug] Better error message for misspecified dist key yaml config

[dluftspring]

Is this a new bug in dbt-redshift?

• I believe this is a new bug in dbt-redshift
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this bug

Current Behavior

If you set the dist key in a model.yml file like

version: 2
models:
  - name: a_real_table
    config:
      sort:
        - primary_key
        - foreign_key
      dist:
        - primary_key

dbt will throw the following error

list has no attribute strip

Which is generic and non descriptive of what the user should fix. The issue is that since dist keys can only be single valud properties it should be specified as dist: primary_key.

Expected Behavior

A better message that isn't exposing the underlying python machinery and indicates what the user should do to fix the issue e.g. Single valued properties cannot be specified as a list

Steps To Reproduce

See Current Behaviour. If you set up a model like that in any dbt project you will reproduce the error

Relevant log output

No response

Environment

- OS: Mac
- Python: 3.9
- dbt-core:
- dbt-redshift: 1.3.0

Additional Context

No response

[dbeatty10]

@dluftspring thank you for noticing and reporting this!

You are spot-on with your assessment, and it definitely makes sense to proactively notice where the type of input is unexpected and indicate how to fix it.

I'm going to label this as a "good_first_issue" for a contributor to pick up.

Implementation suggestion

Raise an error at the beginning of this macro if dist is a list instead of a string:
https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/blob/717018aec33e3a04a74445cff2637bd0629ff196/dbt/include/redshift/macros/adapters.sql#L2-L14

[dluftspring]

If that's all that needs to be done I can contribute the fix for this

[dbeatty10]

Awesome @dluftspring !

When you open up a PR for this, just add the following as the first line:

resolves dbt-labs/dbt-adapters#651

This will help the reviewer of the PR link back to this conversation.

[github-actions]

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