Insert with defaults using subquery in knex - postgresql

Question

I have this query;
knex('metrics').insert(function() {
this.select('metric as name')
.from('stage.metrics as s')
.whereNotExists(function() {
this.select('*')
.from('metrics')
.where('metrics.name', knex.raw('s.metric'))
})
})
The table metrics has two columns; an id, which is incrementing, and name. I expected this to insert into the name column because the subquery has one column, labeled name, and default id. however, instead it complains that I am providing a column of type character varying for my integer column id. How do I make it explicit that I want the id to take the default value?

Answer 1

This can do the trick
knex('metrics').insert(function() {
this
.select([
knex.raw('null::bigint as id'), // or any other type you need (to force using default value you need to pass explicitly null value to insert query)
'metric as name'
])
.from('stage.metrics as s')
.whereNotExists(function() {
this.select('*')
.from('metrics')
.where('metrics.name', knex.raw('s.metric'))
})
})
I know, looks a bit hacky. Would be great to see something in knex API like (example below is a proposal and not a working example)
knex('table_name')
.insert(
['name', 'surname'],
function () {
this.select(['name', 'surname']).from('other_table'))
}
)
Which produces
insert into table_name (name, surname) select name, surname from other_table;
I'm not sure about this interface, but you got the point. Like explicitly write fields you want to insert.