APP-6823: Added IndistinctAsset to support unmodeled asset types in the SDK

This change introduces a fallback asset model `IndistinctAsset` to gracefully handle assets
that are not explicitly modeled in the SDK. Instead of returning `None` when encountering
unknown asset types (typically due to newly introduced typedefs or customer-specific types),
the SDK will now return an `IndistinctAsset` object containing basic asset fields such as guid, qualifiedName, and typeName.

Author: Aryamanz29

pyatlan/model/assets/__init__.py

@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@
         "MCMonitor",
         "SodaCheck",
         "SnowflakeDynamicTable",
+        "IndistinctAsset",
     ],
     "task": ["Task"],
     "form": ["Form"],

pyatlan/model/assets/__init__.pyi

@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ __all__ = [
     "AzureEventHubConsumerGroup",
     "DynamoDBLocalSecondaryIndex",
     "DynamoDBGlobalSecondaryIndex",
+    "IndistinctAsset",
 ]
 
 from .a_d_l_s import ADLS
@@ -460,6 +461,7 @@ from .core.fivetran import Fivetran
 from .core.fivetran_connector import FivetranConnector
 from .core.folder import Folder
 from .core.function import Function
+from .core.indistinct_asset import IndistinctAsset
 from .core.link import Link
 from .core.m_c_incident import MCIncident
 from .core.m_c_monitor import MCMonitor

pyatlan/model/assets/core/__init__.py

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 from .fivetran_connector import FivetranConnector
 from .folder import Folder
 from .function import Function
+from .indistinct_asset import IndistinctAsset  # noqa: F401
 from .link import Link
 from .m_c_incident import MCIncident
 from .m_c_monitor import MCMonitor

pyatlan/model/assets/core/asset.py

@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ def __get_validators__(cls):
 
     @classmethod
     def _convert_to_real_type_(cls, data):
+        from .indistinct_asset import IndistinctAsset
+
         """Convert raw asset data into the appropriate asset type."""
         if isinstance(data, Asset):
             return data
@@ -167,7 +169,9 @@ def _convert_to_real_type_(cls, data):
             sys.modules.get("pyatlan.model.assets", {}), data_type, None
         )
 
-        return sub_type(**data) if sub_type else None  # Gracefully handle missing types
+        return (
+            sub_type(**data) if sub_type else IndistinctAsset(**data)
+        )  # If no subtype found, return IndistinctAsset
 
     if TYPE_CHECKING:
         from pyatlan.model.lineage import FluentLineage

pyatlan/model/assets/core/indistinct_asset.py

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# Copyright 2025 Atlan Pte. Ltd.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from pydantic.v1 import Field, validator
+
+from .asset import Asset
+
+
+class IndistinctAsset(Asset, type_name="IndistinctAsset"):
+    """
+    Instance of an asset where we cannot determine
+    (have not yet modeled) its detailed information.
+    In the meanwhile, this provides a catch-all case
+    where at least the basic asset information is available.
+    """
+
+    type_name: str = Field(default="IndistinctAsset", allow_mutation=True)
+
+    @validator("type_name")
+    def validate_type_name(cls, v):
+        return v

tests/unit/test_model.py

@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@
 from inspect import signature
 from pathlib import Path
 from re import escape
+from typing import List
 from unittest.mock import create_autospec
 
 import pytest
+from pydantic.v1 import parse_obj_as
 from pydantic.v1.error_wrappers import ValidationError
 
 from pyatlan.client.atlan import AtlanClient
@@ -57,6 +59,7 @@
     Function,
     GCSBucket,
     GCSObject,
+    IndistinctAsset,
     KafkaConsumerGroup,
     KafkaTopic,
     Link,
@@ -975,3 +978,93 @@ def test_tableau_upstream_fields_deserialization(test_data):
         **{"typeName": "TableauDatasourceField", "attributes": test_data}
     )
     assert tdf.upstream_tables == test_data["upstreamTables"]
+
+
+def test_indistict_asset_type_deserialization():
+    data = {
+        "entities": [
+            {
+                "typeName": "UnknownAsset1",
+                "attributes": {
+                    "name": "Batman",
+                    "connectorName": "mssql",
+                    "ownerUsers": ["admin1"],
+                    "qualifiedName": "default/mssql/1709355572/Batman",
+                    "meanings": [
+                        {
+                            "guid": "728d8571-a4fc-42ed-8d47-62377384570c",
+                            "typeName": "AtlasGlossaryTerm",
+                            "attributes": {"name": "test-term1"},
+                            "uniqueAttributes": {"qualifiedName": "test-term1-qn"},
+                        }
+                    ],
+                },
+                "guid": "558c5cc8-0b18-4b27-b7c7-0c1693c9d1e5",
+                "isIncomplete": False,
+                "status": "ACTIVE",
+                "createdBy": "service-account-apikey-123",
+                "updatedBy": "service-account-apikey-123",
+                "createTime": 1709355972663,
+                "updateTime": 1709356203915,
+                "version": 0,
+                "labels": [],
+            },
+            {
+                "typeName": "UnknownAsset2",
+                "attributes": {
+                    "name": "Superman",
+                    "connectorName": "sqlserver",
+                    "ownerUsers": ["admin2"],
+                    "qualifiedName": "default/mssql/1709355572/Superman",
+                    "meanings": [
+                        {
+                            "guid": "828d8571-a4fc-42ed-8d47-62377384570c",
+                            "typeName": "AtlasGlossaryTerm",
+                            "attributes": {"name": "test-term21"},
+                            "uniqueAttributes": {"qualifiedName": "test-term21-qn"},
+                        },
+                        {
+                            "guid": "928d8571-a4fc-42ed-8d47-62377384570c",
+                            "typeName": "AtlasGlossaryTerm",
+                            "attributes": {"name": "test-term22"},
+                            "uniqueAttributes": {"qualifiedName": "test-term22-qn"},
+                        },
+                    ],
+                },
+                "guid": "458c5cc8-0b18-4b27-b7c7-0c1693c9d1e5",
+                "isIncomplete": False,
+                "status": "ACTIVE",
+                "createdBy": "service-account-apikey-123",
+                "updatedBy": "service-account-apikey-123",
+                "createTime": 1709355972663,
+                "updateTime": 1709356203915,
+                "version": 0,
+                "labels": [],
+            },
+        ]
+    }
+
+    assets = parse_obj_as(List[Asset], data["entities"])
+    assert (
+        len(assets) == 2
+        and isinstance(assets[0], IndistinctAsset)
+        and isinstance(assets[1], IndistinctAsset)
+    )
+
+    assert assets[0].type_name == "UnknownAsset1"
+    assert assets[0].name == "Batman"
+    assert assets[0].connector_name == "mssql"
+    assert assets[0].owner_users == {"admin1"}
+    assert len(assets[0].assigned_terms) == 1
+    assert assets[0].assigned_terms[0].name == "test-term1"
+    assert assets[0].assigned_terms[0].qualified_name == "test-term1-qn"
+
+    assert assets[1].type_name == "UnknownAsset2"
+    assert assets[1].name == "Superman"
+    assert assets[1].connector_name == "sqlserver"
+    assert assets[1].owner_users == {"admin2"}
+    assert len(assets[1].assigned_terms) == 2
+    assert assets[1].assigned_terms[0].name == "test-term21"
+    assert assets[1].assigned_terms[0].qualified_name == "test-term21-qn"
+    assert assets[1].assigned_terms[1].name == "test-term22"
+    assert assets[1].assigned_terms[1].qualified_name == "test-term22-qn"