Make join nodes work when no docs are provided

haystack/nodes/other/join_docs.py

@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ def __init__(
 
     def run_accumulated(self, inputs: List[Dict], top_k_join: Optional[int] = None) -> Tuple[Dict, str]:
         results = [inp["documents"] for inp in inputs]
+
+        # Check if all results are non-empty
+        if all(res is None for res in results) or all(res == [] for res in results):
+            return {"documents": [], "labels": inputs[0].get("labels", None)}, "output_1"
+
         document_map = {doc.id: doc for result in results for doc in result}
 
         if self.join_mode == "concatenate":
@@ -100,7 +105,9 @@ def run_accumulated(self, inputs: List[Dict], top_k_join: Optional[int] = None)
 
     def run_batch_accumulated(self, inputs: List[dict], top_k_join: Optional[int] = None) -> Tuple[Dict, str]:
         # Join single document lists
-        if isinstance(inputs[0]["documents"][0], Document):
+        if inputs[0]["documents"] is None or inputs[0]["documents"] == []:
+            return {"documents": [], "labels": inputs[0].get("labels", None)}, "output_1"
+        elif isinstance(inputs[0]["documents"][0], Document):
             return self.run(inputs=inputs, top_k_join=top_k_join)
         # Join lists of document lists
         else:

test/nodes/test_join_documents.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 
-from haystack import Document
+from haystack import Document, Pipeline
 from haystack.nodes.other.join_docs import JoinDocuments
 from copy import deepcopy
 
@@ -149,3 +149,33 @@ def test_joindocuments_rrf_weights():
     assert result_none["documents"] == result_even["documents"]
     assert result_uneven["documents"] != result_none["documents"]
     assert result_uneven["documents"][0].score > result_none["documents"][0].score
+
+
+@pytest.mark.unit
+def test_join_node_empty_documents():
+    pipe = Pipeline()
+    join_node = JoinDocuments(join_mode="concatenate")
+    pipe.add_node(component=join_node, name="Join", inputs=["Query"])
+
+    # Test single document lists
+    output = pipe.run(query="test", documents=[])
+    assert len(output["documents"]) == 0
+
+    # Test lists of document lists
+    output = join_node.run_batch(queries=["test"], documents=[])
+    assert len(output[0]["documents"]) == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.unit
+def test_join_node_none_documents():
+    pipe = Pipeline()
+    join_node = JoinDocuments(join_mode="concatenate")
+    pipe.add_node(component=join_node, name="Join", inputs=["Query"])
+
+    # Test single document lists
+    output = pipe.run(query="test", documents=None)
+    assert len(output["documents"]) == 0
+
+    # Test lists of document lists
+    output = join_node.run_batch(queries=["test"], documents=None)
+    assert len(output[0]["documents"]) == 0