Improve snapshots docs examples and dbt_updates_at field description

[runleonarun]

Contributions

• I have read the contribution docs, and understand what's expected of me.

Link to the page on docs.getdbt.com requiring updates

Examples like this: https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/snapshots#hard-deletes-opt-in

dbt_updated_at description:
https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/build/snapshots#snapshot-meta-fields

What part(s) of the page would you like to see updated?

For the examples

Update examples to match filenames to match the name of the snapshot. In this example, we need to change hard_delete_example.sql to orders_snapshot_hard_delete
From @graciegoheen

It’s our best practice for the name of the files to match the name of the snapshot, but our examples have names that differ from the snapshot name (this confused a customer i’m working with who was trying to copy the examples to test out the functionality)

Update the dbt_updated_at_timestamp description to account for different strategies as described by Grace in the following quote. We might need to consult @dbt-labs/devex on these nuances.

the dbt_updated_at field is described as “The updated_at timestamp of the source record when this snapshot row was inserted.” But if you have a snapshot using the check_cols strategy, your source record won’t have an updated_at timestamp. Does this field depend on the strategy that you’re using? Looks like it’s the current_timestamp if you’re using check_cols.

Additional information

No response

[dbeatty10]

It feels like there's two different things here, both related to snapshots:

1. Filename vs. snapshot name
2. Documentation related to dbt_updated_at

I'd suggest splitting them into two different issues and two different PRs.

Filename vs. snapshot name

This one seems really easy to address and can be knocked out with a quick PR.

Edit: I opened #3251 to address this portion.

Documentation related to dbt_updated_at

This one has way more complication and nuance and will take more intense focus to get all the details right. And it seems like it would be covered by one or more of these issues:

• Update docs for snapshot configuration #2900
• Snapshot strategy comparison example #3117
• Improve snapshots.md content #1948

Maybe @graciegoheen's comments related to updated_at could be added to one of those other issues instead?