aggregate function ?

hi again,


Some days ago I asked for help, nobody replied, and after trying to
do it in some way, I think aggregate function is the solution to my
problem, but I found difficult to understand how it works ...

What I want to do is accumulate the value for each row and add it to
the next:

a 100 100
b 50 150
c 25 175


My first approach was using a function/stored procedure, create a
cursor, loop through it, and insert the values in a temporary table,
that's why I was asking for those 'create table' before.

using a front-en application this is very easy, but I want to do it
directly in the server, and also it's a great exercice to learn more
about postgresql.

aggregate function



What I understand is:

I have to define the return-type of the aggregate function => float

The type of thing it aggregates => float (will be the value for each
row)
An initial value, probably 0

And a state-transition function to accumulate values (takes the
running total and the next value)

The optionally finalisation function I think I don't need it ...

How I can pack all this info in a aggregate function ?

In the manuals there is this example:

CREATE AGGREGATE avg (
sfunc = float8_accum,
basetype = float8,
stype = float8[],
finalfunc = float8_avg,
initcond = ’{0,0}’
);

but if I use real data with this aggregate, it doesn't work: (note
that I change avg to test, also in the create aggregate)

GlobalGest=# select test(saldo_deure,saldo_haver,saldo) from comptes
limit 5;
ERROR:  function test(numeric, numeric, numeric) does not exist at
character 8
HINT:  No function matches the given name and argument types. You may
need to add explicit type casts.


thanks in advance,

regards,


raimon fernandez