Magnus Hagander wrote:
> Just to open a whole new can of worms ;-)
>
> I read an article a couple of days ago about the "machine readable showplan
> output" in SQL Server 2005 (basically, it's EXPLAIN output but in XML
> format). It does make a lot of sense if yourp rimary interface is !=
> commandline (psql), such as pgadmin or phppgadmin. The idea being that you
> can stick in *all* the details you want, since you can't possibly clutter
> up the display. And you stick them in a well-defined XML format (or another
> format if you happen to hate XML) where the client-side program can easily
> parse out whatever it needs. It's also future-proof - if you add a new
> field somewhere, the client program parser won't break.
>
> Something worth doing? Not to replace the current explain output, but as a
> second option (EXPLAIN XML whatever)?
FYI a patch was posted for this some time ago, because a friend of mine
wanted to help a student to write an EXPLAIN parsing tool.
--
Alvaro Herrera http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/CTMLCN8V17R4
"Having your biases confirmed independently is how scientific progress is
made, and hence made our great society what it is today" (Mary Gardiner)