Re: lo_manage trigger on updates

On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 08:08:32PM -0400, Josh Kupershmidt wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 11:43 PM, Josh Kupershmidt <schmiddy@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I think the doc section about using lo_manage() as a trigger:
> >>   http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/lo.html
> >>
> >> could have its example tweaked to use a column-level BEFORE UPDATE
> >> trigger, so as to save unnecessary trigger firings. Something like the
> >> attached, perhaps?
> >
> > Uh, wow.  That syntax is horribly surprising, isn't it?  My eyes want
> > to parse it as:
> >
> > BEFORE (UPDATE OF raster) OR (DELETE ON image)
> >
> > ...which is totally wrong.
>
> Yeah, the syntax we have is really confusing. I notice this tidbit on that page:
>
> | The ability to specify multiple actions for a single trigger using OR
> | is a PostgreSQL extension of the SQL standard.
>
> Maybe the folks dreaming up the SQL standard are sharper than they get
> credit for.
>
> > I'm inclined to think that maybe we should leave that example as-is,
> > and maybe add the variant you're proposing as a second example,
> > showing how the basic version can be refined.
>
> The nice thing about keeping the example the way it is, is that it's
> pretty simple to understand, and maybe adding the second slightly more
> complicated example would just confuse things. We could just add in a
> blurb like this at the end of "How to Use It":
>
>    You may wish to restrict the trigger
>     to only fire upon UPDATEs of the <type>lo</> column(s) in the table by
>     specifying the column name via BEFORE UPDATE OF
>     <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable>.

I think I like that idea so I used your text instead of the full
new example.

--
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com

  + It's impossible for everything to be true. +