Re: Triggers and SQL functions

pierre@desertmoon.com wrote:
>
> >
> > I have exactly the same problem as you mentioned in a mail
> > sent to postgres mailing lists about creating trigger using
> > sql function ...
> >
> > Did you get the solution to you problem ?
> >
> > Ph.R.
> >
> >
>
> I actually found the solution in the docs. The solution is to understand
> the difference between triggers and rules. Triggers are used primarily
> to call C/C++ library functions that you can create and add onto the
> postgresql system.
>
> Rules on the other-hand act just like 'triggers' but only call/usr
> sql to perform their functions.
>
> So the solution: Use rules to create trigger-like actions that run
> stored sql procedures. There is a man page on 'create rule' that you
> can use to get more info.
>
> -=pierre

The problem is the following:

CREATE TABLE user (
    id int,
    username char(10),
    passwd char(10)
);
CREATE sequence user_seq start 1 increment 1;
CREATE RULE adduser as
        on insert to user where id isnull
        do update user set id=nextval('user_seq') where id isnull;
--
As you can see, I implement kind of autoinc on id.

CREATE TABLE user_realm (
    uid int,
    rlid int,
    adminuser boolean
);

I would like to defaultly add a user in the realm 1.
I tried the following:
CREATE RULE adduservoid as
    on insert to user
    do insert into user_realm values(new.id, 1, false);

But new.id is very probably null !
The problem is that rules is a rewriting system and not function calls
(and so no way to define after/befor).
So I would like to do this auto-insert into user_realm with a trigger
after insert. I tried the following :

-- Makes all user at least belonging to Void ... just in case
CREATE FUNCTION adduservoid () returns boolean
 as 'insert into user_realm
        select id as uid,1 as rlid,false as adminuser
        from user where not exists (
           select uid from user_realm where user.id=user_realm.uid
        );
     select true as ignore_this;'
 language 'sql';
CREATE TRIGGER autoadduservoid AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE ON user for each
row
EXECUTE PROCEDURE adduservoid();


But this doesnt work for the reason you mentioned.
Another solution would be if the create rule would support many
statements instead of just one, like that:
CREATE RULE adduser as
        on insert to user where id isnull
        do 'update user set id=nextval('user_seq') where id isnull;
        insert into user_realm(new.id,1,false);'

But because I have also a check_primary key on user_realm that ensure
that uid exists in user ... I would still have a problem !

Ph.R.

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Philippe Rochat,                EPFL   DI-LBD
Database Laboratory                 CH-1015 LAUSANNE
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)     tel:++41 21 693 52 53
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