Re: Allow any[] as input arguments for sql/plpgsql functions to mimic format()

Hey everyone,

I am writing a plpgsql function that (to greatly simplify) raises an
exception with a formatted* message. Ideally, I should be able to call
it with raise_exception('The person %I has only %I bananas.', 'Fred',
8), which mimics the format(text, any[]) calling convention.

Here is where I have encountered a limitation of PostgreSQL's design:
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/datatype-pseudo.html mentions
explicitly that, "At present most procedural languages forbid use of a
pseudo-type as an argument type".

My reasoning is that I should be able to accept a value of some type if
all I do is passing it to a function that accepts exactly that type,
such as format(text, any[]). Given the technical reality, I assume that
I wouldn't be able to do anything else with that value, but that is
fine, since I don't have to do anything with it regardless.

BR
Michał "phoe" Herda

*I do not want to use the obvious solution of
raise_exception(format(...)) because the argument to that function is
the error ID that is then looked up in a table from which the error
message and sqlstate are retrieved. My full code is in the attached SQL
file. Once it is executed:

SELECT gateway_error('user_does_not_exist', '2'); -- works but is unnatural,
SELECT gateway_error('user_does_not_exist', 2); -- is natural but
doesn't work.