Обсуждение: Proposal: anonymous composite types for Table Functions (aka SRFs)
Hello all, There is a limitation currently with Table Functions in that the return tuple type must be known in advance, i.e. you need a pre-defined scalar or composite type to use as the function's declared return type. This doesn't work well for the type of function that needs to return different tuple structures on each call that depend on the input parameters. Two examples of this are dblink and the crosstab function that I recently submitted. In the case of: dblink(connection_str, sql_stmt) what is really needed is for dblink to return a tuple of a type as determined dynamically by the input sql statement. Similarly, with: crosstab(sql) you'd like to have the number/type of values columns dependent on the number of categories and type of the sql statement value column. Speaking with Tom Lane the other day (off-list), he suggested a possible solution. I have spent some time thinking about his suggestion (and even started working on the implementation, though I know that is getting the cart before the horse) and would like to propose the following solution based on it: 1. Create a new pg_type typtype: 'a' for anonymous (currently either 'b' for base or 'c' for catalog, i.e. a class). We should also consider whether typtype should be renamed typkind. 2. Create new builtin type of typtype='a' named RECORD 3. Modify FROM clause grammer to accept something like: SELECT * FROM my_func() AS mtf(colname1 type1, colname2 type1,...) where mtf is the table alias, colname1, etc are the column names, and type1, etc are the column types. 4. Currently in the parsing and processing of RangeFunctions there are a number of places that must check whether the return type is base or composite. These would be changed to also handle (typtype == 'a'). When typtype == 'a', a List of column defs would be required, when (typtype != 'a'), it would be disallowed. The column defs would be used in place of the information derived from the funcrelid for cases with (typtype == 'c'). 5. A check would be added (probably in nodeFunctionscan.c somewhere) to ensure that the coldefs provide via the parser and the actual return tuple description match. Now when creating a function you can do: CREATE FUNCTION foo(text) RETURNS setof RECORD ... And when using it you can do, e.g.: SELECT * from foo(sqlstmt) AS (f1 int, f2 text, f3 timestamp) This potentially also solves (or at least improves) the issue of builtin Table Functions. They can be declared as returning RECORD, and we can wrap system views around them with properly specified column defs. For example: CREATE VIEW pg_settings AS SELECT s.name, s.setting FROM show_all_settings()AS s(name text, setting text); Likewise Neil's pg_locks could do the same. Then we can also add the UPDATE RULE that I previously posted to pg_settings, and have pg_settings act like a virtual table, allowing settings to be queried and set. Comments, omissions, or objections? Thanks, Joe
Re: Proposal: anonymous composite types for Table Functions (aka SRFs)
От
"Christopher Kings-Lynne"
Дата:
> 3. Modify FROM clause grammer to accept something like: > SELECT * FROM my_func() AS mtf(colname1 type1, colname2 type1, ...) > where mtf is the table alias, colname1, etc are the column names, and > type1, etc are the column types. ... > Now when creating a function you can do: > CREATE FUNCTION foo(text) RETURNS setof RECORD ... > > And when using it you can do, e.g.: > SELECT * from foo(sqlstmt) AS (f1 int, f2 text, f3 timestamp) Why is there the requirement to declare the type at SELECT time at all? Why not just take what you get when you run the function? Chris
Christopher Kings-Lynne wrote: > Why is there the requirement to declare the type at SELECT time at all? Why > not just take what you get when you run the function? The column names and types are determined in the parser, and used in the planner, optimizer, and executor. I'm not sure how the backend could plan a join or a where criteria otherwise. Remember that the function has to look just like a table or a subselect (i.e a RangeVar). With a table, the column names and types are predefined. With a subselect, parsing it yields the same information. With a table function, we need some way of providing it -- i.e. either with a predefined type, or now with a definition right in the FROM clause. Joe
Re: Proposal: anonymous composite types for Table Functions (aka SRFs)
От
"Zeugswetter Andreas SB SD"
Дата:
> > Now when creating a function you can do: > > CREATE FUNCTION foo(text) RETURNS setof RECORD ... > > > > And when using it you can do, e.g.: > > SELECT * from foo(sqlstmt) AS (f1 int, f2 text, f3 timestamp) > > Why is there the requirement to declare the type at SELECT > time at all? Why > not just take what you get when you run the function? Yea, that would imho be ultra cool, but I guess the parser/planner must already know the expected column names and types to resolve conflicts, do a reasonable plan and use the correct type conversions. Maybe the AS (...) could be optional, and if left out, the executor would need to abort iff duplicate colnames (from a joined table) or non binary compatible conversions would be involved. A "select * from func();" would then always work, but if you add "where x=5" the executor might need to abort. Looks like a lot of work though. Andreas
Re: Proposal: anonymous composite types for Table Functions (aka SRFs)
От
"Christopher Kings-Lynne"
Дата:
> The column names and types are determined in the parser, and used in the > planner, optimizer, and executor. I'm not sure how the backend could > plan a join or a where criteria otherwise. > > Remember that the function has to look just like a table or a subselect > (i.e a RangeVar). With a table, the column names and types are > predefined. With a subselect, parsing it yields the same information. > With a table function, we need some way of providing it -- i.e. either > with a predefined type, or now with a definition right in the FROM clause. Or you could "parse" the function by retrieving the first row from the it and assuming that that's the function definition? Chris
Christopher Kings-Lynne wrote: > Or you could "parse" the function by retrieving the first row from the it > and assuming that that's the function definition? > There are a number of reasons why I don't think this is workable, but foremost, what happens if the function has side-effects, i.e. actually alters data somehow? Joe