Обсуждение: JSONB docs patch

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JSONB docs patch

От
Mikhail Dobrinin
Дата:
Hello,

I have come across some missing documentation that I think could benefit the community.

Several functions like `jsonb_exists`, `jsonb_exists_any`, `jsonb_exists_all` have existed for many PG versions but were not documented. They are equivalent to `?`, `?|`, and `?&` operators. But some JDBC drivers have issues with native queries containing these operators (see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38370972/how-do-i-use-postgresql-jsonb-operators-containing-a-question-mark-via-jdb), so it is useful for users of PG to know the function equivalents of these operators.

I have attached the patch as an attachment to this email. The documentation builds correctly without any lint errors after applying the patch locally. This is my first time contributing, so let me know if there is anything else I should do (add to commitfest etc).

Cheers!
Mikhail Dobrinin
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Re: JSONB docs patch

От
"David G. Johnston"
Дата:
On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 3:38 PM Mikhail Dobrinin <mvdobrinin@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,

I have come across some missing documentation that I think could benefit the community.

Several functions like `jsonb_exists`, `jsonb_exists_any`, `jsonb_exists_all` have existed for many PG versions but were not documented. They are equivalent to `?`, `?|`, and `?&` operators. But some JDBC drivers have issues with native queries containing these operators (see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38370972/how-do-i-use-postgresql-jsonb-operators-containing-a-question-mark-via-jdb), so it is useful for users of PG to know the function equivalents of these operators.

I have attached the patch as an attachment to this email. The documentation builds correctly without any lint errors after applying the patch locally. This is my first time contributing, so let me know if there is anything else I should do (add to commitfest etc).


I'm doubtful that encouraging use of these functions for JDBC-users is better than them learning to write queries using the proper operator.  The reality is that the usage of indexes depends upon operators being used in query text, not function names (unless you define a functional index, which doesn't happen).  Your SO post says as much and does mention that ?? is indeed the coding that is required.

What I think we should do in light of this reality, though, is indeed prohibit "??" as (or within) an operator in PostgreSQL.  Since core is not presently using that operator its prohibition should be reasonably simple - though maybe extension authors got too creative?

-1 to this patch on the above grounds.  As for the patch itself:
The parentheticals you wrote might be appropriate for a commit message but do not belong in the documentation.  Mentioning JDBC is simply a no-no; and we don't document "why" we decided to document something. We also don't go around pointing out what functions and operators perform the same behavior (mostly because we generally just don't do that, see above).

I didn't actually review the material parts of the table.  Nothing seems obviously incorrect there though.

David J.

Re: JSONB docs patch

От
Andrew Dunstan
Дата:
On 1/25/22 18:08, David G. Johnston wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 3:38 PM Mikhail Dobrinin
> <mvdobrinin@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     Hello,
>
>     I have come across some missing documentation that I think could
>     benefit the community.
>
>     Several functions like `jsonb_exists`, `jsonb_exists_any`,
>     `jsonb_exists_all` have existed for many PG versions but were not
>     documented. They are equivalent to `?`, `?|`, and `?&` operators.
>     But some JDBC drivers have issues with native queries containing
>     these operators (see
>
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38370972/how-do-i-use-postgresql-jsonb-operators-containing-a-question-mark-via-jdb),
>     so it is useful for users of PG to know the function equivalents
>     of these operators.
>
>     I have attached the patch as an attachment to this email. The
>     documentation builds correctly without any lint errors after
>     applying the patch locally. This is my first time contributing, so
>     let me know if there is anything else I should do (add to
>     commitfest etc).
>
>
> I'm doubtful that encouraging use of these functions for JDBC-users is
> better than them learning to write queries using the proper operator. 
> The reality is that the usage of indexes depends upon operators being
> used in query text, not function names (unless you define a functional
> index, which doesn't happen).  Your SO post says as much and does
> mention that ?? is indeed the coding that is required.
>
> What I think we should do in light of this reality, though, is indeed
> prohibit "??" as (or within) an operator in PostgreSQL.  Since core is
> not presently using that operator its prohibition should be reasonably
> simple - though maybe extension authors got too creative?
>
> -1 to this patch on the above grounds.  As for the patch itself:
> The parentheticals you wrote might be appropriate for a commit message
> but do not belong in the documentation.  Mentioning JDBC is simply a
> no-no; and we don't document "why" we decided to document something.
> We also don't go around pointing out what functions and operators
> perform the same behavior (mostly because we generally just don't do
> that, see above).
>
> I didn't actually review the material parts of the table.  Nothing
> seems obviously incorrect there though.
>
>

Yeah. The omission from the docs is not accidental - we generally don't
document the functions underlying operators.

These jsonb operators are not the only ones with '?' in the name -
there's a whole heap of them for geometric types. Are we supposed to
document all those too?

I feel the pain that JDBC users have here. It's a pity there are no
alternative placeholder mechanisms in JDBC. Perl's DBD::Pg, which also
has '?' placeholders, provides a couple of quite workable ways around
the issue.


cheers


andrew



--
Andrew Dunstan
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com