Finding and creating missing rows in table - postgresql

Question

Hello postgres experts,
I have an app where users can vote on a poll. My schema looks like this:
polls table:
id
name
1
Favorite fruit
options table:
id
poll_id
content
1
1
apple
2
1
orange
3
1
grape
4
1
banana
participants table:
id
poll_id
name
1
1
John
2
1
Jane
votes table:
id
poll_id
participant_id
option_id
type
1
1
1
1
yes
2
1
1
3
yes
3
1
2
2
yes
I made the poor choice of deciding to not create rows for "no" votes in the votes table thinking it would "save space". I realize now that it was not such a great idea because in the future I would like to know whether the user explicitly voted "no" or if perhaps the option was added after they voted and thus did not have the option to choose it. So I need to run a query that will fill all the missing "no" votes in the votes table for existing participants. The final result should look like this:
votes table:
id
poll_id
participant_id
option_id
type
1
1
1
1
yes
2
1
1
3
yes
3
1
2
2
yes
4
1
1
2
no
5
1
1
4
no
6
1
2
1
no
7
1
2
3
no
8
1
2
4
no
I have a dbfiddle with all the data already in it:
https://dbfiddle.uk/?rdbms=postgres_14&fiddle=7d0f4c83095638cc6006b1d7876d0e01
Side question: Should I be concerned about the size of the votes table in this schema? I expect it to quickly blow up to millions of rows. Is a schema where options are stored as an array in the polls table and votes stored in the participants table a better idea?
Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

You seem to be looking for a JOIN of participants with options, EXCEPT the rows that already are in votes. There are various ways to do that, but most straightforward:
INSERT INTO votes(poll_id, participant_id, option_id, type)
SELECT poll_id, participant_id, option_id, 'no'
FROM (
SELECT o.poll_id, p.id, o.id
FROM options o
JOIN participants p ON o.poll_id = p.poll_id
EXCEPT
SELECT poll_id, participant_id, option_id
FROM votes
) AS missing;
Alternatively:
INSERT INTO votes(poll_id, participant_id, option_id, type)
SELECT o.poll_id, p.id, o.id, 'no'
FROM options o
JOIN participants p ON o.poll_id = p.poll_id
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT *
FROM votes
WHERE poll_id = o.poll_id AND participant_id = p.id AND option_id = o.id
);
Or, assuming you already have UNIQUE index on votes, just
INSERT INTO votes(poll_id, participant_id, option_id, type)
SELECT o.poll_id, p.id, o.id, 'no'
FROM options o
ON CONFLICT ON CONSTRAINT votes_p_key
DO NOTHING;