In a PL/pgSQL function, I want to trap an error. For example, when I convert text to a number, I get an error (I run it in psql, but get the same error in the Postico GUI client):
select 'a'::numeric;
ERROR: invalid input syntax for type numeric: "a"
LINE 1: select 'a'::numeric;
^
To trap this error, I made an EXCEPTION-clause like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.to_number(input text) RETURNS numeric
AS $$
BEGIN
RETURN input::numeric;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
RETURN NULL;
END
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql
IMMUTABLE
RETURNS NULL ON NULL INPUT
;
However, I don't like the condition WHEN OTHERS.
How do I map the error message ERROR: invalid input syntax for type numeric: "a" to one mentioned in the Appendix A. PostgreSQL Error Codes?
I want to catch the conversion error when converting to numeric and no other conditions (as the above function is a simplified one).
I have the feeling I'm missing something, but what?
When you get the error in psql, run
\errverbose
and you'll get information like
ERROR: 22P02: invalid input syntax for type numeric: "a"
LINE 1: select 'a'::numeric;
^
LOCATION: set_var_from_str, numeric.c:6856
22P02 is the SQLSTATE, and Appendix A of the documentation will tell you that that is invalid_text_representation.
Related
Can we assign variable to stored procedure in PostgreSQL?
I have tried like this but getting error:
ERROR: syntax error at or near "("
LINE 57: W_SPLIT_MSG:= call splitstringcheck (P_MAIL_ID, ';');*
My code:
W_SPLIT_MSG:= call splitstringcheck (P_MAIL_ID, ';');
Please help me solve this error
I am struggling to figure out how to best handle the return of results or errors to my application from Postgres stored functions.
Consider the following contrived psudeocode example:
app.get_resource(_username text)
RETURNS <???>
BEGIN
IF ([ ..user exists.. ] = FALSE) THEN
RETURN 'ERR_USER_NOT_FOUND';
END IF;
IF ([ ..user has permission.. ] = FALSE) THEN
RETURN 'ERR_NO_PERMISSION';
END IF;
-- Return the full user object.
RETURN QUERY( SELECT 1
FROM app.resources
WHERE app.resources.owner = _username);
END
The function can fail with a specific error or succeed and return 0 or more resources.
At first I tried creating a custom type to always use as a standard return type in eachh function:
CREATE TYPE app.appresult AS (
success boolean,
error text,
result anyelement
);
Postgres does not allow this however:
[42P16] ERROR: column "result" has pseudo-type anyelement
I then discovered OUT parameters and attempted the following uses:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION app.get_resource(
IN _username text,
OUT _result app.appresult -- Custom type
-- {success bool, error text}
)
RETURNS SETOF record
AS
$$
BEGIN
IF 1 = 1 THEN -- just a test
_result.success = false;
_result.error = 'ERROR_ERROR';
RETURN NULL;
END IF;
RETURN QUERY(SELECT * FROM app.resources);
END;
$$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql' VOLATILE;
Postgres doesn't like this either:
[42P13] ERROR: function result type must be app.appresult because of OUT parameters
Also tried a similar function but reversed: Returning a custom app.appresult object and setting the OUT param to "SETOF RECORD". This was also not allowed.
Lastly i looked into Postgres exception handling using
RAISE EXCEPTION 'ERR_MY_ERROR';
So in the example function, i'd just raise this error and return.
This resulted in the driver sending back the error as:
"ERROR: ERR_MY_ERROR\nCONTEXT: PL/pgSQL function app.test(text) line 6 at RAISE\n(P0001)"
This is easy enough to parse but doing things this way feels wrong.
What is the best way to solve this problem?
Is it possible to have a custom AppResult object that i could return?
Something like:
{ success bool, error text, result <whatever type> }
//Edit 1 //
I think I'm leaning more towards #Laurenz Albe solution.
My main goal is simple: Call a stored procedure which can return either an error or some data.
Using RAISE seems to accomplish this and the C++ driver allows easy checking for an error condition returned from a query.
if ([error code returned from the query] == 90100)
{
// 1. Parse out my overly verbose error from the raw driver
// error string.
// 2. Handle the error.
}
I'm also wondering about using custom SQLSTATE codes instead of parsing the driver string.
Throwing '__404' might mean that during the course of my SPs execution, it could not continue because some record needed was not found.
When calling the sql function from my app, i have a general idea of what it failing with a '__404' would mean and how to handle it. This avoids the additional step of parsing driver error string.
I can also see the potential of this being a bad idea.
Bedtime reading:
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/errcodes-appendix.html
This is slightly opinion based, but I think that throwing an error is the best and most elegant solution. That is what errors are for!
To distinguish various error messages, you could use SQLSTATEs that start with 6, 8 or 9 (these are not used), then you don't have to depend on the wording of the error message.
You can raise such an error with
RAISE EXCEPTION SQLSTATE '90001' USING MESSAGE = 'my own error';
We do something similar to what you're trying to do, but we use TEXT rather than ANYELEMENT, because (almost?) any type can be cast to TEXT and back. So our type looks something like:
(errors our_error_type[], result TEXT)
The function which returns this stores errors in the errors array (it's just some custom error type), and can store the result (cast to text) in the result field.
The calling function knows what type it expects, so it can first check the errors array to see if any errors were returned, and if not it can cast the result value to the expected return type.
As a general observation, I think exceptions are more elegant (possibly because I come from a c# background). The only problem is in plpgsql exception handling is (relatively) slow, so it depends on the context - if you're running something many times in a loop, I would prefer a solution that doesn't use exception handling; if it's a single call, and/or especially when you want it to abort, I prefer raising an exception. In practice we use both at various points throughout our call stacks.
And as Laurenz Albe pointed out, you're not meant to "parse" exceptions, so much as raise an exception with specific values in specific fields, which the function that catches the exception can then extract and act on directly.
As an example:
Setup:
CREATE TABLE my_table (id INTEGER, txt TEXT);
INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (1,'blah');
CREATE TYPE my_type AS (result TEXT);
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_func()
RETURNS my_type AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
m my_type;
BEGIN
SELECT my_table::TEXT
INTO m.result
FROM my_table;
RETURN m;
END
$BODY$
LANGUAGE plpgsql STABLE;
Run:
SELECT (m.result::my_table).*
FROM my_func() AS m
Result:
| id | txt |
-------------
| 1 | blah |
I am running a function in PostgreSQL which contains several functions which purpose is to load data from foreign tables into mine. While running I get this error:
[SELECT - 0 row(s), 762.353 secs] [Error Code: 0, SQL State: 22P02] ERROR: invalid input syntax for type numeric: "N/A"
Where: PL/pgSQL function import_data_3(integer,timestamp with time zone,timestamp with time zone,integer) line 16 at SQL statement
SQL statement "SELECT import_data_3(import, beg, end_t, is_l)"
PL/pgSQL function data_import_all(timestamp with time zone,timestamp with time zone,integer,integer) line 31 at PERFORM
I know what that means and also its reason I am trying to convert 'N/A' string to number and there for this error, problem is this lousy error does not specify the column where the error occurred.
Is there a way to get more precise error message which would tell me the exact column where the error happened?
It's not in the column but in one of the parameters that are passed to import_data_3.
You called the query SELECT import_data_3(import, beg, end_t, is_l).
The specification of this function is import_data_3(integer,timestamp with time zone,timestamp with time zone,integer)
Since you got the error
invalid input syntax for type numeric: "N/A"
this most likely means that either first parameter "import" or the last one "is_l" contain the value "N/A". Try to debug the calling code of the function data_import_all and see how those two parameter values are generated.
I'm unable to get a simple SQL function that run over rows of a tables and display it column info
Here how the SQL function looks like.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION iterators() RETURNS Void AS $$
DECLARE
t2_row call_records%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN
FOR t2_row IN (SELECT timestamp,plain_crn INTO call_records limit 2)
LOOP
RAISE NOTICE t2_row.timestamp;
END LOOP
END
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
But I keep getting following error
ERROR: syntax error at or near "t2_row"
LINE 7: RAISE NOTICE t2_row.timestamp;
I'm not sure what possible syntax error the code has? Is it possible to get a bit more verbose error log or know as to what is the syntax error in code that I have to fix.
Statement RAISE requires format string. It should be trivial, but should be there.
RAISE NOTICE '%', t2_row.timestamp;
I had been using MySQL as database and had planned to move to postgresql. I had used aes_encrypt and aes_decrypt functions in MySQL extensively throughout my application. So whenever the encryption/decrytion fails, MySQL automatically returns 'null'.
I am unsure how to handle the same in postgresql. Tried using the pgp_sym_encrypt/pgp_sym_decrypt functions. If the encryption key is wrong, it throws error "Wrong key/corrupt data". I tried searching for some functions that could capture this error and return 'null' as in MySQL so that I need not modify my code. I had been searching but could not find one.
Has anybody used any error handling mechanism for individual queries? I had found that error handling can be done for procedures. But, I had to completely rewrite the entire application for that.
If you could share some details, it would be of great help. Thanks.
If you wish to avoid modifying your code and have the functions return NULL on error, you can do this by wrapping them in a PL/PgSQL function that uses a BEGIN ... EXCEPTION block to trap the error.
To do this, first I get the SQLSTATE for the error:
regress=# \set VERBOSITY verbose
regress=# SELECT pgp_sym_decrypt('fred','key');
ERROR: 39000: Wrong key or corrupt data
LOCATION: decrypt_internal, pgp-pgsql.c:607
I could use this directly in the error handler, but I prefer to use a symbolic name, so I look up the error name associated with 39000 in Appendix A - Error codes, finding that it's the generic function call error external_routine_invocation_exception. Not as specific as we would've liked, but it'll do.
Now a wrapper function is required. Something like this must be defined, with one function for each overloaded signature of pgp_sym_decrypt that you wish to support. For the (bytea,text) form that returns text, for example:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION pgp_sym_decrypt_null_on_err(data bytea, psw text) RETURNS text AS $$
BEGIN
RETURN pgp_sym_decrypt(data, psw);
EXCEPTION
WHEN external_routine_invocation_exception THEN
RAISE DEBUG USING
MESSAGE = format('Decryption failed: SQLSTATE %s, Msg: %s',
SQLSTATE,SQLERRM),
HINT = 'pgp_sym_encrypt(...) failed; check your key',
ERRCODE = 'external_routine_invocation_exception';
RETURN NULL;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
I've chosen to preseve the original error in a DEBUG level message. Here's a comparison of the original and wrapper, with full message verbosity and debug level output.
Enable debug output to show the RAISE. Note that it also shows the *original query text of the pgp_decrypt_sym call, including parameters.
regress=# SET client_min_messages = DEBUG;
New wrapped function still reports the error if detailed logging is enabled, but returns NULL:
regress=# SELECT pgp_sym_decrypt_null_on_err('redsdfsfdsfd','bobsdf');
LOG: 00000: statement: SELECT pgp_sym_decrypt_null_on_err('redsdfsfdsfd','bobsdf');
LOCATION: exec_simple_query, postgres.c:860
DEBUG: 39000: Decryption failed: SQLSTATE 39000, Msg: Wrong key or corrupt data
HINT: pgp_sym_encrypt(...) failed; check your key
LOCATION: exec_stmt_raise, pl_exec.c:2806
pgp_sym_decrypt_null_on_err
-----------------------------
(1 row)
compared to the original, which fails:
regress=# SELECT pgp_sym_decrypt('redsdfsfdsfd','bobsdf');
LOG: 00000: statement: SELECT pgp_sym_decrypt('redsdfsfdsfd','bobsdf');
LOCATION: exec_simple_query, postgres.c:860
ERROR: 39000: Wrong key or corrupt data
LOCATION: decrypt_internal, pgp-pgsql.c:607
Note that both forms show the parameters the function was called with when it failed. The parameters won't be shown if you've used bind parameters ("prepared statements"), but you should still consider your logs to be security critical if you're using in-database encryption.
Personally, I think it's better to do crypto in the app, so the DB never has access to the keys.