Call postgresql record's field by name - postgresql

Question

I have a function that uses RECORD to temporarily store the data. I can use it - it's fine. My problem is that I can't hardcode columns I need to get from the RECORD. I must do it dynamically. Something line:
DECLARE
r1 RECORD;
r2 RECORD;
BEGIN
for r1 in Select column_name
from columns_to_process
where process_now = True
loop
for r2 in Select *
from my_data_table
where whatever
loop
-----------------------------
here I must call column by its name that is unknown at design time
-----------------------------
... do something with
r2.(r1.column_name)
end loop;
end loop;
END;
Does anyone know how to do it?
best regards
M

Answer 1

There is no need to select the all the qualifying rows and compute the total in a loop. Actually when working with SQL try to drop the word loop for your vocabulary; instead just use sum(column_name) in the select. The issue here is that you do not know what column to sum when the query is written, and all structural components(table names, columns names, operators, etc) must be known before submitting. You cannot use a variable for a structural component - in this case a column name. To do that you must use dynamic sql - i.e. SQL statement built by the process. The following accomplishes that: See example here.
create or replace function sum_something(
the_something text -- column name
, for_id my_table.id%type -- my_table.id
)
returns numeric
language plpgsql
as $$
declare
k_query_base constant text :=
$STMT$ Select sum(%I) from my_table where id = %s; $STMT$;
l_query text;
l_sum numeric;
begin
l_query = format(k_query_base, the_something, for_id);
raise notice E'Rumming Statememt:\n %',l_query; -- for prod raise Log
execute l_query into l_sum;
return l_sum;
end;
$$;

Answer 2

Well, after some time I figured out that I could use temporary table instead of RECORD. Doing so gives me all advantages of using dynamic queries so I can call any column by its name.
DECLARE
_my_var bigint;
BEGIN
create temporary table _my_temp_table as
Select _any, _column, _you, _need
from _my_table
where whatever = something;
execute 'Select ' || _any || ' from _my_temp_table' into _my_var;
... do whatever
END;
However I still believe that there should be a way to call records field by it's name.