How to DELETE/INSERT rows in the same table using a UPDATE Trigger? - postgresql

Question

I want to create a trigger function, which copies certain columns of an recent updated row and deletes the old data. After that I want to insert the copied columns in exact the same table in the same row (overwrite). I need the data to be INSERTED because this function will be embedded in an existing program, with predefined Triggers.
That's what I have so far:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_table()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS
$func$
BEGIN
WITH tmp AS (DELETE FROM table
WHERE table.id = NEW.id
RETURNING id, geom )
INSERT INTO table (id, geom) SELECT * FROM tmp;
END;
$func$ language plpgsql;
CREATE TRIGGER T_update
AFTER UPDATE OF geom ON table
EXECUTE PROCEDURE update_table();
But I get the Error message:
ERROR: cannot perform DELETE RETURNING on relation "table"
HINT: You need an unconditional ON DELETE DO INSTEAD rule with a RETURNING clause.
Why I should use a rule here?
I'm using PostgreSQL 9.6
UPDATE:
A little bit of clarification. When I have two columns in my table (id, geom), after I updated geom I want to make a copy of this (new)row and insert it into the same table, while overwriting the updated row. (I'm not interested in any value before the update) I know that this is odd but I need this row to be inserted again because the program i embed this function in, listens to a INSERT statement and cannot be changed by me.

Answer 1

Right after you update a row, its old values will no longer be available. So, if you simply want to preserve the old row in case of an update you need to create a BEFORE UPDATE trigger, so that you can still access the OLD values and create a new row, e.g.
CREATE TABLE t (id int, geom geometry(point,4326));
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_table() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
INSERT INTO t (id, geom) VALUES (OLD.id,OLD.geom);
RETURN NEW;
END; $$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
CREATE TRIGGER t_update
BEFORE UPDATE OF geom ON t FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE update_table();
INSERT INTO t VALUES (1,'SRID=4326;POINT(1 1)');
If you update the record 1 ..
UPDATE t SET geom = 'SRID=4326;POINT(2 2)', id = 2 WHERE id = 1;
UPDATE t SET geom = 'SRID=4326;POINT(3 3)', id = 3 WHERE id = 2;
.. you get a new record in the same table as you wished
SELECT id, ST_AsText(geom) FROM t;
id | st_astext
----+------------
1 | POINT(1 1)
2 | POINT(2 2)
3 | POINT(3 3)
Demo: db<>fiddle
Unrelated note: consider upgrading your PostgreSQL version! 9.6 will reach EOL in November, 2021.

Answer 2

First thanks to #JimJones for the answer. I´d like to post his answer modified for this purpose. This code "overwrites" the updated row by inserting a copy of itself and then deleting the old duplicate. That way I can Trigger on INSERT.
CREATE TABLE t (Unique_id SERIAL,id int, geom geometry(point,4326));
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_table() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
INSERT INTO t (id, geom) VALUES (NEW.id,NEW.geom);
RETURN NEW;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
CREATE TRIGGER t_update
BEFORE UPDATE OF geom ON t FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE update_table();
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION delete_table() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
DELETE FROM t a
USING t b
WHERE a.Unique_id < b.Unique_id
AND a.geom = b.geom;
RETURN NEW;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
CREATE TRIGGER t_delete
AFTER UPDATE OF geom ON t FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE delete_table();
INSERT INTO t VALUES (1,1,'SRID=4326;POINT(1 1)');
UPDATE t SET geom = 'SRID=4326;POINT(2 2)' WHERE id = 1;