Fill a variable with "array_to_string" in a plpgsql trigger function - postgresql

I'm working with PostgreSQL 9.5.
I'm creating a trigger in PL/pgSQL, that adds a record to a table (synthese_poly) when an INSERT is performed on a second table (operation_poly), with other tables data.
The trigger works well, except for some variables, that are not filled (especially the ones I try to fill with an array_to_string() function).
This is the code:
-- Function: bdtravaux.totablesynth_fn()
-- DROP FUNCTION bdtravaux.totablesynth_fn();
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION bdtravaux.totablesynth_fn()
RETURNS trigger AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
varoperateur varchar;
varchantvol boolean;
BEGIN
IF (TG_OP = 'INSERT') THEN
varsortie_id := NEW.sortie;
varopeid := NEW.operation_id;
--The following « SELECT » queries take data in third-party tables and fill variables, which will be used in the final insertion query.
SELECT array_to_string(array_agg(DISTINCT oper.operateurs),'; ')
INTO varoperateur
FROM bdtravaux.join_operateurs oper INNER JOIN bdtravaux.operation_poly o ON (oper.id_joinop=o.id_oper)
WHERE o.operation_id = varopeid;
SELECT CASE WHEN o.ope_chvol = 0 THEN 'f' ELSE 't' END as opechvol INTO varchantvol
FROM bdtravaux.operation_poly o WHERE o.operation_id = varopeid;
-- «INSERT» query
INSERT INTO bdtravaux.synthese_poly (soperateur, schantvol) SELECT varoperateur, varchantvol;
RAISE NOTICE 'varoperateur value : (%)', varoperateur;
RAISE NOTICE 'varchantvol value : (%)', varchantvol;
END IF;
RETURN NEW;
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE
COST 100;
ALTER FUNCTION bdtravaux.totablesynth_fn()
OWNER TO postgres;
And this is the trigger :
-- Trigger: totablesynth on bdtravaux.operation_poly
-- DROP TRIGGER totablesynth ON bdtravaux.operation_poly;
CREATE TRIGGER totablesynth
AFTER INSERT
ON bdtravaux.operation_poly
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN ((new.chantfini = true))
EXECUTE PROCEDURE bdtravaux.totablesynth_fn();
The varchantvol variable is correctly filled, but varoperateur stays desperately empty (NULL value) (and so on for the corresponding field in the synthese_poly table).
Note:
The SELECT array_to_string(…) ... query itself (launched with pgAdmin, without INTO varoperateur and replacing varopeid with a value) works well, and returns a string.
I tried to change array_to_string() function and variables' data types (using ::varchar or ::text …), nothing works.
Do you see what can happen?

using array_agg
You can replace array_to_string(array_agg(DISTINCT oper.operateurs),'; ') with
string_agg(DISTINCT oper.operateurs,'; ')
And you can use order by to sort the text in the agregate
string_agg(DISTINCT oper.operateurs,'; ' ORDER BY oper.operateurs)

My educated guess: you have a trigger with BEFORE INSERT ON bdtravaux.operation_poly. And operation_id is its serial PK column.
In this case, the query with WHERE o.operation_id = varopeid
(where varopeid has been filled with NEW.operation_id) can never find any rows because the row is not in the table, yet.
array_agg() has no role in this.
Would work with a trigger AFTER INSERT ON bdtravaux.operation_poly. But if id_oper is from the same inserted row, you can just simplify to:
SELECT array_to_string(array_agg(DISTINCT oper.operateurs),'; ')
INTO varoperateur
FROM bdtravaux.join_operateurs oper
WHERE oper.id_joinop = NEW.id_oper;
And keep the BEFORE trigger.
The whole function might be simpler, can probably done with a single query.

Related

How to set a composite type column using dynamic sql in trigger procedure

I have a trigger function that is called by several tables when COLUMN A is updated, so that COLUMN B can be updated based on value from a different function. (More complicated to explain than it really is). The trigger function takes in col_a and col_b since they are different for the different tables.
IF needs_updated THEN
sql = format('($1).%2$s = dbo.foo(($1).%1$s); ', col_a, col_b);
EXECUTE sql USING NEW;
END IF;
When I try to run the above, the format produces this sql:
($1).NameText = dbo.foo(($1).Name);
When I execute the SQL with the USING I am expecting something like this to happen (which works when executed straight up without dynamic sql):
NEW.NameText = dbo.foo(NEW.Name);
Instead I get:
[42601] ERROR: syntax error at or near "$1"
How can I dynamically update the column on the record/composite type NEW?
This isn't going to work because NEW.NameText = dbo.foo(NEW.Name); isn't a correct sql query. And I cannot think of the way you could dynamically update variable attribute of NEW. My suggestion is to explicitly define behaviour for each of your tables:
IF TG_TABLE_SCHEMA = 'my_schema' THEN
IF TG_TABLE_NAME = 'my_table_1' THEN
NEW.a1 = foo(NEW.b1);
ELSE IF TG_TABLE_NAME = 'my_table_2' THEN
NEW.a2 = foo(NEW.b2);
... etc ...
END IF;
END IF;
First: This is a giant pain in plpgsql. So my best recommendation is to do this in some other PL, such as plpythonu or plperl. Doing this in either of those would be trivial. Even if you don't want to do the whole trigger in another PL, you could still do something like:
v_new RECORD;
BEGIN
v_new := plperl_function(NEW, column_a...)
The key to doing this in plpgsql is creating a CTE that has what you need in it:
c_new_old CONSTANT text := format(
'WITH
NEW AS (SELECT (r).* FROM (SELECT ($1)::%1$s r) s)
, OLD AS (SELECT (r).* FROM (SELECT ($2)::%1$s r) s
'
, TG_RELID::regclass
);
You will also need to define a v_new that is a plain record. You could then do something like:
-- Replace 2nd field in NEW with a new value
sql := c_new_old || $$SELECT row(NEW.a, $3, NEW.c) FROM NEW$$
EXECUTE sql INTO v_new USING NEW, OLD, new_value;

Only perform update if column exists

Is it possible to execute an update conditionally if a column exists?
For instance, I may have a column in a table and if that column exists I want that update executed, otherwise, just skip it (or catch its exception).
You can do it inside a function. If you don't want to use the function later you can just drop it afterwards.
To know if a column exists in a certain table, you can try to fetch it using a select(or a perform, if you're gonna discard the result) in information_schema.columns.
The query bellow creates a function that searches for a column bar in a table foo, and if it finds it, updates its value. Later the function is run, then droped.
create function conditional_update() returns void as
$$
begin
perform column_name from information_schema.columns where table_name= 'foo' and column_name = 'bar';
if found then
update foo set bar = 12345;
end if;
end;
$$ language plpgsql;
select conditional_update();
drop function conditional_update();
With the following table as example :
CREATE TABLE mytable (
idx INT
,idy INT
);
insert into mytable values (1,2),(3,4),(5,6);
you can create a custom function like below to update:
create or replace function fn_upd_if_col_exists(_col text,_tbl text,_val int) returns void as
$$
begin
If exists (select 1
from information_schema.columns
where table_schema='public' and table_name=''||_tbl||'' and column_name=''||_col||'' ) then
execute format('update mytable set '||_col||'='||_val||'');
raise notice 'updated';
else
raise notice 'column %s doesn''t exists on table %s',_col,_tbl;
end if;
end;
$$
language plpgsql
and you can call this function like:
select fn_upd_if_col_exists1('idz','mytable',111) -- won't update raise "NOTICE: column idz deosnt exists on table mytables"
select fn_upd_if_col_exists1('idx','mytable',111) --will upadate column idx with value 1111 "NOTICE: updated"

Dynamic columns in SQL statement

I am trying to have a dynamic variable that I can specify different column's with (depending on some if statements). Explained in code, I am trying to replace this:
IF (TG_TABLE_NAME='this') THEN INSERT INTO table1 (name_id) VALUES id.NEW END IF;
IF (TG_TABLE_NAME='that') THEN INSERT INTO table1 (lastname_id) VALUES id.NEW END IF;
IF (TG_TABLE_NAME='another') THEN INSERT INTO table1 (age_id) VALUES id.NEW END IF;
With this:
DECLARE
varName COLUMN;
BEGIN
IF (TG_TABLE_NAME='this') THEN varName = 'name_id';
ELSE IF (TG_TABLE_NAME='that') THEN varName = 'lastname_id';
ELSE (TG_TABLE_NAME='another') THEN varName = 'age_id';
END IF;
INSERT INTO table1 (varName) VALUES id.NEW;
END;
The INSERT string is just an example, it's actually something longer. I am a beginner at pgSQL. I've seen some examples but I'm only getting more confused. If you can provide an answer that is also more safe from SQL injection that would be awesome.
One way to do what you're looking for is to compose your INSERT statement dynamically based on the named table. The following function approximates the logic you laid out in the question:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION smart_insert(table_name TEXT) RETURNS VOID AS $$
DECLARE
target TEXT;
statement TEXT;
BEGIN
CASE table_name
WHEN 'this' THEN target := 'name_id';
WHEN 'that' THEN target := 'lastname_id';
WHEN 'another' THEN target := 'age_id';
END CASE;
statement :=
'INSERT INTO '||table_name||'('||target||') VALUES (nextval(''id''));';
EXECUTE statement;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Note that I'm using a sequence to populate these tables (the call to nextval). I'm not sure if that is your use case, but hopefully this example is extensible enough for you to modify it to fit your scenario. A contrived demo:
postgres=# SELECT smart_insert('this');
smart_insert
--------------
(1 row)
postgres=# SELECT smart_insert('that');
smart_insert
--------------
(1 row)
postgres=# SELECT name_id FROM this;
name_id
---------
101
(1 row)
postgres=# SELECT lastname_id FROM that;
lastname_id
-------------
102
(1 row)
Your example doesn't make a lot of sense. Probably over-simplified. Anyway, here is a trigger function for the requested functionality that inserts the new id in a selected column of a target table, depending on the triggering table:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION smart_insert(table_name TEXT)
RETURNS trigger AS
$func$
BEGIN
EXECUTE
'INSERT INTO table1 ('
|| CASE TG_TABLE_NAME
WHEN 'this' THEN 'name_id'
WHEN 'that' THEN 'lastname_id'
WHEN 'another' THEN 'age_id'
END CASE
||') VALUES ($1)'
USING NEW.id;
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
To refer to the id column of the new row, use NEW.id not id.NEW.
To pass a value to dynamic code, use the USING clause of EXECUTE. This is faster and more elegant, avoids casting to text and back and also makes SQL injection impossible.
Don't use many variables and assignments in plpgsql, where this is comparatively expensive.
If the listed columns of the target table don't have non-default column defaults, you don't even need dynamic SQL:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION smart_insert(table_name TEXT)
RETURNS trigger AS
$func$
BEGIN
INSERT INTO table1 (name_id, lastname_id, age_id)
SELECT CASE WHEN TG_TABLE_NAME = 'this' THEN NEW.id END
, CASE WHEN TG_TABLE_NAME = 'that' THEN NEW.id END
, CASE WHEN TG_TABLE_NAME = 'another' THEN NEW.id END;
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
A CASE expression without ELSE clause defaults to NULL, which is the default column default.
Both variants are safe against SQL injection.

How to clone a RECORD in PostgreSQL

I want to loop through a query, but also retain the actual record for the next loop, so I can compare two adjacent rows.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.test ()
RETURNS void AS
$body$
DECLARE
previous RECORD;
actual RECORD;
query TEXT;
isdistinct BOOLEAN;
tablename VARCHAR;
columnname VARCHAR;
firstrow BOOLEAN DEFAULT TRUE;
BEGIN
tablename = 'naplo.esemeny';
columnname = 'esemeny_id';
query = 'SELECT * FROM ' || tablename || ' LIMIT 2';
FOR actual IN EXECUTE query LOOP
--do stuff
--save previous record
IF NOT firstrow THEN
EXECUTE 'SELECT ($1).' || columnname || ' IS DISTINCT FROM ($2).' || columnname
INTO isdistinct USING previous, actual;
RAISE NOTICE 'previous: %', previous.esemeny_id;
RAISE NOTICE 'actual: %', actual.esemeny_id;
RAISE NOTICE 'isdistinct: %', isdistinct;
ELSE
firstrow = false;
END IF;
previous = actual;
END LOOP;
RETURN;
END;
$body$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql'
VOLATILE
CALLED ON NULL INPUT
SECURITY INVOKER
COST 100;
The table:
CREATE TABLE naplo.esemeny (
esemeny_id SERIAL,
felhasznalo_id VARCHAR DEFAULT "current_user"() NOT NULL,
kotesszam VARCHAR(10),
idegen_azonosito INTEGER,
esemenytipus_id VARCHAR(10),
letrehozva TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
szoveg VARCHAR,
munkalap_id VARCHAR(13),
ajanlat_id INTEGER,
CONSTRAINT esemeny_pkey PRIMARY KEY(esemeny_id),
CONSTRAINT esemeny_fk_esemenytipus FOREIGN KEY (esemenytipus_id)
REFERENCES naplo.esemenytipus(esemenytipus_id)
ON DELETE RESTRICT
ON UPDATE RESTRICT
NOT DEFERRABLE
)
WITH (oids = true);
The code above doesn't work, the following error message is thrown:
ERROR: could not identify column "esemeny_id" in record data type
LINE 1: SELECT ($1).esemeny_id IS DISTINCT FROM ($2).esemeny_id
^
QUERY: SELECT ($1).esemeny_id IS DISTINCT FROM ($2).esemeny_id
CONTEXT: PL/pgSQL function "test" line 18 at EXECUTE statement
LOG: duration: 0.000 ms statement: SET DateStyle TO 'ISO'
What am I missing?
Disclaimer: I know the code doesn't make too much sense, I only created so I can demonstrate the problem.
This does not directly answer your question, and may be of no use at all, since you did not really describe your end goal.
If the end goal is to be able to compare the value of a column in the current row with the value of the same column in the previous row, then you might be much better off using a windowing query:
SELECT actual, previous
FROM (
SELECT mycolumn AS actual,
lag(mycolumn) OVER () AS previous
FROM mytable
ORDER BY somecriteria
) as q
WHERE previous IS NOT NULL
AND actual IS DISTINCT FROM previous
This example prints the rows where the current row is different from the previous row.
Note that I added an ORDER BY clause - it does not make sense to talk about "the previous row" without specifying ordering, otherwise you would get random results.
This is plain SQL, not PlPgSQL, but if you can wrap it in a function if you want to dynamically generate the query.
I am pretty sure, there is a better solution for your actual problem. But to answer the question asked, here is a solution with polymorphic types:
The main problem is that you need well known composite types to work with. the structure of anonymous records is undefined until assigned.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.test (actual anyelement, _col text
, OUT previous anyelement) AS
$func$
DECLARE
isdistinct bool;
BEGIN
FOR actual IN
EXECUTE format('SELECT * FROM %s LIMIT 3', pg_typeof(actual))
LOOP
EXECUTE format('SELECT ($1).%1$I IS DISTINCT FROM ($2).%1$I', _col)
INTO isdistinct
USING previous, actual;
RAISE NOTICE 'previous: %; actual: %; isdistinct: %'
, previous, actual, isdistinct;
previous := actual;
END LOOP;
previous := NULL; -- reset dummy output (optional)
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Call:
SELECT public.test(NULL::naplo.esemeny, 'esemeny_id')
I am abusing an OUT parameter, since it's not possible to declare additional variables with a polymorphic composite type (at least I have failed repeatedly).
If your column name is stable you can replace the second EXECUTE with a simple expression.
I am running out of time, explanation in these related answers:
Declare variable of composite type in PostgreSQL using %TYPE
Refactor a PL/pgSQL function to return the output of various SELECT queries
Asides:
Don't quote the language name, it's an identifier, not a string.
Do you really need WITH (oids = true) in your table? This is still allowed, but largely deprecated in modern Postgres.

How to add column if not exists on PostgreSQL?

Question is simple. How to add column x to table y, but only when x column doesn't exist ? I found only solution here how to check if column exists.
SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_name='x' and column_name='y';
With Postgres 9.6 this can be done using the option if not exists
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS column_name INTEGER;
Here's a short-and-sweet version using the "DO" statement:
DO $$
BEGIN
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE <table_name> ADD COLUMN <column_name> <column_type>;
EXCEPTION
WHEN duplicate_column THEN RAISE NOTICE 'column <column_name> already exists in <table_name>.';
END;
END;
$$
You can't pass these as parameters, you'll need to do variable substitution in the string on the client side, but this is a self contained query that only emits a message if the column already exists, adds if it doesn't and will continue to fail on other errors (like an invalid data type).
I don't recommend doing ANY of these methods if these are random strings coming from external sources. No matter what method you use (client-side or server-side dynamic strings executed as queries), it would be a recipe for disaster as it opens you to SQL injection attacks.
Postgres 9.6 added ALTER TABLE tbl ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS column_name.
So this is mostly outdated now. You might use it in older versions, or a variation to check for more than just the column name.
CREATE OR REPLACE function f_add_col(_tbl regclass, _col text, _type regtype)
RETURNS bool
LANGUAGE plpgsql AS
$func$
BEGIN
IF EXISTS (SELECT FROM pg_attribute
WHERE attrelid = _tbl
AND attname = _col
AND NOT attisdropped) THEN
RETURN false;
ELSE
EXECUTE format('ALTER TABLE %s ADD COLUMN %I %s', _tbl, _col, _type);
RETURN true;
END IF;
END
$func$;
Call:
SELECT f_add_col('public.kat', 'pfad1', 'int');
Returns true on success, else false (column already exists).
Raises an exception for invalid table or type name.
Why another version?
This could be done with a DO statement, but DO statements cannot return anything. And if it's for repeated use, I would create a function.
I use the object identifier types regclass and regtype for _tbl and _type which a) prevents SQL injection and b) checks validity of both immediately (cheapest possible way). The column name _col has still to be sanitized for EXECUTE with quote_ident(). See:
Table name as a PostgreSQL function parameter
format() requires Postgres 9.1+. For older versions concatenate manually:
EXECUTE 'ALTER TABLE ' || _tbl || ' ADD COLUMN ' || quote_ident(_col) || ' ' || _type;
You can schema-qualify your table name, but you don't have to.
You can double-quote the identifiers in the function call to preserve camel-case and reserved words (but you shouldn't use any of this anyway).
I query pg_catalog instead of the information_schema. Detailed explanation:
How to check if a table exists in a given schema
Blocks containing an EXCEPTION clause are substantially slower.
This is simpler and faster. The manual:
Tip
A block containing an EXCEPTION clause is significantly more
expensive to enter and exit than a block without one.
Therefore, don't use EXCEPTION without need.
Following select query will return true/false, using EXISTS() function.
EXISTS(): The argument of EXISTS is an arbitrary SELECT statement, or
subquery. The subquery is evaluated to determine whether it returns
any rows. If it returns at least one row, the result of EXISTS is
"true"; if the subquery returns no rows, the result of EXISTS is
"false"
SELECT EXISTS(SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'public'
AND table_name = 'x'
AND column_name = 'y');
and use the following dynamic SQL statement to alter your table
DO
$$
BEGIN
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'public'
AND table_name = 'x'
AND column_name = 'y') THEN
ALTER TABLE x ADD COLUMN y int DEFAULT NULL;
ELSE
RAISE NOTICE 'Already exists';
END IF;
END
$$
For those who use Postgre 9.5+(I believe most of you do), there is a quite simple and clean solution
ALTER TABLE if exists <tablename> add if not exists <columnname> <columntype>
the below function will check the column if exist return appropriate message else it will add the column to the table.
create or replace function addcol(schemaname varchar, tablename varchar, colname varchar, coltype varchar)
returns varchar
language 'plpgsql'
as
$$
declare
col_name varchar ;
begin
execute 'select column_name from information_schema.columns where table_schema = ' ||
quote_literal(schemaname)||' and table_name='|| quote_literal(tablename) || ' and column_name= '|| quote_literal(colname)
into col_name ;
raise info ' the val : % ', col_name;
if(col_name is null ) then
col_name := colname;
execute 'alter table ' ||schemaname|| '.'|| tablename || ' add column '|| colname || ' ' || coltype;
else
col_name := colname ||' Already exist';
end if;
return col_name;
end;
$$
This is basically the solution from sola, but just cleaned up a bit. It's different enough that I didn't just want to "improve" his solution (plus, I sort of think that's rude).
Main difference is that it uses the EXECUTE format. Which I think is a bit cleaner, but I believe means that you must be on PostgresSQL 9.1 or newer.
This has been tested on 9.1 and works. Note: It will raise an error if the schema/table_name/or data_type are invalid. That could "fixed", but might be the correct behavior in many cases.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION add_column(schema_name TEXT, table_name TEXT,
column_name TEXT, data_type TEXT)
RETURNS BOOLEAN
AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
_tmp text;
BEGIN
EXECUTE format('SELECT COLUMN_NAME FROM information_schema.columns WHERE
table_schema=%L
AND table_name=%L
AND column_name=%L', schema_name, table_name, column_name)
INTO _tmp;
IF _tmp IS NOT NULL THEN
RAISE NOTICE 'Column % already exists in %.%', column_name, schema_name, table_name;
RETURN FALSE;
END IF;
EXECUTE format('ALTER TABLE %I.%I ADD COLUMN %I %s;', schema_name, table_name, column_name, data_type);
RAISE NOTICE 'Column % added to %.%', column_name, schema_name, table_name;
RETURN TRUE;
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';
usage:
select add_column('public', 'foo', 'bar', 'varchar(30)');
Can be added to migration scripts invoke function and drop when done.
create or replace function patch_column() returns void as
$$
begin
if exists (
select * from information_schema.columns
where table_name='my_table'
and column_name='missing_col'
)
then
raise notice 'missing_col already exists';
else
alter table my_table
add column missing_col varchar;
end if;
end;
$$ language plpgsql;
select patch_column();
drop function if exists patch_column();
In my case, for how it was created reason it is a bit difficult for our migration scripts to cut across different schemas.
To work around this we used an exception that just caught and ignored the error. This also had the nice side effect of being a lot easier to look at.
However, be wary that the other solutions have their own advantages that probably outweigh this solution:
DO $$
BEGIN
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE IF EXISTS bobby_tables RENAME COLUMN "dckx" TO "xkcd";
EXCEPTION
WHEN undefined_column THEN RAISE NOTICE 'Column was already renamed';
END;
END $$;
You can do it by following way.
ALTER TABLE tableName drop column if exists columnName;
ALTER TABLE tableName ADD COLUMN columnName character varying(8);
So it will drop the column if it is already exists. And then add the column to particular table.
Simply check if the query returned a column_name.
If not, execute something like this:
ALTER TABLE x ADD COLUMN y int;
Where you put something useful for 'x' and 'y' and of course a suitable datatype where I used int.