PL/pgSQL CREATE or REPLACE within EXECUTE - postgresql

Question

I have the following script to dynamically create views into a PostgreSQL database.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION cs_refresh_mviews() RETURNS integer AS $$
DECLARE
mviews RECORD;
query text;
park_name text;
ppstatements int;
BEGIN
RAISE NOTICE 'Creating views...';
FOR mviews IN SELECT name FROM "Canadian_Parks" LOOP
park_name := mviews.name;
RAISE NOTICE 'Creating or replace view %s...', mviews.name;
query := 'CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW %_view AS
SELECT * from "Canadian_Parks" where name=''%'';
ALTER TABLE %_view OWNER TO postgres', park_name, park_name, park_name;
-- RAISE NOTICE query;
EXECUTE query;
END LOOP;
RAISE NOTICE 'Done refreshing materialized views.';
RETURN 1;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
I have confirmed integrity of the string, such as
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Saguenay_St__Lawrence_view AS
SELECT * from "Canadian_Parks" where name='Saguenay_St__Lawrence';
ALTER TABLE Saguenay_St__Lawrence_view OWNER TO postgres
assigned to the query variable by manually submitting this to the database and getting a successful response.
However, if I attempt to execute the function using
SELECT cs_refresh_mviews();
the followig error is displayed:
ERROR: query "SELECT 'CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW %_view AS SELECT * from "Canadian_Parks" where name=''%''; ALTER TABLE %_view OWNER TO postgres', park_name, park_name, park_name" returned 4 columns
CONTEXT: PL/pgSQL function "cs_refresh_mviews" line 32 at assignment
********** Error **********
ERROR: query "SELECT 'CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW %_view AS SELECT * from "Canadian_Parks" where name=''%''; ALTER TABLE %_view OWNER TO postgres', park_name, park_name, park_name" returned 4 columns
SQL state: 42601
Context: PL/pgSQL function "cs_refresh_mviews" line 32 at assignment
Why has this been converted to a SELECT statement, instead of a pure CREATE?

Answer 1

You setup is pretty twisted. Why would you save part of the name of a view in a composite type of a table instead of saving it in a plain text column?
Anyhow, it could work like this:
Setup matching question:
CREATE SCHEMA x; -- demo in test schema
SET search_path = x;
CREATE TYPE mviews AS (id int, name text); -- composite type used in table
CREATE TABLE "Canadian_Parks" (name mviews);
INSERT INTO "Canadian_Parks"(name) VALUES
('(1,"canadian")')
,('(2,"islandic")'); -- composite types, seriously?
SELECT name, (name).* from "Canadian_Parks";
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION cs_refresh_mviews()
RETURNS int LANGUAGE plpgsql SET search_path = x AS -- search_path for test
$func$
DECLARE
_parkname text;
BEGIN
FOR _parkname IN SELECT (name).name FROM "Canadian_Parks" LOOP
EXECUTE format('
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW %1$I AS
SELECT * FROM "Canadian_Parks" WHERE (name).name = %2$L;
ALTER TABLE %1$I OWNER TO postgres'
, _parkname || '_view', _parkname);
END LOOP;
RETURN 1;
END
$func$;
SELECT cs_refresh_mviews();
DROP SCHEMA x CASCADE; -- clean up
Major points
As you are executing text with execute, you need to safeguard against SQL injection. I use the format() function for identifiers and the literal
I use the syntax SELECT (name).name to cope with your weird setup and extract the name we need right away.
Similarly, the VIEW needs to read WHERE (name).name = .. to work in this setup.
I removed a lot of noise that is irrelevant to the question.
It's also probably pointless to have the function RETURN 1. Just define the function with RETURNS void. I kept it, though, to match the question.
Untangled setup
How it probably should be:
CREATE SCHEMA x;
SET search_path = x;
CREATE TABLE canadian_parks (id serial primary key, name text);
INSERT INTO canadian_parks(name) VALUES ('canadian'), ('islandic');
SELECT * from canadian_parks;
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION cs_refresh_mviews()
RETURNS void LANGUAGE plpgsql SET search_path = x AS
$func$
DECLARE
parkname text;
BEGIN
FOR parkname IN SELECT name FROM canadian_parks LOOP
EXECUTE format('
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW %1$I AS
SELECT * FROM canadian_parks WHERE name = %2$L;
ALTER TABLE %1$I OWNER TO postgres'
, parkname || '_view', parkname);
END LOOP;
END
$func$;
SELECT cs_refresh_mviews();
DROP SCHEMA x CASCADE;

Answer 2

You've misunderstood usage of commas in assignment expression.
It turns query to array (RECORD) instead of scalar.
Use concatenation:
park_name := quote_ident(mviews.name||'_view');
query := 'CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW '||park_name||' AS SELECT * from "Canadian_Parks" where name='||quote_literal(mviews.name)||'; ALTER TABLE '||park_name||' OWNER TO postgres';