BUG #18138: Using limit on VALUES causes type conversion to fail. - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

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Subject BUG #18138: Using limit on VALUES causes type conversion to fail.
Date
Msg-id 18138-aa7147890c7f16a3@postgresql.org
Whole thread Raw
Responses Re: BUG #18138: Using limit on VALUES causes type conversion to fail.
List pgsql-bugs
The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      18138
Logged by:          Akash Kava
Email address:      ackava@gmail.com
PostgreSQL version: 15.4
Operating system:   alpine
Description:

Doing UPSERT is not easy and I know it is a complicated process. However,
since UPDATE has a WHERE clause, there is no way we can do conditional
INSERT.

But I was able to find a workaround, using LIMIT keyword with VALUES. I am
aware of the ON CONFLICT clause, but the issue with ON CONFLICT is, it
increases identity every time we want to update a row.

 INSERT INTO the_table(column_1, column_2)
      VALUES ($1, $2)
      LIMIT LEAST((SELECT 1 FROM the_table WHERE key_1 = $3),2)-1

Basically this is a part of a larger query I have explained here.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/77190090/85597 

This works as expected except for boolean and date fields. 

Here is the example,
https://www.db-fiddle.com/f/g4LMVToHjrbYTDXT4MB1K/2

insert into avatar(username,url,is_public)
values ('a','b', 'true');

insert into avatar(username,url)
values ('a1','b')
limit LEAST((SELECT 1 FROM avatar),2)-1;

insert into avatar(username,url,is_public)
values ('a2','b', 'true')
limit LEAST((SELECT 1 FROM avatar),2)-1;

The problem occurs when we are sending data from node-postgres library.

Is there any work around? IF this will work correctly, we will be able to
use UPSERT easily without having gaps in identity sequences.


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