Re: NULL and plpgsql rows - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Bruce Momjian
Subject Re: NULL and plpgsql rows
Date
Msg-id 200702170135.l1H1Zu006201@momjian.us
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: NULL and plpgsql rows  ("Jim C. Nasby" <jim@nasby.net>)
List pgsql-hackers
Added to TODO under PL/pgSQL:
               o Allow row and record variables to be set to NULL constants,                 and allow NULL tests on
suchvariables
 
                 Because a row is not scalar, do not allow assignment                 from NULL-valued scalars.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 13, 2007 at 05:55:11PM -0500, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > 
> > Is there a TODO here?
> > 
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> > Jim Nasby wrote:
> > > On Oct 2, 2006, at 6:28 PM, Tom Lane wrote:
> > > > "Jim C. Nasby" <jim@nasby.net> writes:
> > > >> However, the test right above that means that we'll fail if the user
> > > >> tries something like "row_variable := NULL;":
> > > >
> > > > The patch you seem to have in mind would allow
> > > >     row_variable := int_variable;
> > > > to succeed if the int_variable chanced to contain NULL, which is  
> > > > surely
> > > > not very desirable.
> 
> Well, that's Tom's objection, though I'm not sure if by 'int_variable'
> he means 'internal' or 'integer'.
> 
> Personally, I think it would be useful to just allow setting a row or
> record variable to NULL as I showed it above; ie: no variables involved.
> This is something you might want to do to invalidate a row/record
> variable after taking some action (perhaps deleting a row).
> 
> You'd also think that you should be able to detect if a record variable
> is null, as you can with row.
> 
> So, I suggest:
> 
> * Allow row and record variables in plpgsql to be set to NULL
> 
>     It's not clear if it's a wise idea to allow this assignment from a
>     variable. It may be better to only allow explicitly setting them,
>     ie:
> 
>     row_variable := NULL;
> 
> * Allow testing a record variable to see if it's NULL
> 
>     Currently works for row variables, but not record variables
> -- 
> Jim Nasby                                            jim@nasby.net
> EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)

--  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>          http://momjian.us EnterpriseDB
http://www.enterprisedb.com
 + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +


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