Re: joining a table whose name is stored in the primary record - Mailing list pgsql-sql
From | Andreas Kretschmer |
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Subject | Re: joining a table whose name is stored in the primary record |
Date | |
Msg-id | 20070617120646.GA29549@KanotixBox Whole thread Raw |
In response to | joining a table whose name is stored in the primary record (John Gunther <postgresql@bucksvsbytes.com>) |
Responses |
Re: joining a table whose name is stored in the primary record
(John Gunther <postgresql@bucksvsbytes.com>)
|
List | pgsql-sql |
John Gunther <postgresql@bucksvsbytes.com> schrieb: > I've tried everything I can think of here to join records when the join > table varies and is named in the primary record, but to no avail. Here's an > example with all non-essentials stripped out. > > I have 3 tables: > > create table zip ( > id serial primary key, > name text, > parent_tbl text, > parent_id int > ); > > create table city ( > id serial primary key, > name text > ); > > create table county ( > id serial primary key, > name text > ); > > The zip table has 2 records as follows: > id|name|parent_tbl|parent_id > ----------------------------- > 1 |10001|city |12 > 2 |19999|county |99 > > The possible parent tables can be many more than the two examples, city and > county. > > In a single psql statement, I want to retrieve zip records joined with the > record of their respective parents. The join id is in zip.parent_id but the > obvious issue is that the join table varies and is only found in > zip.parent_tbl. Obviously, I can select from zip, then step through the > results and select the joined data separately for each zip result. How can > I get these results in one statement? I've tried writing SQL functions and > using subqueries without success. I think I need someone to point me in the > right conceptual direction. Something like this: test=*# select * from zip;id | name | parent_tbl | parent_id ----+-------+------------+----------- 1 | 10001 | city | 12 2 | 19999 | country | 99 (2 rows) Time: 0.834 ms test=*# select * from city;id | name ----+----------12 | value 12 (1 row) Time: 0.790 ms test=*# select * from country;id | name ----+----------99 | value 99 (1 row) Now I create a function: create or replace function zip_foo(OUT out_id int, OUT out_name text, OUT out_name2 text) returns setof record as $$ declare my_rec RECORD; my_name TEXT; begin for my_rec in select id, name, parent_tbl, parent_id from zip LOOP execute 'select name from '|| my_rec.parent_tbl || ' where id = ' || my_rec.parent_id || ';' into my_name; out_id := my_rec.id; out_name := my_rec.name; out_name2 := my_name; return next; end loop; end; $$ language plpgsql; And now a test: test=*# select * from zip_foo();out_id | out_name | out_name2 --------+----------+----------- 1 | 10001 | value 12 2 | 19999 | value 99 (2 rows) HTH, Andreas -- Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect. (Linus Torvalds) "If I was god, I would recompile penguin with --enable-fly." (unknow) Kaufbach, Saxony, Germany, Europe. N 51.05082°, E 13.56889°