hi michael,
>> (1) does pgsql have/plan an equivalent of Oracle's External Tables?
>> <http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oracle9i/daily/sept19.html>
>
> "The External Table feature allows for flat files, which reside
> outside the database, to be accessed just like relational tables
> within the database: the flat-file data can be queried and joined
> to other tables using standard SQL."
>
> You can implement this with a set-returning function that reads an
> external source (flat file, spreadsheet, other kind of database,
> etc.). See for example DBI-link:
>
> http://pgfoundry.org/projects/dbi-link
cool. great place to start learning ...
> With views and rules you might be able to implement update/delete
> operations as well, although you wouldn't get transaction semantics.
baby steps for me. i'd be happy 4 now with update/delete ... and worry abt the
rest as needed later ...
thx!
richard