On Thu, 2019-05-02 at 16:55 +0000, Mark Zellers wrote: > I thought I needed the prototype table to be able to define functions and procedures that refer to the temporary table but do not create it. > > Perhaps my assumption that I need the table to exist (whether as a temporary table or as a permanent table) in > order to define the function/procedure is incorrect. I'll take a look at that.
You don't need the table to exist at function definition time. The following works just fine, even if the table does not exist:
CREATE FUNCTION f() RETURNS void LANGUAGE plpgsql AS $$BEGIN PERFORM * FROM notexists; END;$$;
This is because functions are not parsed when they are defined.
It is not fully correct - function with queries are parsed and syntax check is done. But semantic check is deferred on run time.
Regards
Pavel
> I did find a scenario where this approach does run into trouble. That is, if the function/procedure is executed > against the permanent table and then you go to run it against a temporary table. In that case, I do get the > wrong answer, and I haven't yet figured out how to reset that without dropping the procedure and re-defining it. > For my purposes, that is "good enough" -- I can promise not to run such procedures against the temporary table.
Yes, that would cause a problem.
The SQL statement "DISCARD PLANS" should fix the problem.
