Hi all.
I have a function returning setof record. The name of a table it acts on is one of its input variables, and its output
isa set of rows from that table. E.g. for simplicity, imagine it's this pointless function:
create or replace function select_all_from(table_name text)
returns setof record as $$
declare
begin
return query execute 'select * from ' || quote_ident(table_name);
end
$$ language 'plpgsql' stable;
When I now query this I have to do something like the following, with an 'as' clause specifying what is going to be
returned:
select column_a from select_all_from('some_table') as (column_a integer, column_b text);
When some_table has a lot of columns, this is a real pain. I see in the PG documentation that each table is also a type
ofits own. Thus I had hoped to be able to write the following instead:
select id from select_all_from('some_table') as some_table;
However, this is rejected ('a column definition list is required for functions returning "record"').
So -- is there some other syntax or workaround that I can use to can achieve this -- i.e. to persuade PG to accept a
tabletype in lieu of a manually-recreated column definition list?
(And if not, where might I best suggest this as a possible future enhancement?)
Many thanks for your help,
George
--
George MacKerron | +44 (0)20 7193 7369 | http://personal.lse.ac.uk/mackerro/
Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics
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