Thread: Re: [GENERAL] child table doesn't inherit PRIMARY KEY?
> On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, Bruce Momjian wrote: > > > > > OK, what do people want to do with this item? Add to TODO list? > > > > Seems making a separat unique constraint would be easy to do and be of > > value to most users. > > The problem is that doing that will pretty much guarantee that we won't > be doing foreign keys to inheritance trees without changing that behavior > and we've seen people asking about adding that too. I think that this > falls into the general category of "Make inheritance make sense" (Now > there's a todo item :) ) Seriously, I think the work on how inheritance > is going to work will decide this, maybe we end up with a real inheritance > tree system and something that works like the current stuff in which case > I'd say it's probably one unique for the former and one per for the > latter. I smell TODO item. In fact, I now see a TODO item: * Unique index on base column not honored on inserts from inherited table INSERT INTO inherit_table (unique_index_col) VALUES(dup) should fail [inherit] So it seems the fact the UNIQUE doesn't apply to the new table is just a manifestion of the fact that people expect UNIQUE to span the entire inheritance tree. I will add the emails to [inherit] and mark it as resolved. -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue + Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania19026
Bruce Momjian wrote: >> On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, Bruce Momjian wrote: >I smell TODO item. In fact, I now see a TODO item: > >* Unique index on base column not honored on inserts from inheritedtable > INSERT INTO inherit_table (unique_index_col) VALUES (dup) should fail > [inherit] > >So it seems the factthe UNIQUE doesn't apply to the new table is just a >manifestion of the fact that people expect UNIQUE to span the entire>inheritance tree. I will add the emails to [inherit] and mark it as >resolved. Bruce, could you add this text to TODO.detail on the subject of inherited constraints. I first sent it on Christmas Eve, and I think most people were too busy holidaying to comment. ================================================================= Tom Lane wrote: >Hm. The short-term answer seems to be to modify the queries generated >by the RI triggers to say "ONLYfoo". I am not sure whether we >understand the semantics involved in allowing a REFERENCES target to be >taken as aninheritance tree rather than just one table, but certainly >the current implementation won't handle that correctly. May I propose these semantics as a basis for future development: 1. An inheritance hierarchy (starting at any point in a tree) should be equivalent to an updatable view of all the tables at the point of reference and below. By default, all descendant tables are combined with the ancestor for all purposes. The keyword ONLY must be used to alter this behaviour. Only inherited columns of descendant tables are visible from higher in the tree. Columns may not be dropped in descendants. If columns are added to ancestors, they must be inserted correctly in descendants so as to preserve column ordering and inheritance. If a column is dropped in an ancestor, it is dropped in all descendants. 2. Insertion into a hierarchy means insertion into the table named in the INSERT statement; updating or deletion affects whichever table(s) the affected rows are found in. Updating cannot move a row from one table to another. 3. Inheritance of a table implies inheriting all its constraints unless ONLY is used or the constraints are subsequently dropped; again, dropping operates through all descendant tables. A primary key, foreign key or unique constraint cannot be dropped or modified for a descendant. A unique index on a column is shared by all tables below the table for which it is declared. It cannot be dropped for any descendant. In other words, only NOT NULL and CHECK constraints can be dropped in descendants. In multiple inheritance, a column may inherit multiple unique indices from its several ancestors. All inherited constraints must be satisfied together (though check constraints may be dropped). 4. RI to a table implies the inclusion of all its descendants in the check. Since a referenced column may be uniquely indexed further up the hierarchy than in the table named, the check must ensure that the referenced value occurs in the right segment of the hierarchy. RI to one particular level of the hierarchy, excluding descendants, requires the use of ONLY in the constraint. 5. Dropping a table implies dropping all its descendants. 6. Changes of permissions on a table propagate to all its descendants. Permissions on descendants may be looser than those on ancestors; they may not be more restrictive. This scheme is a lot more restrictive than C++'s or Eiffel's definition of inheritance, but it seems to me to make the concept truly useful, without introducing excessive complexity. ============================================================ -- Oliver Elphick Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver PGP: 1024R/32B8FAA1: 97 EA 1D 47 72 3F 28 47 6B 7E 39 CC 56 E4 C1 47 GPG: 1024D/3E1D0C1C: CA12 09E0 E8D5 8870 5839 932A 614D 4C34 3E1D 0C1C ======================================== "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has nopity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" I John 3:17
Thanks. Done. > Bruce Momjian wrote: > >> On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, Bruce Momjian wrote: > > >I smell TODO item. In fact, I now see a TODO item: > > > >* Unique index on base column not honored on inserts from inherited table > > INSERT INTO inherit_table (unique_index_col) VALUES (dup) should fail > > [inherit] > > > >So it seems the fact the UNIQUE doesn't apply to the new table is just a > >manifestion of the fact that people expect UNIQUE to span the entire > >inheritance tree. I will add the emails to [inherit] and mark it as > >resolved. > > Bruce, could you add this text to TODO.detail on the subject of > inherited constraints. I first sent it on Christmas Eve, and I > think most people were too busy holidaying to comment. > > ================================================================= > Tom Lane wrote: > >Hm. The short-term answer seems to be to modify the queries generated > >by the RI triggers to say "ONLY foo". I am not sure whether we > >understand the semantics involved in allowing a REFERENCES target to be > >taken as an inheritance tree rather than just one table, but certainly > >the current implementation won't handle that correctly. > > May I propose these semantics as a basis for future development: > > 1. An inheritance hierarchy (starting at any point in a tree) should be > equivalent to an updatable view of all the tables at the point of > reference and below. By default, all descendant tables are combined > with the ancestor for all purposes. The keyword ONLY must be used to > alter this behaviour. Only inherited columns of descendant tables are > visible from higher in the tree. Columns may not be dropped in descendants. > If columns are added to ancestors, they must be inserted correctly in > descendants so as to preserve column ordering and inheritance. If > a column is dropped in an ancestor, it is dropped in all descendants. > > 2. Insertion into a hierarchy means insertion into the table named in > the INSERT statement; updating or deletion affects whichever table(s) > the affected rows are found in. Updating cannot move a row from one > table to another. > > 3. Inheritance of a table implies inheriting all its constraints unless > ONLY is used or the constraints are subsequently dropped; again, dropping > operates through all descendant tables. A primary key, foreign key or > unique constraint cannot be dropped or modified for a descendant. A > unique index on a column is shared by all tables below the table for > which it is declared. It cannot be dropped for any descendant. > > In other words, only NOT NULL and CHECK constraints can be dropped in > descendants. > > In multiple inheritance, a column may inherit multiple unique indices > from its several ancestors. All inherited constraints must be satisfied > together (though check constraints may be dropped). > > 4. RI to a table implies the inclusion of all its descendants in the > check. Since a referenced column may be uniquely indexed further up > the hierarchy than in the table named, the check must ensure that > the referenced value occurs in the right segment of the hierarchy. RI > to one particular level of the hierarchy, excluding descendants, requires > the use of ONLY in the constraint. > > 5. Dropping a table implies dropping all its descendants. > > 6. Changes of permissions on a table propagate to all its descendants. > Permissions on descendants may be looser than those on ancestors; they > may not be more restrictive. > > > This scheme is a lot more restrictive than C++'s or Eiffel's definition > of inheritance, but it seems to me to make the concept truly useful, > without introducing excessive complexity. > > ============================================================ > > -- > Oliver Elphick Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk > Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver > PGP: 1024R/32B8FAA1: 97 EA 1D 47 72 3F 28 47 6B 7E 39 CC 56 E4 C1 47 > GPG: 1024D/3E1D0C1C: CA12 09E0 E8D5 8870 5839 932A 614D 4C34 3E1D 0C1C > ======================================== > "If anyone has material possessions and sees his > brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the > love of God be in him?" > I John 3:17 > > > -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue + Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania19026