Thread: FK column doesn't exist error message could use more detail

create table a(a_id serial primary key, a int);
create table b(b_id serial primary key, a_id int not null references a 
(id), b int, c_id int not null references c(id));
NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE will create implicit sequence "b_id_seq" for  
serial column "b.b_id"
NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index  
"b_pkey" for table "b"
ERROR:  column "id" referenced in foreign key constraint does not exist

How can I tell which FK constraint that's for? Could we have backend/ 
tablecmds.c:transformColumnNameList() report the constraint name?  
Though, that wouldn't be quite enough if you did:

CREATE TABLE a(a_id ...)
CREATE TABLE b(.., a_id int not null, foreign key(id) references a(id))

Handling that would require passing something into  
transformColumnNameList() to tell it if it was checking fk_attrs vs  
pk_attrs. Perhaps that's overkill... Thoughts?
-- 
Decibel!, aka Jim C. Nasby, Database Architect  decibel@decibel.org
Give your computer some brain candy! www.distributed.net Team #1828

decibel <decibel@decibel.org> writes:
> How can I tell which FK constraint that's for? Could we have backend/ 
> tablecmds.c:transformColumnNameList() report the constraint name?  

If it has a name at all, the name was probably made up from the given
column names, so this seems a mite useless.

At some point we might get around to propagating error cursor
positioning ability into utility commands, but don't hold your breath...
        regards, tom lane