Thread: plpgsql vs. SQL in stored procedures

Is there a way to declare variables and use IF in plain SQL, not in
plpgsql inside stored procedures?

mail@webthatworks.it (Ivan Sergio Borgonovo) wrote:
> Is there a way to declare variables and use IF in plain SQL, not in
> plpgsql inside stored procedures?

The forthcoming support for recursive queries using a WITH clause
might provide, after a fashion, a way to declare variables.

As for IF, there is a functional equivalent to it in the form of the
SQL standard CASE statement.
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On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 03:31:01 -0500
Christopher Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org> wrote:

> The forthcoming support for recursive queries using a WITH clause
> might provide, after a fashion, a way to declare variables.

I think I'll have to work with pg 7.3
Does this translate to: you won't be able to use variables?

I was used to do stuff like this with MS SQL

create proc sp_getuid @uid uniqueidentifier
as   delete from auth where lapse<dateadd(mi,-25,getdate())   declare @R_ID int
   set @R_ID=(select R_ID from auth where       lapse>dateadd(mi,-10,getdate())       and A_ID=@uid)   if (@R_ID is
null)  begin       delete from auth where A_ID=@uid       select null as R_ID   end   else   begin       update auth
setlapse=getdate() where A_ID=@uid       select @R_ID as R_ID   end
 

Does it mean that to have variables in SP I'll have to use plpgsql
in spite of plain SQL?

> As for IF, there is a functional equivalent to it in the form of the
> SQL standard CASE statement.

TY for the refreshing pointer. I was looking in the wrong place.

On Wednesday 31 March 2004 12:07, Ivan Sergio Borgonovo wrote:
>
> I was used to do stuff like this with MS SQL
>
> create proc sp_getuid @uid uniqueidentifier
[snip]
> Does it mean that to have variables in SP I'll have to use plpgsql
> in spite of plain SQL?

Yep - just like there you were using transact-sql (if I remember its name 
correctly) rather than sql.

The syntax is different (plpgsql bares a startling resemblance to the Oracle 
approach), the purpose of each is the same.
--  Richard Huxton Archonet Ltd