Re: Returning a RECORD, not SETOF RECORD

Michael,
Thanks for your reply on this.

>
>>CREATE FUNCTION xyz(int, int) RETURNS RECORD AS '...'
>>CREATE TABLE abc(a int, b int);
>>
>>Now I want to call my xyz function once for each row in abc and I want
>>my RECORD to be (x int, y int, z timestamptz). How do I write that
>>query? I.e. where do specify my RECORD definition? Is it possible at
>>all? Ideally I'd like to write something like this:
>>
>>SELECT xyz(a, b) AS (x int, y int, z timestamptz) FROM abc;
>>
>>but that yields a syntax error.
>>
>>
>
>What version of PostgreSQL are you using
>
The latest and greatest from CVS.

>, and could the function
>return a specific composite type instead of RECORD?
>
This is not for a specific use-case. I want to provide rich
functionality in PL/Java but I don't understand how the actual RECORD
type is determined in cases where you don't use the function in a FROM
clause where it only makes sense (to me at least) to use a function
returning SETOF RECORD.

Wouldn't it make sense to be able to define a record in the projection
part of a query, similar to what I was attempting with my SELECT? Has
this been discussed or is it just considered as not very useful?

Regards,
Thomas Hallgren