Re: references/tutorial/tricks on dynamic generation of sql (& plpgsql functions) editing/coding

On 9/11/06, Ivan Sergio Borgonovo <mail(at)webthatworks(dot)it> wrote:
> I'd write a trigger that generate a function.
> This is done for performance reasons.
> The function will be called several times and it is a list of delete statement according to the content of a table.
> The content of the table will seldom change and it is linked to the creation of other tables (metadata of other tables) and I want to provide a consistent interface to the downstream developers (if any in the future) and me.
>
> Since the code inside the function is getting a bit longer than what I was used I'm getting crazy about double quotes, syntax highlight and such.
> I'm using pg 7.4 so $$ trick shouldn't work.
>
> Do you have any advice about dynamically generated functions? Starting from a good vi/kate/whatever syntax highlighter to coding tricks to make the process less painful?

Although I wrote such functions for a while, I found them to be
unmaintanable. As soon as 8.0 came out, I converted everything I had
to dollar quoting as quickly as possible. Dollar quoting literally
transformed pl/pgsql into an amazing productive langauge. I strongly
advise you to consider this against whatever objections you have to
upgrading postgresql to a recent version.

merlin