Re: Adding MERGE to the TODO list (resend with subject)

OK, DELETE added:

* Add MERGE command that does UPDATE/DELETE, or on failure,
INSERT (rules, triggers?)

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Bricklen wrote:
> Alvaro Herrera wrote:
>
> <snip>
> > Oh, I see. Complex stuff ... I wonder how will it work with sequences
> > -- if one insertion fails and we have to try again, there's a chance a
> > sequence could be advanced more than once. Note the article skips the
> > "signal-statement" symbol (is it present in SQL99? What does it do?)
> >
> > I also wonder if there will be a corresponding RULE implementation ...
> >
> > The full DB2 reference is at
> > http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2help/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.doc/admin/r0010873.htm
> >
> > (signal-statement is something to raise an exception, apparently)
> >
> > (I wonder why they don't use BNF syntax anymore ...)
> >
> Just to add to this information, Oracle 9i and 10g have also implemented
> the MERGE command. 9i offers an update/insert, whereas 10g adds a delete
> option as well, which is rather handy.
> 'Purpose', quoted from:
> http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B13789_01/server.101/b10759/statements_9016.htm#sthref7014
>
> (note, to view this link, you will need to sign up for a free OTN acct.)
>
> "Use the MERGE statement to select rows from one or more sources for
> update or insertion into one or more tables. You can specify conditions
> to determine whether to update or insert into the target tables.
>
> This statement is a convenient way to combine multiple operations. It
> lets you avoid multiple INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE DML statements.
>
> MERGE is a deterministic statement. That is, you cannot update the same
> row of the target table multiple times in the same MERGE statement."
>
> Point being, I've found the delete option very useful too, rather than
> having to do the same procedurally.
>
>
>
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