Re: SQLERRD and dump of variables

Joel,

On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 07:45:13PM +0200, Joel Jacobson wrote:
> (1) Make the detailed error message available in SPs and not only the short
> error message (SQLERRM)

Agreed. Really, all the information available via PQresultErrorField should
also be exposed in PL error handling facilities. Just exposing DETAIL as a
start seems fine, but I suggest designing with that broader goal in mind.

> When debugging errors in stored procedures, I often add an exception handler
> and print the values of declared variables to the log.
>
> Unfortunately, the original detailed error message is then lost, since the
> SQLERRM only contains the short message.

> (2) New log field showing current values of all declared variables
>
> Instead of using RAISE DEBUG or customizing error messages using exception
> handlers, such as,
> EXCEPTION WHEN deadlock_detected
> RAISE '% var_foo % var_bar %', SQLERRM, var_foo, var_bar USING ERRCODE =
> 'deadlock_detected';

In the mean time, have you considered doing something like this instead?

EXCEPTION WHEN deadlock_detected
RAISE NOTICE '% var_foo % var_bar', var_foo, var_bar;
RAISE;

The information isn't as nicely aggregated, but you don't lose any details.

> It would be very convenient if you could enable a log setting to write all
> declared variables current values directly to the CSV log, for all errors,
> to avoid the need to manually edit stored procedures to write variable
> values to the log, which also means you have to wait again for the same
> error to occur again, which might never happen if you have unlucky.

If you go for a distinct CSV field, I think it should have a tightly-specified,
machine-friendly format that all PLs populating that field must observe. If the
format is going to be ad-hoc, I'd lean toward storing it as extra material in a
CONTEXT field. Machine-friendly formatting wouldn't be a priority for me
personally, but perhaps you or others would value it.

Also keep in mind that you may have several PL/pgSQL functions in your call
stack, and you'll want to capture the local variables at each level.

> Instead of a new CSV log field, perhaps the setting when switch on could
> append the info to the already existing "hint" field?
> Example: hint: "var_foo=12345 var_bar=67890"

It would belong in CONTEXT or possibly DETAIL, not HINT. HINT is for
generally-applicable suggestions about the parent message, not additional facts
needed to fully characterize what happened.

> This would be of great help to faster track down errors.

It does sound useful. I'd envision this as plpgsql_exec_error_callback checking
a GUC and, when set, emitting the local variable values. Features like this do
usually live in a debugger facility, not in the basic error reporting
infrastructure of the language. Still, if it were in core, I'd surely use it.

Consider the potential need to avoid logging very-large variable values. The
GUC could perhaps be a size limit (0 disables the feature entirely), not a
boolean.

Thanks,
nm