Re: wishlist for 8.4

Decibel! wrote:
> On Feb 14, 2008, at 10:06 AM, Tom Lane wrote:
>> =?UTF-8?B?UmFwaGHDq2wgSmFjcXVvdA==?= <sxpert(at)sxpert(dot)org> writes:
>>> so, I propose the use of
>>> NEW[variable_containing_the_column_name]
>>> (which can obviously be extended to any tuples)
>>> to allow such access.
>>
>>> what do you experts think ?
>>
>> Zero chance. plplgsql is a strongly typed language, and a construct
>> like that couldn't have any known-in-advance data type.
>
> Would it be reasonable to teach EXECUTE about NEW and OLD? That should
> allow the OP to do what he's looking for...

You could have a function get_attribute_as_text(NEW, 'id') or even
get_attribute_quoted(NEW, 'id')

It would be nice to have a more dynamic language built-in. I'm not aware
of any BSD-licensed dynamic languages though.

--
Richard Huxton
Archonet Ltd