Re: Cast for text->Integer missing in 8.3.5

Nykolyn, Andrew wrote:
> I am trying to upgrade my Postgres server from 8.2.3 to 8.3.5 and have
> found that the cast text->integer and integer->text are missing. Is
> there a reason why they are not there and how can I get them back. I
> have many stored procedures that rely on those casts

I'm right in the middle of trying to solve the same problem, myself.
I started with this link: http://code.open-bio.org/svnweb/index.cgi/biosql/revision?rev=284
But that wasn't enough. In fact, it broke some things that worked before I added the missing implicit casts. Like this,
for example:
select 123::double precision || 'abc';
ERROR: operator is not unique: double precision || unknown

So I also had to define "||(double precision, text)" and "||(text, double precision)" operators. I'm not sure how much
additional work might be needed, but here's what I have so far for adding backwards compatility for "double precision"
datatype:

CREATE FUNCTION pg_catalog.text(double precision)
RETURNS text STRICT IMMUTABLE
LANGUAGE SQL AS 'SELECT textin(float8out($1));';

CREATE CAST (double precision AS text)
WITH FUNCTION pg_catalog.text(double precision) AS IMPLICIT;

CREATE FUNCTION pg_catalog.compat_textcat(double precision, text)
RETURNS text STRICT IMMUTABLE
LANGUAGE SQL AS 'SELECT textcat(CAST($1 AS TEXT), $2);';

CREATE FUNCTION pg_catalog.compat_textcat(text, double precision)
RETURNS text STRICT IMMUTABLE
LANGUAGE SQL AS 'SELECT textcat($1, CAST($2 AS TEXT));';

CREATE OPERATOR pg_catalog.|| (
PROCEDURE = compat_textcat,
LEFTARG = double precision,
RIGHTARG = text
);

CREATE OPERATOR pg_catalog.|| (
PROCEDURE = compat_textcat,
LEFTARG = text,
RIGHTARG = double precision
);

Regards,
Aleksander