dynamic functions

hi ,

is there any way to build "dynamic functions" in plpgsql ?

my problem is, i have a table defining attributes like

CREATE TABLE attribute.attribute (
name NAME PRIMARY KEY,
descr VARCHAR(256),
regex VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
minlen INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
maxlen INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 64
-- validate NAME // not implemented
);

and a function like

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION
attribute.match(TEXT,TEXT,BOOLEAN) RETURNS INTEGER AS '

.. check the value (against the regex etc) ..

END; ' LANGUAGE plpgsql

in some cases i would like to check the values also against a function for
example

CREATE FUNCTION attribute.check_range(TEXT) RETURNS INTEGER AS '
BEGIN
IF $1 ... THEN RETURN -1; END IF;
RETURN 0;
END; '
....

so that i can do the following in my match function

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION
attribute.match(TEXT,TEXT,BOOLEAN) RETURNS INTEGER AS '

.. check the value (against the regex etc) ..
IF attrib.validate NOT IS NULL THEN
cmd := atrib.validate || ''('' $1 '')'' ||;
-- ??
-- EXECUTE ''SELECT '' || cmd; // SELECT does not work in EXECUTE
-- ??
END IF

END; ' LANGUAGE plpgsql

is there a way to get a result back from EXECUTE ?

i hope you can understand my description of the problem
i am using postgresQL 7.4 on debian

thanx

sepp

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