Re: Regarding multiple result set in query tool

Hi

On Wed, 24 Sept 2025 at 13:43, Aditya Toshniwal <
aditya(dot)toshniwal(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> wrote:

> Hi Dave/Hackers,
>
> I'm working on a feature where the query tool will show separate data
> output for all the select statements run in a single batch. psycopg does
> provide the result sets (as libpq provides) but there is a catch. Let me
> explain how pgAdmin currently works:
> 1. psycopg provides a cursor object on query execution.
> 2. The cursor object has a function called nextset which can be used to
> move to the next result set of queries executed.
> 3. Once you move to the nextset, you cannot get data for the previous set.
> It will only point to the current set.
> 4. Right now, we keep on looping through nextset until it reaches the last
> set and then fetch the data from the last set (using pagination).
> 5. The fetched result is stored in client memory (python process)
>
> So if we need to show the output of all the queries, we'll have to
> fetch the result for each query and store it in python memory before moving
> to the next set.
> psycopg already stores the data on the client side, the only difference
> will be that we'll store all sets and not just the last one.
>

That seems like it's potentially problematic with large result sets, and
workarounds would likely lead to potentially confusing behaviour for end
users (which I really don't like the sound of).

>
> If any one has any suggestions on memory management then please let me
> know.
> Otherwise, I'm proceeding with what is discussed above.
>

I don't have any suggestions regarding memory management here, but I do
wonder if this is something which warrants an enhancement to psycopg, to
allow random access to the result sets. At a quick glance, it looks like
BaseCursor._results is a simple list of PGresult objects, which could be
easily exposed of course. What I haven't checked is whether any witchcraft
happens that would make random access to those objects problematic.

--
Dave Page
pgAdmin: https://www.pgadmin.org
PostgreSQL: https://www.postgresql.org
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