demo:
CREATE TABLE gtest20a (a int PRIMARY KEY, b int GENERATED ALWAYS AS (a * 2) VIRTUAL);
ALTER TABLE gtest20a ADD COLUMN c float8 DEFAULT RANDOM() CHECK (b < 60);
ERROR: no generation expression found for column number 2 of table "pg_temp_17306"
In ATRewriteTable, the variable OIDNewHeap (if valid) corresponding
pg_attrdef default expression entry was not populated. So OIDNewHeap
cannot be used to call expand_generated_columns_in_expr or
build_generation_expression. Therefore in ATRewriteTable, we can only
use the existing relation to expand the generated expression.
Author: jian he <jian.universality@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Srinath Reddy <srinath2133@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/CACJufxEJ%3DFoajabWXjszo_yrQeKSxdZ87KJqBW373rSbajKGAA%40mail.gmail.com
Commit 83ea6c540 added support for virtual generated columns that are
computed on read. All Var nodes in the query that reference virtual
generated columns must be replaced with the corresponding generation
expressions. Currently, this replacement occurs in the rewriter.
However, this approach has several issues. If a Var referencing a
virtual generated column has any varnullingrels, those varnullingrels
need to be propagated into the generation expression. Failing to do
so can lead to "wrong varnullingrels" errors and improper outer-join
removal.
Additionally, if such a Var comes from the nullable side of an outer
join, we may need to wrap the generation expression in a
PlaceHolderVar to ensure that it is evaluated at the right place and
hence is forced to null when the outer join should do so. In certain
cases, such as when the query uses grouping sets, we also need a
PlaceHolderVar for anything that is not a simple Var to isolate
subexpressions. Failure to do so can result in incorrect results.
To fix these issues, this patch expands the virtual generated columns
in the planner rather than in the rewriter, and leverages the
pullup_replace_vars architecture to avoid code duplication. The
generation expressions will be correctly marked with nullingrel bits
and wrapped in PlaceHolderVars when needed by the pullup_replace_vars
callback function. This requires handling the OLD/NEW RETURNING list
Vars in pullup_replace_vars_callback, as it may now deal with Vars
referencing the result relation instead of a subquery.
The "wrong varnullingrels" error was reported by Alexander Lakhin.
The incorrect result issue and the improper outer-join removal issue
were reported by Richard Guo.
Author: Richard Guo <guofenglinux@gmail.com>
Author: Dean Rasheed <dean.a.rasheed@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Jian He <jian.universality@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/75eb1a6f-d59f-42e6-8a78-124ee808cda7@gmail.com
This adds a new variant of generated columns that are computed on read
(like a view, unlike the existing stored generated columns, which are
computed on write, like a materialized view).
The syntax for the column definition is
... GENERATED ALWAYS AS (...) VIRTUAL
and VIRTUAL is also optional. VIRTUAL is the default rather than
STORED to match various other SQL products. (The SQL standard makes
no specification about this, but it also doesn't know about VIRTUAL or
STORED.) (Also, virtual views are the default, rather than
materialized views.)
Virtual generated columns are stored in tuples as null values. (A
very early version of this patch had the ambition to not store them at
all. But so much stuff breaks or gets confused if you have tuples
where a column in the middle is completely missing. This is a
compromise, and it still saves space over being forced to use stored
generated columns. If we ever find a way to improve this, a bit of
pg_upgrade cleverness could allow for upgrades to a newer scheme.)
The capabilities and restrictions of virtual generated columns are
mostly the same as for stored generated columns. In some cases, this
patch keeps virtual generated columns more restricted than they might
technically need to be, to keep the two kinds consistent. Some of
that could maybe be relaxed later after separate careful
considerations.
Some functionality that is currently not supported, but could possibly
be added as incremental features, some easier than others:
- index on or using a virtual column
- hence also no unique constraints on virtual columns
- extended statistics on virtual columns
- foreign-key constraints on virtual columns
- not-null constraints on virtual columns (check constraints are supported)
- ALTER TABLE / DROP EXPRESSION
- virtual column cannot have domain type
- virtual columns are not supported in logical replication
The tests in generated_virtual.sql have been copied over from
generated_stored.sql with the keyword replaced. This way we can make
sure the behavior is mostly aligned, and the differences can be
visible. Some tests for currently not supported features are
currently commented out.
Reviewed-by: Jian He <jian.universality@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Dean Rasheed <dean.a.rasheed@gmail.com>
Tested-by: Shlok Kyal <shlok.kyal.oss@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/a368248e-69e4-40be-9c07-6c3b5880b0a6@eisentraut.org
