58.2. Creating Custom Scan Plans

A custom scan is represented in a finished plan tree using the following structure:

typedef struct CustomScan
{
    Scan      scan;
    uint32    flags;
    List     *custom_plans;
    List     *custom_exprs;
    List     *custom_private;
    List     *custom_scan_tlist;
    Bitmapset *custom_relids;
    const CustomScanMethods *methods;
} CustomScan;

scan must be initialized as for any other scan, including estimated costs, target lists, qualifications, and so on. flags is a bit mask with the same meaning as in CustomPath . custom_plans can be used to store child Plan nodes. custom_exprs should be used to store expression trees that will need to be fixed up by setrefs.c and subselect.c , while custom_private should be used to store other private data that is only used by the custom scan provider itself. custom_scan_tlist can be NIL when scanning a base relation, indicating that the custom scan returns scan tuples that match the base relation's row type. Otherwise it is a target list describing the actual scan tuples. custom_scan_tlist must be provided for joins, and could be provided for scans if the custom scan provider can compute some non-Var expressions. custom_relids is set by the core code to the set of relations (range table indexes) that this scan node handles; except when this scan is replacing a join, it will have only one member. methods must point to a (usually statically allocated) object implementing the required custom scan methods, which are further detailed below.

When a CustomScan scans a single relation, scan.scanrelid must be the range table index of the table to be scanned. When it replaces a join, scan.scanrelid should be zero.

Plan trees must be able to be duplicated using copyObject , so all the data stored within the " custom " fields must consist of nodes that that function can handle. Furthermore, custom scan providers cannot substitute a larger structure that embeds a CustomScan for the structure itself, as would be possible for a CustomPath or CustomScanState .

Node *(*CreateCustomScanState) (CustomScan *cscan);