F.38. spi

check_primary_key() and check_foreign_key() are used to check foreign key constraints. (This functionality is long since superseded by the built-in foreign key mechanism, of course, but the module is still useful as an example. This module will be removed in PostgreSQL 20.)

check_primary_key() checks the referencing table. To use, create a BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE trigger using this function on a table referencing another table. Specify as the trigger arguments: the referencing table's column name(s) which form the foreign key, the referenced table name, and the column names in the referenced table which form the primary/unique key. To handle multiple foreign keys, create a trigger for each reference.

CREATE TRIGGER mytrigger
BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON referencing_table
FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE
check_primary_key (
    'column A', 'column B',         -- referencing table columns
    'myschema."referenced table"',  -- referenced table
    '"column A"', '"column B"'      -- referenced table columns
);

check_foreign_key() checks the referenced table. To use, create a BEFORE DELETE OR UPDATE trigger using this function on a table referenced by other table(s). Specify as the trigger arguments: the number of referencing tables for which the function has to perform checking, the action if a referencing key is found ( cascade - to delete the referencing row, restrict - to abort transaction if referencing keys exist, setnull - to set referencing key fields to null), the referenced table's column names which form the primary/unique key, then the referencing table name and column names (repeated for as many referencing tables as were specified by first argument). Note that the primary/unique key columns should be marked NOT NULL and should have a unique index.

CREATE TRIGGER mytrigger
BEFORE DELETE OR UPDATE ON referenced_table
FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE
check_foreign_key (
    1,                              -- number of referencing tables
    'cascade',                      -- action
    'column A', 'column B',         -- referenced table columns
    'myschema."referencing table"', -- referencing table
    '"column A"', '"column B"'      -- referencing table columns
);

There are examples in refint.example .

autoinc() is a trigger that stores the next value of a sequence into an integer field. This has some overlap with the built-in " serial column " feature, but it is not the same: autoinc() will override attempts to substitute a different field value during inserts, and optionally it can be used to increment the field during updates, too.

To use, create a BEFORE INSERT (or optionally BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ) trigger using this function. Specify two trigger arguments: the name of the integer column to be modified, and the name of the sequence object that will supply values. (Actually, you can specify any number of pairs of such names, if you'd like to update more than one autoincrementing column.)

There is an example in autoinc.example .

insert_username() is a trigger that stores the current user's name into a text field. This can be useful for tracking who last modified a particular row within a table.

To use, create a BEFORE INSERT and/or UPDATE trigger using this function. Specify a single trigger argument: the name of the text column to be modified.

There is an example in insert_username.example .

moddatetime() is a trigger that stores the current time into a timestamp field. This can be useful for tracking the last modification time of a particular row within a table.

To use, create a BEFORE UPDATE trigger using this function. Specify a single trigger argument: the name of the column to be modified. The column must be of type timestamp or timestamp with time zone .

There is an example in moddatetime.example .