path: root/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml

<!-- doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml -->

 <chapter id="tutorial-advanced">
  <title>Advanced Features</title>

  <sect1 id="tutorial-advanced-intro">
   <title>Introduction</title>

   <para>
    In the previous chapter we have covered the basics of using
    <acronym>SQL</acronym> to store and access your data in
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.  We will now discuss some
    more advanced features of <acronym>SQL</acronym> that simplify
    management and prevent loss or corruption of your data.  Finally,
    we will look at some <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
    extensions.
   </para>

   <para>
    This chapter will on occasion refer to examples found in <xref
    linkend="tutorial-sql"> to change or improve them, so it will be
    useful to have read that chapter.  Some examples from
    this chapter can also be found in
    <filename>advanced.sql</filename> in the tutorial directory.  This
    file also contains some sample data to load, which is not
    repeated here.  (Refer to <xref linkend="tutorial-sql-intro"> for
    how to use the file.)
   </para>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="tutorial-views">
   <title>Views</title>

   <indexterm zone="tutorial-views">
    <primary>view</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    Refer back to the queries in <xref linkend="tutorial-join">.
    Suppose the combined listing of weather records and city location
    is of particular interest to your application, but you do not want
    to type the query each time you need it.  You can create a
    <firstterm>view</firstterm> over the query, which gives a name to
    the query that you can refer to like an ordinary table:

<programlisting>
CREATE VIEW myview AS
    SELECT city, temp_lo, temp_hi, prcp, date, location
        FROM weather, cities
        WHERE city = name;

SELECT * FROM myview;
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    Making liberal use of views is a key aspect of good SQL database
    design.  Views allow you to encapsulate the details of the
    structure of your tables, which might change as your application
    evolves, behind consistent interfaces.
   </para>

   <para>
    Views can be used in almost any place a real table can be used.
    Building views upon other views is not uncommon.
   </para>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="tutorial-fk">
   <title>Foreign Keys</title>

   <indexterm zone="tutorial-fk">
    <primary>foreign key</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <indexterm zone="tutorial-fk">
    <primary>referential integrity</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    Recall the <classname>weather</classname> and
    <classname>cities</classname> tables from <xref
    linkend="tutorial-sql">.  Consider the following problem:  You
    want to make sure that no one can insert rows in the
    <classname>weather</classname> table that do not have a matching
    entry in the <classname>cities</classname> table.  This is called
    maintaining the <firstterm>referential integrity</firstterm> of
    your data.  In simplistic database systems this would be
    implemented (if at all) by first looking at the
    <classname>cities</classname> table to check if a matching record
    exists, and then inserting or rejecting the new
    <classname>weather</classname> records.  This approach has a
    number of problems and is very inconvenient, so
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> can do this for you.
   </para>

   <para>
    The new declaration of the tables would look like this:

<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE cities (
        city     varchar(80) primary key,
        location point
);

CREATE TABLE weather (
        city      varchar(80) references cities(city),
        temp_lo   int,
        temp_hi   int,
        prcp      real,
        date      date
);
</programlisting>

    Now try inserting an invalid record:

<programlisting>
INSERT INTO weather VALUES ('Berkeley', 45, 53, 0.0, '1994-11-28');
</programlisting>

<screen>
ERROR:  insert or update on table "weather" violates foreign key constraint "weather_city_fkey"
DETAIL:  Key (city)=(Berkeley) is not present in table "cities".
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    The behavior of foreign keys can be finely tuned to your
    application.  We will not go beyond this simple example in this
    tutorial, but just refer you to <xref linkend="ddl">
    for more information.  Making correct use of
    foreign keys will definitely improve the quality of your database
    applications, so you are strongly encouraged to learn about them.
   </para>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="tutorial-transactions">
   <title>Transactions</title>

   <indexterm zone="tutorial-transactions">
    <primary>transaction</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    <firstterm>Transactions</> are a fundamental concept of all database
    systems.  The essential point of a transaction is that it bundles
    multiple steps into a single, all-or-nothing operation.  The intermediate
    states between the steps are not visible to other concurrent transactions,
    and if some failure occurs that prevents the transaction from completing,
    then none of the steps affect the database at all.
   </para>

   <para>
    For example, consider a bank database that contains balances for various
    customer accounts, as well as total deposit balances for branches.
    Suppose that we want to record a payment of $100.00 from Alice's account
    to Bob's account.  Simplifying outrageously, the SQL commands for this
    might look like:

<programlisting>
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100.00
    WHERE name = 'Alice';
UPDATE branches SET balance = balance - 100.00
    WHERE name = (SELECT branch_name FROM accounts WHERE name = 'Alice');
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100.00
    WHERE name = 'Bob';
UPDATE branches SET balance = balance + 100.00
    WHERE name = (SELECT branch_name FROM accounts WHERE name = 'Bob');
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    The details of these commands are not important here; the important
    point is that there are several separate updates involved to accomplish
    this rather simple operation.  Our bank's officers will want to be
    assured that either all these updates happen, or none of them happen.
    It would certainly not do for a system failure to result in Bob
    receiving $100.00 that was not debited from Alice.  Nor would Alice long
    remain a happy customer if she was debited without Bob being credited.
    We need a guarantee that if something goes wrong partway through the
    operation, none of the steps executed so far will take effect.  Grouping
    the updates into a <firstterm>transaction</> gives us this guarantee.
    A transaction is said to be <firstterm>atomic</>: from the point of
    view of other transactions, it either happens completely or not at all.
   </para>

   <para>
    We also want a
    guarantee that once a transaction is completed and acknowledged by
    the database system, it has indeed been permanently recorded
    and won't be lost even if a crash ensues shortly thereafter.
    For example, if we are recording a cash withdrawal by Bob,
    we do not want any chance that the debit to his account will
    disappear in a crash just after he walks out the bank door.
    A transactional database guarantees that all the updates made by
    a transaction are logged in permanent storage (i.e., on disk) before
    the transaction is reported complete.
   </para>

   <para>
    Another important property of transactional databases is closely
    related to the notion of atomic updates: when multiple transactions
    are running concurrently, each one should not be able to see the
    incomplete changes made by others.  For example, if one transaction
    is busy totalling all the branch balances, it would not do for it
    to include the debit from Alice's branch but not the credit to
    Bob's branch, nor vice versa.  So transactions must be all-or-nothing
    not only in terms of their permanent effect on the database, but
    also in terms of their visibility as they happen.  The updates made
    so far by an open transaction are invisible to other transactions
    until the transaction completes, whereupon all the updates become
    visible simultaneously.
   </para>

   <para>
    In <productname>PostgreSQL</>, a transaction is set up by surrounding
    the SQL commands of the transaction with
    <command>BEGIN</> and <command>COMMIT</> commands.  So our banking
    transaction would actually look like:

<programlisting>
BEGIN;
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100.00
    WHERE name = 'Alice';
-- etc etc
COMMIT;
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    If, partway through the transaction, we decide we do not want to
    commit (perhaps we just noticed that Alice's balance went negative),
    we can issue the command <command>ROLLBACK</> instead of
    <command>COMMIT</>, and all our updates so far will be canceled.
   </para>

   <para>
    <productname>PostgreSQL</> actually treats every SQL statement as being
    executed within a transaction.  If you do not issue a <command>BEGIN</>
    command,
    then each individual statement has an implicit <command>BEGIN</> and
    (if successful) <command>COMMIT</> wrapped around it.  A group of
    statements surrounded by <command>BEGIN</> and <command>COMMIT</>
    is sometimes called a <firstterm>transaction block</>.
   </para>

   <note>
    <para>
     Some client libraries issue <command>BEGIN</> and <command>COMMIT</>
     commands automatically, so that you might get the effect of transaction
     blocks without asking.  Check the documentation for the interface
     you are using.
    </para>
   </note>

   <para>
    It's possible to control the statements in a transaction in a more
    granular fashion through the use of <firstterm>savepoints</>.  Savepoints
    allow you to selectively discard parts of the transaction, while
    committing the rest.  After defining a savepoint with
    <command>SAVEPOINT</>, you can if needed roll back to the savepoint
    with <command>ROLLBACK TO</>.  All the transaction's database changes
    between defining the savepoint and rolling back to it are discarded, but
    changes earlier than the savepoint are kept.
   </para>

   <para>
    After rolling back to a savepoint, it continues to be defined, so you can
    roll back to it several times.  Conversely, if you are sure you won't need
    to roll back to a particular savepoint again, it can be released, so the
    system can free some resources.  Keep in mind that either releasing or
    rolling back to a savepoint
    will automatically release all savepoints that were defined after it.
   </para>

   <para>
    All this is happening within the transaction block, so none of it
    is visible to other database sessions.  When and if you commit the
    transaction block, the committed actions become visible as a unit
    to other sessions, while the rolled-back actions never become visible
    at all.
   </para>

   <para>
    Remembering the bank database, suppose we debit $100.00 from Alice's
    account, and credit Bob's account, only to find later that we should
    have credited Wally's account.  We could do it using savepoints like
    this:

<programlisting>
BEGIN;
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100.00
    WHERE name = 'Alice';
SAVEPOINT my_savepoint;
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100.00
    WHERE name = 'Bob';
-- oops ... forget that and use Wally's account
ROLLBACK TO my_savepoint;
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100.00
    WHERE name = 'Wally';
COMMIT;
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    This example is, of course, oversimplified, but there's a lot of control
    possible in a transaction block through the use of savepoints.
    Moreover, <command>ROLLBACK TO</> is the only way to regain control of a
    transaction block that was put in aborted state by the
    system due to an error, short of rolling it back completely and starting
    again.
   </para>

  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="tutorial-window">
   <title>Window Functions</title>

   <indexterm zone="tutorial-window">
    <primary>window function</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    A <firstterm>window function</> performs a calculation across a set of
    table rows that are somehow related to the current row.  This is comparable
    to the type of calculation that can be done with an aggregate function.
    But unlike regular aggregate functions, use of a window function does not
    cause rows to become grouped into a single output row &mdash; the
    rows retain their separate identities.  Behind the scenes, the window
    function is able to access more than just the current row of the query
    result.
   </para>

   <para>
    Here is an example that shows how to compare each employee's salary
    with the average salary in his or her department:

<programlisting>
SELECT depname, empno, salary, avg(salary) OVER (PARTITION BY depname) FROM empsalary;
</programlisting>

<screen>
  depname  | empno | salary |          avg          
-----------+-------+--------+-----------------------
 develop   |    11 |   5200 | 5020.0000000000000000
 develop   |     7 |   4200 | 5020.0000000000000000
 develop   |     9 |   4500 | 5020.0000000000000000
 develop   |     8 |   6000 | 5020.0000000000000000
 develop   |    10 |   5200 | 5020.0000000000000000
 personnel |     5 |   3500 | 3700.0000000000000000
 personnel |     2 |   3900 | 3700.0000000000000000
 sales     |     3 |   4800 | 4866.6666666666666667
 sales     |     1 |   5000 | 4866.6666666666666667
 sales     |     4 |   4800 | 4866.6666666666666667
(10 rows)
</screen>

    The first three output columns come directly from the table
    <structname>empsalary</>, and there is one output row for each row in the
    table.  The fourth column represents an average taken across all the table
    rows that have the same <structfield>depname</> value as the current row.
    (This actually is the same function as the regular <function>avg</>
    aggregate function, but the <literal>OVER</> clause causes it to be
    treated as a window function and computed across an appropriate set of
    rows.)
   </para>

   <para>
    A window function call always contains an <literal>OVER</> clause
    following the window function's name and argument(s).  This is what
    syntactically distinguishes it from a regular function or aggregate
    function.  The <literal>OVER</> clause determines exactly how the
    rows of the query are split up for processing by the window function.
    The <literal>PARTITION BY</> list within <literal>OVER</> specifies
    dividing the rows into groups, or partitions, that share the same
    values of the <literal>PARTITION BY</> expression(s).  For each row,
    the window function is computed across the rows that fall into the
    same partition as the current row.
   </para>

   <para>
    Although <function>avg</> will produce the same result no matter
    what order it processes the partition's rows in, this is not true of all
    window functions.  When needed, you can control that order using
    <literal>ORDER BY</> within <literal>OVER</>.  Here is an example:

<programlisting>
SELECT depname, empno, salary, rank() OVER (PARTITION BY depname ORDER BY salary DESC) FROM empsalary;
</programlisting>

<screen>
  depname  | empno | salary | rank 
-----------+-------+--------+------
 develop   |     8 |   6000 |    1
 develop   |    10 |   5200 |    2
 develop   |    11 |   5200 |    2
 develop   |     9 |   4500 |    4
 develop   |     7 |   4200 |    5
 personnel |     2 |   3900 |    1
 personnel |     5 |   3500 |    2
 sales     |     1 |   5000 |    1
 sales     |     4 |   4800 |    2
 sales     |     3 |   4800 |    2
(10 rows)
</screen>

    As shown here, the <function>rank</> function produces a numerical rank
    within the current row's partition for each distinct <literal>ORDER BY</>
    value, in the order defined by the <literal>ORDER BY</> clause.
    <function>rank</> needs no explicit parameter, because its behavior
    is entirely determined by the <literal>OVER</> clause.
   </para>

   <para>
    The rows considered by a window function are those of the <quote>virtual
    table</> produced by the query's <literal>FROM</> clause as filtered by its
    <literal>WHERE</>, <literal>GROUP BY</>, and <literal>HAVING</> clauses
    if any.  For example, a row removed because it does not meet the
    <literal>WHERE</> condition is not seen by any window function.
    A query can contain multiple window functions that slice up the data
    in different ways by means of different <literal>OVER</> clauses, but
    they all act on the same collection of rows defined by this virtual table.
   </para>

   <para>
    We already saw that <literal>ORDER BY</> can be omitted if the ordering
    of rows is not important.  It is also possible to omit <literal>PARTITION
    BY</>, in which case there is just one partition containing all the rows.
   </para>

   <para>
    There is another important concept associated with window functions:
    for each row, there is a set of rows within its partition called its
    <firstterm>window frame</>.  Many (but not all) window functions act only
    on the rows of the window frame, rather than of the whole partition.
    By default, if <literal>ORDER BY</> is supplied then the frame consists of
    all rows from the start of the partition up through the current row, plus
    any following rows that are equal to the current row according to the
    <literal>ORDER BY</> clause.  When <literal>ORDER BY</> is omitted the
    default frame consists of all rows in the partition.
     <footnote>
      <para>
       There are options to define the window frame in other ways, but
       this tutorial does not cover them.  See
       <xref linkend="syntax-window-functions"> for details.
      </para>
     </footnote>
    Here is an example using <function>sum</>:
   </para>

<programlisting>
SELECT salary, sum(salary) OVER () FROM empsalary;
</programlisting>

<screen>
 salary |  sum  
--------+-------
   5200 | 47100
   5000 | 47100
   3500 | 47100
   4800 | 47100
   3900 | 47100
   4200 | 47100
   4500 | 47100
   4800 | 47100
   6000 | 47100
   5200 | 47100
(10 rows)
</screen>

   <para>
    Above, since there is no <literal>ORDER BY</> in the <literal>OVER</>
    clause, the window frame is the same as the partition, which for lack of
    <literal>PARTITION BY</> is the whole table; in other words each sum is
    taken over the whole table and so we get the same result for each output
    row.  But if we add an <literal>ORDER BY</> clause, we get very different
    results:
   </para>

<programlisting>
SELECT salary, sum(salary) OVER (ORDER BY salary) FROM empsalary;
</programlisting>

<screen>
 salary |  sum  
--------+-------
   3500 |  3500
   3900 |  7400
   4200 | 11600
   4500 | 16100
   4800 | 25700
   4800 | 25700
   5000 | 30700
   5200 | 41100
   5200 | 41100
   6000 | 47100
(10 rows)
</screen>

   <para>
    Here the sum is taken from the first (lowest) salary up through the
    current one, including any duplicates of the current one (notice the
    results for the duplicated salaries).
   </para>

   <para>
    Window functions are permitted only in the <literal>SELECT</literal> list
    and the <literal>ORDER BY</> clause of the query. They are forbidden
    elsewhere, such as in <literal>GROUP BY</>, <literal>HAVING</>
    and <literal>WHERE</literal> clauses.  This is because they logically
    execute after the processing of those clauses.  Also, window functions
    execute after regular aggregate functions.  This means it is valid to
    include an aggregate function call in the arguments of a window function,
    but not vice versa.
   </para>

   <para>
    If there is a need to filter or group rows after the window calculations
    are performed, you can use a sub-select.  For example:

<programlisting>
SELECT depname, empno, salary, enroll_date
FROM
  (SELECT depname, empno, salary, enroll_date,
          rank() OVER (PARTITION BY depname ORDER BY salary DESC, empno) AS pos
     FROM empsalary
  ) AS ss
WHERE pos &lt; 3;
</programlisting>

    The above query only shows the rows from the inner query having
    <literal>rank</> less than <literal>3</>.
   </para>

   <para>
    When a query involves multiple window functions, it is possible to write
    out each one with a separate <literal>OVER</> clause, but this is
    duplicative and error-prone if the same windowing behavior is wanted
    for several functions.  Instead, each windowing behavior can be named
    in a <literal>WINDOW</> clause and then referenced in <literal>OVER</>.
    For example:

<programlisting>
SELECT sum(salary) OVER w, avg(salary) OVER w
  FROM empsalary
  WINDOW w AS (PARTITION BY depname ORDER BY salary DESC);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    More details about window functions can be found in
    <xref linkend="syntax-window-functions">,
    <xref linkend="functions-window">,
    <xref linkend="queries-window">, and the
    <xref linkend="sql-select"> reference page.
   </para>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="tutorial-inheritance">
   <title>Inheritance</title>

   <indexterm zone="tutorial-inheritance">
    <primary>inheritance</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    Inheritance is a concept from object-oriented databases.  It opens
    up interesting new possibilities of database design.
   </para>

   <para>
    Let's create two tables:  A table <classname>cities</classname>
    and a table <classname>capitals</classname>.  Naturally, capitals
    are also cities, so you want some way to show the capitals
    implicitly when you list all cities.  If you're really clever you
    might invent some scheme like this:

<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE capitals (
  name       text,
  population real,
  altitude   int,    -- (in ft)
  state      char(2)
);

CREATE TABLE non_capitals (
  name       text,
  population real,
  altitude   int     -- (in ft)
);

CREATE VIEW cities AS
  SELECT name, population, altitude FROM capitals
    UNION
  SELECT name, population, altitude FROM non_capitals;
</programlisting>

    This works OK as far as querying goes, but it gets ugly when you
    need to update several rows, for one thing.
   </para>

   <para>
    A better solution is this:

<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE cities (
  name       text,
  population real,
  altitude   int     -- (in ft)
);

CREATE TABLE capitals (
  state      char(2)
) INHERITS (cities);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    In this case, a row of <classname>capitals</classname>
    <firstterm>inherits</firstterm> all columns (<structfield>name</>,
    <structfield>population</>, and <structfield>altitude</>) from its
    <firstterm>parent</firstterm>, <classname>cities</classname>.  The
    type of the column <structfield>name</structfield> is
    <type>text</type>, a native <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
    type for variable length character strings.  State capitals have
    an extra column, <structfield>state</>, that shows their state.  In
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, a table can inherit from
    zero or more other tables.
   </para>

   <para>
    For example, the  following  query finds the  names  of  all  cities,
    including  state capitals, that are located at an altitude
    over 500 feet:

<programlisting>
SELECT name, altitude
  FROM cities
  WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
</programlisting>

    which returns:

<screen>
   name    | altitude
-----------+----------
 Las Vegas |     2174
 Mariposa  |     1953
 Madison   |      845
(3 rows)
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    On the other hand, the  following  query  finds
    all  the cities that are not state capitals and
    are situated at an altitude of 500 feet or higher:

<programlisting>
SELECT name, altitude
    FROM ONLY cities
    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
</programlisting>

<screen>
   name    | altitude
-----------+----------
 Las Vegas |     2174
 Mariposa  |     1953
(2 rows)
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    Here the <literal>ONLY</literal> before <literal>cities</literal>
    indicates that the query should be run over only the
    <classname>cities</classname> table, and not tables below
    <classname>cities</classname> in the inheritance hierarchy.  Many
    of the commands that we have already discussed &mdash;
    <command>SELECT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>, and
    <command>DELETE</command> &mdash; support this <literal>ONLY</literal>
    notation.
   </para>

   <note>
    <para>
     Although inheritance is frequently useful, it has not been integrated
     with unique constraints or foreign keys, which limits its usefulness.
     See <xref linkend="ddl-inherit"> for more detail.
    </para>
   </note>
  </sect1>


  <sect1 id="tutorial-conclusion">
   <title>Conclusion</title>

   <para>
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> has many features not
    touched upon in this tutorial introduction, which has been
    oriented toward newer users of <acronym>SQL</acronym>.  These
    features are discussed in more detail in the remainder of this
    book.
   </para>

   <para>
    If you feel you need more introductory material, please visit the PostgreSQL
    <ulink url="http://www.postgresql.org">web site</ulink>
    for links to more resources.
   </para>
  </sect1>
 </chapter>