I have been thinking about this for a while. Now that we have a 
practical methodology for returning full rows from functions, we could 
make this sort of thing pretty "easily."

How should it look? How much work is worth putting into it?

My thinking is that there is a module in contrib or something that 
enables this.
The foreign DB link module should be able to load external DB drivers, 
this way anyone can add a new DB to the system.
We should start with DBF files, ODBC, and of course, PostgreSQL.

Does it need to look like a table or can we get away with it being a 
function?

If we make it a function that's easier.

Any thoughts?


Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:08:24 -0400
mlw <pgsql@mohawksoft.com>
Foreign Database Connectivity
mlw <pgsql@mohawksoft.com> writes:
> Any thoughts?

See previous discussion of SQL-MED standard.  I'd prefer to see us try
to implement a standard than invent something off-the-cuff ...

			regards, tom lane


Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:19:40 -0400
Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Re: Foreign Database Connectivity 


> I have been thinking about this for a while. Now that we have a
> practical methodology for returning full rows from functions, we could
> make this sort of thing pretty "easily."

Does postgres now support returning multiple rows / tuples from a stored
procedure / function?


Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:04:56 -0400
"Rob Butler" <robert.butler5@verizon.net>
Re: Foreign Database Connectivity
Tom Lane wrote:

>mlw <pgsql@mohawksoft.com> writes:
>  
>
>>Any thoughts?
>>    
>>
>
>See previous discussion of SQL-MED standard.  I'd prefer to see us try
>to implement a standard than invent something off-the-cuff ...
>
>  
>
Does anyone implement this? I have never seen it before. What about 
Oracle's Create database link syntax?


Tue, 15 Apr 2003 22:08:32 -0400
mlw <pgsql@mohawksoft.com>
Re: Foreign Database Connectivity
On Tue, 2003-04-15 at 20:04, Rob Butler wrote:
> Does postgres now support returning multiple rows / tuples from a stored
> procedure / function?

Yes (since PostgreSQL 7.3).

Cheers,

Neil


15 Apr 2003 23:25:04 -0400
Neil Conway <neilc@samurai.com>
Re: Foreign Database Connectivity
mlw <pgsql@mohawksoft.com> writes:
> Tom Lane wrote:
>> See previous discussion of SQL-MED standard.  I'd prefer to see us try
>> to implement a standard than invent something off-the-cuff ...

> Does anyone implement this?

Couldn't say.  It's a relatively new standard.  That hasn't stopped us
from implementing SQL99 stuff though, nor in some cases SQL200x stuff
that the ink is still wet on...

> What about Oracle's Create database link syntax?

What about it?  Does anyone beside Oracle support it?  Can we implement
it without running afoul of Oracle patents?  Quite honestly, I'm afraid
to base any feature on "this is how Oracle does it", first because it's
foolish to shoot at a target that the competition can move at will, and
second because I know that sooner or later they are going to be looking
for ways to nail us for patent infringement.

			regards, tom lane


Wed, 16 Apr 2003 01:57:19 -0400
Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Re: Foreign Database Connectivity 