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$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_type.sgml,v 1.23 2001/09/13 19:05:29 petere Exp $
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<refentry id="SQL-CREATETYPE">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="sql-createtype-title">
   CREATE TYPE
  </refentrytitle>
  <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>
   CREATE TYPE
  </refname>
  <refpurpose>
   define a new data type
  </refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <refsynopsisdivinfo>
   <date>1999-07-20</date>
  </refsynopsisdivinfo>
  <synopsis>
CREATE TYPE <replaceable class="parameter">typename</replaceable> ( INPUT = <replaceable class="parameter">input_function</replaceable>, OUTPUT = <replaceable class="parameter">output_function</replaceable>
      , INTERNALLENGTH = { <replaceable
      class="parameter">internallength</replaceable> | VARIABLE }
    [ , EXTERNALLENGTH = { <replaceable class="parameter">externallength</replaceable> | VARIABLE } ]
    [ , DEFAULT = "<replaceable class="parameter">default</replaceable>" ]
    [ , ELEMENT = <replaceable class="parameter">element</replaceable> ] [ , DELIMITER = <replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable> ]
    [ , SEND = <replaceable class="parameter">send_function</replaceable> ] [ , RECEIVE = <replaceable class="parameter">receive_function</replaceable> ]
    [ , PASSEDBYVALUE ]
    [ , ALIGNMENT = <replaceable class="parameter">alignment</replaceable> ]
    [ , STORAGE = <replaceable class="parameter">storage</replaceable> ]
)
  </synopsis>
  
  <refsect2 id="R2-SQL-CREATETYPE-1">
   <refsect2info>
    <date>1998-09-21</date>
   </refsect2info>
   <title>
    Inputs
   </title>
   <para>

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">typename</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The name of a type to be created.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">internallength</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	A literal value, which specifies the internal length of
	the new type.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">externallength</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	A literal value, which specifies the external (displayed) length of
	the new type.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">input_function</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The name of a function, created by
	<command>CREATE FUNCTION</command>, which
	converts data from its external form to the type's
	internal form.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">output_function</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The name of a function, created by
	<command>CREATE FUNCTION</command>, which
	converts data from its internal form to a form suitable
	for display.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">element</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The type being created is an array; this specifies
	the type of the array elements.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The delimiter character for the array elements.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">default</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The default value for the data type.  Usually this is omitted,
	so that the default is NULL.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">send_function</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The name of a function, created by <command>CREATE FUNCTION</command>, which
	converts data of this type into a form suitable for
	transmission to another machine.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">receive_function</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The name of a function, created by <command>CREATE FUNCTION</command>, which
	converts data of this type from a form suitable for
	transmission from another machine to internal form.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">alignment</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Storage alignment requirement of the data type.  If specified, must
	be <literal>char</literal>, <literal>int2</literal>,
	<literal>int4</literal>, or <literal>double</literal>;
	the default is <literal>int4</literal>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">storage</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Storage technique for the data type.  If specified, must
	be <literal>plain</literal>, <literal>external</literal>,
	<literal>extended</literal>, or <literal>main</literal>;
	the default is <literal>plain</literal>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="R2-SQL-CREATETYPE-2">
   <refsect2info>
    <date>1998-09-21</date>
   </refsect2info>
   <title>
    Outputs
   </title>
   <para>

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><computeroutput>
CREATE
       </computeroutput></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Message returned if the type is successfully created.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1 id="R1-SQL-CREATETYPE-1">
  <refsect1info>
   <date>1998-09-21</date>
  </refsect1info>
  <title>
   Description
  </title>

  <para>
   <command>CREATE TYPE</command>  allows  the user to register a new user data
   type with PostgreSQL for use in the current data base.   The
   user  who  defines  a type becomes its owner.
   <replaceable class="parameter">typename</replaceable> is
   the name of the new type and must  be  unique  within  the
   types defined for this database.
  </para>

  <para>
   <command>CREATE TYPE</command>  requires  the  registration of two functions
   (using create function) before defining the type.   The
   representation  of  a  new  base  type  is  determined  by
   <replaceable class="parameter">input_function</replaceable>, which
   converts the type's external  representation  to  an  internal
   representation  usable by the
   operators and functions defined for the type.   Naturally,
   <replaceable class="parameter">output_function</replaceable>
   performs the reverse transformation.  Both
   the input and output functions must be  declared  to  take
   one or two arguments of type <type>opaque</type>.
  </para>

  <para>
   New  base  data  types  can be fixed length, in which case
   <replaceable class="parameter">internallength</replaceable> is a
   positive integer, or variable  length,
   in  which  case PostgreSQL assumes that the new type has the
   same format
   as the PostgreSQL-supplied  data  type, <type>text</type>.
   To  indicate that a type is variable length, set
   <replaceable class="parameter">internallength</replaceable>
   to <option>VARIABLE</option>.
   The external representation is  similarly specified using the
   <replaceable class="parameter">externallength</replaceable>
   keyword.
  </para>

  <para>
   To indicate that a type is an array and to indicate that a
   type has array elements, indicate the type  of  the  array
   element using the element keyword.  For example, to define
   an array of 4-byte integers ("int4"), specify
   <programlisting>ELEMENT = int4</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   To indicate the delimiter to be used  on  arrays  of  this
   type,  <replaceable class="parameter">delimiter</replaceable>
   can be
   set to a specific character.  The default delimiter is the comma
   ("<literal>,</literal>").
  </para>

  <para>
   A default value is optionally available  in  case  a  user
   wants  some  specific  bit  pattern to mean <quote>data not present</quote>.
   Specify the default with the <literal>DEFAULT</literal> keyword.
   <comment>How does the user specify that bit pattern and associate
    it with the fact that the data is not present></comment>
  </para>

  <para>
   The optional arguments
   <replaceable class="parameter">send_function</replaceable> and
   <replaceable class="parameter">receive_function</replaceable>
   are  used when the application program requesting PostgreSQL
   services resides on a different machine.   In  this  case,
   the  machine  on  which  PostgreSQL runs may use a format for the data
   type different from that used on the remote  machine.
   In  this case it is appropriate to convert data items to a
   standard form when sending from the server to  the  client
   and  converting  from  the  standard format to the machine
   specific format when the server receives the data from the
   client.   If these functions are not specified, then it is
   assumed that the internal format of the type is acceptable
   on  all relevant machine architectures.  For example, single
   characters do not have to be converted if passed  from
   a Sun-4 to a DECstation, but many other types do.
  </para>

  <para>
   The  optional flag,  <option>PASSEDBYVALUE</option>, indicates that operators
   and functions which use this data type should be passed an
   argument  by  value  rather  than by reference.  Note that you
   may not pass by value types whose internal representation is 
   more than four bytes.
  </para>

  <para>
   The <replaceable class="parameter">storage</replaceable> keyword
   allows selection of storage strategies for variable-length data types
   (only <literal>plain</literal> is allowed for fixed-length types).
   <literal>plain</literal> disables TOAST for the data type: it will always
   be stored in-line and not compressed.
   <literal>extended</literal> gives full TOAST capability: the system will
   first try to compress a long data value, and will move the value out of
   the main table row if it's still too long.
   <literal>external</literal> allows the value to be moved out of the main
   table, but the system will not try to compress it.
   <literal>main</literal> allows compression, but discourages moving the
   value out of the main table.  (Data items with this storage method may
   still be moved out of the main table if there is no other way to make
   a row fit, but they will be kept in the main table preferentially over
   <literal>extended</literal> and <literal>external</literal> items.)
  </para>

  <para>
   For new base types, a user can define operators, functions
   and aggregates using the appropriate facilities  described
   in this section.
  </para>

  <refsect2>
   <title>Array Types</title>
   <para>
    Two   generalized   built-in   functions,   array_in   and
    array_out, exist for  quick  creation  of  variable-length
    array  types.   These  functions  operate on arrays of any
    existing PostgreSQL type.
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="SQL-CREATETYPE-notes">
  <title>Notes</title>

   <para>
    Type names cannot begin with the underscore character
    (<quote><literal>_</literal></quote>) and can only be 31
    characters long.  This is because PostgreSQL silently creates an
    array type for each base type with a name consisting of the base
    type's name prepended with an underscore.
   </para>
 </refsect1>
 
 <refsect1>
  <title>Examples</title>
  <para>
   This command creates the <type>box</type> data type and then uses the
   type in a table definition:
<programlisting>
CREATE TYPE box (INTERNALLENGTH = 8,
    INPUT = my_procedure_1, OUTPUT = my_procedure_2);
CREATE TABLE myboxes (id INT4, description box);
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   This command creates a variable length array type with
   <type>integer</type> elements:

<programlisting>
CREATE TYPE int4array (INPUT = array_in, OUTPUT = array_out,
    INTERNALLENGTH = VARIABLE, ELEMENT = int4);
CREATE TABLE myarrays (id int4, numbers int4array);
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   This command creates a large object type and uses it in
   a table definition:

<programlisting>
CREATE TYPE bigobj (INPUT = lo_filein, OUTPUT = lo_fileout,
    INTERNALLENGTH = VARIABLE);
CREATE TABLE big_objs (id int4, obj bigobj);
</programlisting>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="SQL-CREATETYPE-compatibility">
  <title>Compatibility</title>

  <para>
   This <command>CREATE TYPE</command> command is a
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.  There is a
   <command>CREATE TYPE</command> statement in SQL99 that is rather
   different in detail.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="SQL-CREATETYPE-see-also">
  <title>See Also</title>

  <simplelist type="inline">
   <member><xref linkend="sql-createfunction"></member>
   <member><xref linkend="sql-droptype"></member>
   <member><citetitle>PostgreSQL Programmer's Guide</citetitle></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>


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