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Postgres FD Implementation
Commit c2d0ebce authored by Tom Lane's avatar Tom Lane
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Rewrite xindex.sgml for CREATE OPERATOR CLASS. catalogs.sgml finally 

contains descriptions of every single system table.  Update 'complex'
tutorial example too.
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doc/src/sgml/catalogs.sgml
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Documentation of the system catalogs, directed toward PostgreSQL developers
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$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/catalogs.sgml,v 2.49 2002/07/30 05:24:56 tgl Exp $
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<chapter id="catalogs">
......@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
DATABASE</command> inserts a row into the
<structname>pg_database</structname> catalog -- and actually
creates the database on disk.) There are some exceptions for
esoteric operations, such as adding index access methods.
especially esoteric operations, such as adding index access methods.
</para>
<table>
......@@ -180,9 +180,7 @@
</table>
<para>
More detailed documentation of most catalogs follow below. The
catalogs that relate to index access methods are explained in the
<citetitle>Programmer's Guide</citetitle>.
More detailed documentation of each catalog follows below.
</para>
</sect1>
......@@ -267,6 +265,294 @@
</sect1>
<sect1 id="catalog-pg-am">
<title>pg_am</title>
<para>
<structname>pg_am</structname> stores information about index access
methods. There is one row for each index access method supported by
the system.
</para>
<table>
<title>pg_am Columns</title>
<tgroup cols=4>
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>References</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>amname</entry>
<entry><type>name</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>name of the access method</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amowner</entry>
<entry><type>int4</type></entry>
<entry>pg_shadow.usesysid</entry>
<entry>user ID of the owner (currently not used)</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amstrategies</entry>
<entry><type>int2</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>number of operator strategies for this access method</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amsupport</entry>
<entry><type>int2</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>number of support routines for this access method</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amorderstrategy</entry>
<entry><type>int2</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>zero if the index offers no sort order, otherwise the strategy
number of the strategy operator that describes the sort order</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amcanunique</entry>
<entry><type>bool</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>does AM support unique indexes?</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amcanmulticol</entry>
<entry><type>bool</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>does AM support multicolumn indexes?</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amindexnulls</entry>
<entry><type>bool</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>does AM support NULL index entries?</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amconcurrent</entry>
<entry><type>bool</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>does AM support concurrent updates?</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amgettuple</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>next valid tuple</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>aminsert</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>insert this tuple</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>ambeginscan</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>start new scan</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amrescan</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>restart this scan</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amendscan</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>end this scan</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>ammarkpos</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>mark current scan position</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amrestrpos</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>restore marked scan position</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>ambuild</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry><quote>build new index</quote> function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>ambulkdelete</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry>bulk-delete function</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amcostestimate</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry>estimate cost of an indexscan</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
An index AM that supports multiple columns (has
<structfield>amcanmulticol</structfield> true) <emphasis>must</>
support indexing nulls in columns after the first, because the planner
will assume the index can be used for queries on just the first
column(s). For example, consider an index on (a,b) and a query
WHERE a = 4. The system will assume the index can be used to scan for
rows with a = 4, which is wrong if the index omits rows where b is null.
However it is okay to omit rows where the first indexed column is null.
(GiST currently does so.)
<structfield>amindexnulls</structfield> should be set true only if the
index AM indexes all rows, including arbitrary combinations of nulls.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="catalog-pg-amop">
<title>pg_amop</title>
<para>
<structname>pg_amop</structname> stores information about operators
associated with index access method operator classes. There is one
row for each operator that is a member of an operator class.
</para>
<table>
<title>pg_amop Columns</title>
<tgroup cols=4>
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>References</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>amopclaid</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_opclass.oid</entry>
<entry>the index opclass this entry is for</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amopstrategy</entry>
<entry><type>int2</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>operator strategy number</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amopreqcheck</entry>
<entry><type>bool</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>index hit must be rechecked</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amopopr</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_operator.oid</entry>
<entry>the operator's pg_operator OID</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="catalog-pg-amproc">
<title>pg_amproc</title>
<para>
<structname>pg_amproc</structname> stores information about support
procedures
associated with index access method operator classes. There is one
row for each support procedure belonging to an operator class.
</para>
<table>
<title>pg_amproc Columns</title>
<tgroup cols=4>
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>References</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>amopclaid</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_opclass.oid</entry>
<entry>the index opclass this entry is for</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amprocnum</entry>
<entry><type>int2</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>support procedure index</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amproc</entry>
<entry><type>regproc</type></entry>
<entry>pg_proc.oid</entry>
<entry>OID of the proc</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="catalog-pg-attrdef">
<title>pg_attrdef</title>
......@@ -1923,6 +2209,104 @@
</sect1>
<sect1 id="catalog-pg-opclass">
<title>pg_opclass</title>
<para>
<structname>pg_opclass</structname> defines
index access method operator classes. Each operator class defines
semantics for index columns of a particular datatype and a particular
index access method. Note that there can be multiple operator classes
for a given datatype/access method combination, thus supporting multiple
behaviors.
</para>
<para>
Operator classes are described at length in the
<citetitle>Programmer's Guide</citetitle>.
</para>
<table>
<title>pg_opclass Columns</title>
<tgroup cols=4>
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>References</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>opcamid</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_am.oid</entry>
<entry>index access method opclass is for</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>opcname</entry>
<entry><type>name</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>name of this opclass</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>opcnamespace</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_namespace.oid</entry>
<entry>namespace of this opclass</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>opcowner</entry>
<entry><type>int4</type></entry>
<entry>pg_shadow.usesysid</entry>
<entry>opclass owner</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>opcintype</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_type.oid</entry>
<entry>type of input data for opclass</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>opcdefault</entry>
<entry><type>bool</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>true if opclass is default for opcintype</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>opckeytype</entry>
<entry><type>oid</type></entry>
<entry>pg_type.oid</entry>
<entry>type of index data, or zero if same as opcintype</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
The majority of the information defining an operator class is actually
not in its <structname>pg_opclass</structname> row, but in the associated
rows in <structname>pg_amop</structname> and
<structname>pg_amproc</structname>. Those rows are considered to be
part of the operator class definition --- this is not unlike the way
that a relation is defined by a single <structname>pg_class</structname>
row, plus associated rows in <structname>pg_attribute</structname> and
other tables.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="catalog-pg-operator">
<title>pg_operator</title>
......
doc/src/sgml/xindex.sgml
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<!--
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/xindex.sgml,v 1.26 2002/06/21 03:25:53 momjian Exp $
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/xindex.sgml,v 1.27 2002/07/30 05:24:56 tgl Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
-->
......@@ -13,213 +13,234 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
The procedures described thus far let you define new types, new
functions, and new operators. However, we cannot yet define a
secondary index (such as a B-tree, R-tree, or hash access method)
over a new type or its operators.
</para>
<para>
Look back at
<xref linkend="EXTEND-CATALOGS">.
The right half shows the catalogs that we must modify in order to tell
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> how to use a user-defined type and/or
user-defined operators with an index (i.e., <filename>pg_am, pg_amop,
pg_amproc, pg_operator</filename> and <filename>pg_opclass</filename>).
Unfortunately, there is no simple command to do this. We will demonstrate
how to modify these catalogs through a running example: a new operator
over a new type, nor associate operators of a new type with secondary
indexes.
To do these things, we must define an <firstterm>operator class</>
for the new datatype. We will describe operator classes in the
context of a running example: a new operator
class for the B-tree access method that stores and
sorts complex numbers in ascending absolute value order.
</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> release 7.3, it was
necesssary to make manual additions to
<classname>pg_amop</>, <classname>pg_amproc</>, and
<classname>pg_opclass</> in order to create a user-defined
operator class. That approach is now deprecated in favor of
using <command>CREATE OPERATOR CLASS</>, which is a much simpler
and less error-prone way of creating the necessary catalog entries.
</para>
</note>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="xindex-am">
<title>Access Methods</title>
<title>Access Methods and Operator Classes</title>
<para>
The <classname>pg_am</classname> table contains one row for every
index access method. Support for access to regular tables is
built into <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, but all index access
methods are described in <classname>pg_am</classname>. It is possible
to add a new index access method by defining the required interface
routines and then creating a row in <classname>pg_am</classname> ---
but that is far beyond the scope of this chapter.
</para>
<para>
The routines for an index access method do not directly know anything
about the data types the access method will operate on. Instead, an
<firstterm>operator class</> identifies the set of operations that the
access method needs to be able to use to work with a particular data type.
Operator classes are so called because one thing they specify is the set
of WHERE-clause operators that can be used with an index (ie, can be
converted into an indexscan qualification). An operator class may also
specify some <firstterm>support procedures</> that are needed by the
internal operations of the index access method, but do not directly
correspond to any WHERE-clause operator that can be used with the index.
</para>
<para>
It is possible to define multiple operator classes for the same
input datatype and index access method. By doing this, multiple
sets of indexing semantics can be defined for a single datatype.
For example, a B-tree index requires a sort ordering to be defined
for each datatype it works on.
It might be useful for a complex-number datatype
to have one B-tree operator class that sorts the data by complex
absolute value, another that sorts by real part, and so on.
Typically one of the operator classes will be deemed most commonly
useful and will be marked as the default operator class for that
datatype and index access method.
</para>
<para>
The <filename>pg_am</filename> table contains one row for every
index access method. Support for the heap access method is built
into <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, but all other access
methods are described in <filename>pg_am</filename>. The schema is
shown in <xref linkend="xindex-pgam-table">.
The same operator class name
can be used for several different access methods (for example, both B-tree
and hash access methods have operator classes named
<literal>oid_ops</literal>), but each such class is an independent
entity and must be defined separately.
</para>
</sect1>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-pgam-table">
<title>Index Access Method Schema</title>
<sect1 id="xindex-strategies">
<title>Access Method Strategies</title>
<para>
The operators associated with an operator class are identified by
<quote>strategy numbers</>, which serve to identify the semantics of
each operator within the context of its operator class.
For example, B-trees impose a strict ordering on keys, lesser to greater,
and so operators like <quote>less than</> and <quote>greater than or equal
to</> are interesting with respect to a B-tree.
Because
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> allows the user to define operators,
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> cannot look at the name of an operator
(e.g., <literal>&gt;</> or <literal>&lt;</>) and tell what kind of
comparison it is. Instead, the index access method defines a set of
<quote>strategies</>, which can be thought of as generalized operators.
Each operator class shows which actual operator corresponds to each
strategy for a particular datatype and interpretation of the index
semantics.
</para>
<para>
B-tree indexes define 5 strategies, as shown in <xref
linkend="xindex-btree-strat-table">.
</para>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-btree-strat-table">
<title>B-tree Strategies</title>
<titleabbrev>B-tree</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Column</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Strategy Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>amname</entry>
<entry>name of the access method</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amowner</entry>
<entry>user ID of the owner (currently not used)</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amstrategies</entry>
<entry>number of strategies for this access method (see below)</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amsupport</entry>
<entry>number of support routines for this access method (see below)</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amorderstrategy</entry>
<entry>zero if the index offers no sort order, otherwise the strategy
number of the strategy operator that describes the sort order</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amcanunique</entry>
<entry>does AM support unique indexes?</entry>
<entry>less than</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amcanmulticol</entry>
<entry>does AM support multicolumn indexes?</entry>
<entry>less than or equal</entry>
<entry>2</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amindexnulls</entry>
<entry>does AM support NULL index entries?</entry>
<entry>equal</entry>
<entry>3</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amconcurrent</entry>
<entry>does AM support concurrent updates?</entry>
<entry>greater than or equal</entry>
<entry>4</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>amgettuple</entry>
<entry>greater than</entry>
<entry>5</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
Hash indexes express only bitwise similarity, and so they define only 1
strategy, as shown in <xref linkend="xindex-hash-strat-table">.
</para>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-hash-strat-table">
<title>Hash Strategies</title>
<titleabbrev>Hash</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>aminsert</entry>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Strategy Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>...</entry>
<entry>procedure identifiers for interface routines to the access
method. For example, regproc IDs for opening, closing, and
getting rows from the access method appear here.</entry>
<entry>equal</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</para>
<note>
<para>
An index AM that supports multiple columns (has
<structfield>amcanmulticol</structfield> true) <emphasis>must</>
support indexing nulls in columns after the first, because the planner
will assume the index can be used for queries on just the first
column(s). For example, consider an index on (a,b) and a query
WHERE a = 4. The system will assume the index can be used to scan for
rows with a = 4, which is wrong if the index omits rows where b is null.
However it is okay to omit rows where the first indexed column is null.
(GiST currently does so.)
<structfield>amindexnulls</structfield> should be set true only if the
index AM indexes all rows, including arbitrary combinations of nulls.
</para>
</note>
<para>
The <acronym>OID</acronym> of the row in
<filename>pg_am</filename> is used as a foreign key in a lot of other
tables. You do not need to add a new row to this table; all that
you are interested in is the <acronym>OID</acronym> of the access
method you want to extend:
<screen>
SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree';
oid
-----
403
(1 row)
</screen>
We will use that query in a <literal>WHERE</literal>
clause later.
R-tree indexes express rectangle-containment relationships.
They define 8 strategies, as shown in <xref linkend="xindex-rtree-strat-table">.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="xindex-strategies">
<title>Access Method Strategies</title>
<para>
The <structfield>amstrategies</structfield> column exists to standardize
comparisons across data types. For example, B-trees
impose a strict ordering on keys, lesser to greater. Since
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> allows the user to define operators,
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> cannot look at the name of an operator
(e.g., <literal>&gt;</> or <literal>&lt;</>) and tell what kind of comparison it is. In fact,
some access methods don't impose any ordering at all. For example,
R-trees express a rectangle-containment relationship,
whereas a hashed data structure expresses only bitwise similarity based
on the value of a hash function. <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
needs some consistent way of taking a qualification in your query,
looking at the operator, and then deciding if a usable index exists. This
implies that <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> needs to know, for
example, that the <literal>&lt;=</> and <literal>&gt;</> operators partition a
B-tree. <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
uses <firstterm>strategies</firstterm> to express these relationships between
operators and the way they can be used to scan indexes.
</para>
<para>
Defining a new set of strategies is beyond the scope of this
discussion, but we'll explain how B-tree strategies work because
you'll need to know that to add a new B-tree operator class. In the
<classname>pg_am</classname> table, the
<structfield>amstrategies</structfield> column sets the number of
strategies defined for this access method. For B-trees, this number
is 5. The meanings of these strategies are shown in <xref
linkend="xindex-btree-table">.
</para>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-btree-table">
<title>B-tree Strategies</title>
<titleabbrev>B-tree</titleabbrev>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-rtree-strat-table">
<title>R-tree Strategies</title>
<titleabbrev>R-tree</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Index</entry>
<entry>Strategy Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>less than</entry>
<entry>left of</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>less than or equal</entry>
<entry>left of or overlapping</entry>
<entry>2</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>equal</entry>
<entry>overlapping</entry>
<entry>3</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>greater than or equal</entry>
<entry>right of or overlapping</entry>
<entry>4</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>greater than</entry>
<entry>right of</entry>
<entry>5</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>same</entry>
<entry>6</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>contains</entry>
<entry>7</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>contained by</entry>
<entry>8</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
The idea is that you'll need to add operators corresponding to these strategies
to the <classname>pg_amop</classname> relation (see below).
The access method code can use these strategy numbers, regardless of data
type, to figure out how to partition the B-tree,
compute selectivity, and so on. Don't worry about the details of adding
operators yet; just understand that there must be a set of these
operators for <type>int2</>, <type>int4</>, <type>oid</>, and all other
data types on which a B-tree can operate.
GiST indexes are even more flexible: they do not have a fixed set of
strategies at all. Instead, the <quote>consistency</> support routine
of a particular GiST operator class interprets the strategy numbers
however it likes.
</para>
<para>
By the way, the <structfield>amorderstrategy</structfield> column
in <classname>pg_am</> tells whether
the access method supports ordered scan. Zero means it doesn't; if it
does, <structfield>amorderstrategy</structfield> is the strategy
number that corresponds to the ordering operator. For example, B-tree
has <structfield>amorderstrategy</structfield> = 1, which is its
<quote>less than</quote> strategy number.
</para>
<para>
In short, an operator class must specify a set of operators that express
each of these semantic ideas for the operator class's datatype.
</para>
</sect1>
......@@ -227,9 +248,9 @@ SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree';
<title>Access Method Support Routines</title>
<para>
Sometimes, strategies aren't enough information for the system to figure
out how to use an index. Some access methods require additional support
routines in order to work. For example, the B-tree
Strategies aren't usually enough information for the system to figure
out how to use an index. In practice, the access methods require
additional support routines in order to work. For example, the B-tree
access method must be able to compare two keys and determine whether one
is greater than, equal to, or less than the other. Similarly, the
R-tree access method must be able to compute
......@@ -240,102 +261,156 @@ SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree';
</para>
<para>
In order to manage diverse support routines consistently across all
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> access methods,
<classname>pg_am</classname> includes a column called
<structfield>amsupport</structfield>. This column records the
number of support routines used by an access method. For B-trees,
this number is one: the routine to take two keys and return -1, 0,
or +1, depending on whether the first key is less than, equal to,
or greater than the second. (Strictly speaking, this routine can
return a negative number (&lt; 0), zero, or a non-zero positive
number (&gt; 0).)
Just as with operators, the operator class identifies which specific
functions should play each of these roles for a given datatype and
semantic interpretation. The index access method specifies the set
of functions it needs, and the operator class identifies the correct
functions to use by assigning <quote>support function numbers</> to them.
</para>
<para>
The <structfield>amstrategies</structfield> entry in
<classname>pg_am</classname> is just the number of strategies
defined for the access method in question. The operators for less
than, less equal, and so on don't appear in
<classname>pg_am</classname>. Similarly,
<structfield>amsupport</structfield> is just the number of support
routines required by the access method. The actual routines are
listed elsewhere.
B-trees require a single support function, as shown in <xref
linkend="xindex-btree-support-table">.
</para>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-btree-support-table">
<title>B-tree Support Functions</title>
<titleabbrev>B-tree</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Support Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>
Compare two keys and return -1, 0,
or +1, depending on whether the first key is less than, equal to,
or greater than the second. (Actually, this routine can
return any negative int32 value (&lt; 0), zero, or any non-zero positive
int32 value (&gt; 0).)
</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
By the way, the <structfield>amorderstrategy</structfield> column tells whether
the access method supports ordered scan. Zero means it doesn't; if it
does, <structfield>amorderstrategy</structfield> is the number of the strategy
routine that corresponds to the ordering operator. For example, B-tree
has <structfield>amorderstrategy</structfield> = 1, which is its
<quote>less than</quote> strategy number.
Hash indexes likewise require one support function, as shown in <xref
linkend="xindex-hash-support-table">.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="xindex-opclass">
<title>Operator Classes</title>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-hash-support-table">
<title>Hash Support Functions</title>
<titleabbrev>Hash</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Support Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>compute the hash value for a key</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
The next table of interest is <classname>pg_opclass</classname>. This table
defines operator class names and input data types for each of the operator
classes supported by a given index access method. The same class name
can be used for several different access methods (for example, both B-tree
and hash access methods have operator classes named
<literal>oid_ops</literal>), but a separate
<filename>pg_opclass</filename> row must appear for each access method.
The OID of the <classname>pg_opclass</classname> row is
used as a foreign
key in other tables to associate specific operators and support routines
with the operator class.
R-tree indexes require three support functions,
as shown in <xref linkend="xindex-rtree-support-table">.
</para>
<para>
You need to add a row with your operator class name (for example,
<literal>complex_abs_ops</literal>) to
<classname>pg_opclass</classname>:
<programlisting>
INSERT INTO pg_opclass (opcamid, opcname, opcnamespace, opcowner, opcintype, opcdefault, opckeytype)
VALUES (
(SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree'),
'complex_abs_ops',
(SELECT oid FROM pg_namespace WHERE nspname = 'pg_catalog'),
1, -- UID of superuser is hardwired to 1 as of PG 7.3
(SELECT oid FROM pg_type WHERE typname = 'complex'),
true,
0);
SELECT oid, *
FROM pg_opclass
WHERE opcname = 'complex_abs_ops';
oid | opcamid | opcname | opcnamespace | opcowner | opcintype | opcdefault | opckeytype
--------+---------+-----------------+--------------+----------+-----------+------------+------------
277975 | 403 | complex_abs_ops | 11 | 1 | 277946 | t | 0
(1 row)
</programlisting>
Note that the OID for your <classname>pg_opclass</classname> row will
be different! Don't worry about this though. We'll get this number
from the system later just like we got the OID of the type here.
</para>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-rtree-support-table">
<title>R-tree Support Functions</title>
<titleabbrev>R-tree</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Support Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>union</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>intersection</entry>
<entry>2</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>size</entry>
<entry>3</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
The above example assumes that you want to make this new operator class the
default B-tree operator class for the <type>complex</type> data type.
If you don't, just set <structfield>opcdefault</structfield> to false instead.
<structfield>opckeytype</structfield> is not described here; it should always
be zero for B-tree operator classes.
GiST indexes require seven support functions,
as shown in <xref linkend="xindex-gist-support-table">.
</para>
<table tocentry="1" id="xindex-gist-support-table">
<title>GiST Support Functions</title>
<titleabbrev>GiST</titleabbrev>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Operation</entry>
<entry>Support Number</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>consistent</entry>
<entry>1</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>union</entry>
<entry>2</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>compress</entry>
<entry>3</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>decompress</entry>
<entry>4</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>penalty</entry>
<entry>5</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>picksplit</entry>
<entry>6</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>equal</entry>
<entry>7</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="xindex-operators">
<title>Creating the Operators and Support Routines</title>
<para>
So now we have an access method and an operator class.
We still need a set of operators. The procedure for
Now that we have seen the ideas, here is the promised example
of creating a new operator class. First, we need a set of operators.
The procedure for
defining operators was discussed in <xref linkend="xoper">.
For the <literal>complex_abs_ops</literal> operator class on B-trees,
the operators we require are:
......@@ -426,21 +501,14 @@ CREATE FUNCTION complex_abs_eq(complex, complex) RETURNS boolean
In practice, all operators defined as index access method
strategies must return type <type>boolean</type>, since they must
appear at the top level of a <literal>WHERE</> clause to be used with an index.
(On the other hand, the support function returns whatever the
particular access method expects -- in this case, a signed
integer.)
(On the other hand, support functions return whatever the
particular access method expects -- in the case of the comparison
function for B-trees, a signed integer.)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
The final routine in the file is the <quote>support routine</quote>
mentioned when we discussed the <structfield>amsupport</> column of the
<classname>pg_am</classname> table. We will use this later on. For
now, ignore it.
</para>
<para>
Now we are ready to define the operators:
......@@ -464,114 +532,111 @@ CREATE OPERATOR = (
</para>
<para>
The next step is to add entries for these operators to
the <classname>pg_amop</classname> relation. To do this,
we'll need the OIDs of the operators we just
defined. We'll look up the names of all the operators that take
two operands of type <type>complex</type>, and pick ours out:
<screen>
SELECT o.oid AS opoid, o.oprname
INTO TEMP TABLE complex_ops_tmp
FROM pg_operator o, pg_type t
WHERE o.oprleft = t.oid and o.oprright = t.oid
and t.typname = 'complex';
opoid | oprname
--------+---------
277963 | +
277970 | &lt;
277971 | &lt;=
277972 | =
277973 | &gt;=
277974 | &gt;
(6 rows)
</screen>
(Again, some of your OID numbers will almost
certainly be different.) The operators we are interested in are those
with OIDs 277970 through 277974. The values you
get will probably be different, and you should substitute them for the
values below. We will do this with a select statement.
</para>
<para>
Now we are ready to insert entries into <classname>pg_amop</classname> for
our new operator class. These entries must associate the correct
B-tree strategy numbers with each of the operators we need.
The command to insert the less-than operator looks like:
The next step is the registration of the comparison <quote>support
routine</quote> required by B-trees. The C code that implements this
is in the same file that contains the operator procedures:
<programlisting>
INSERT INTO pg_amop (amopclaid, amopstrategy, amopreqcheck, amopopr)
SELECT opcl.oid, 1, false, c.opoid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, complex_ops_tmp c
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree') AND
opcname = 'complex_abs_ops' AND
c.oprname = '&lt;';
CREATE FUNCTION complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex)
RETURNS integer
AS '<replaceable>PGROOT</replaceable>/src/tutorial/complex'
LANGUAGE C;
</programlisting>
Now do this for the other operators substituting for the <literal>1</> in the
second line above and the <literal>&lt;</> in the last line. Note the order:
<quote>less than</> is 1, <quote>less than or equal</> is 2,
<quote>equal</> is 3, <quote>greater than or equal</quote> is 4, and
<quote>greater than</quote> is 5.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="xindex-opclass">
<title>Creating the Operator Class</title>
<para>
The field <filename>amopreqcheck</filename> is not discussed here; it
should always be false for B-tree operators.
Now that we have the required operators and support routine,
we can finally create the operator class:
<programlisting>
CREATE OPERATOR CLASS complex_abs_ops
DEFAULT FOR TYPE complex USING btree AS
OPERATOR 1 < ,
OPERATOR 2 <= ,
OPERATOR 3 = ,
OPERATOR 4 >= ,
OPERATOR 5 > ,
FUNCTION 1 complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex);
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
The final step is the registration of the <quote>support routine</quote> previously
described in our discussion of <classname>pg_am</classname>. The
OID of this support routine is stored in the
<classname>pg_amproc</classname> table, keyed by the operator class
OID and the support routine number.
And we're done! (Whew.) It should now be possible to create
and use B-tree indexes on <type>complex</type> columns.
</para>
<para>
First, we need to register the function in
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> (recall that we put the
C code that implements this routine in the bottom of
the file in which we implemented the operator routines):
We could have written the operator entries more verbosely, as in
<programlisting>
CREATE FUNCTION complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex)
RETURNS integer
AS '<replaceable>PGROOT</replaceable>/src/tutorial/complex'
LANGUAGE C;
SELECT oid, proname FROM pg_proc
WHERE proname = 'complex_abs_cmp';
oid | proname
--------+-----------------
277997 | complex_abs_cmp
(1 row)
OPERATOR 1 < (complex, complex) ,
</programlisting>
but there is no need to do so when the operators take the same datatype
we are defining the operator class for.
</para>
(Again, your OID number will probably be different.)
<para>
The above example assumes that you want to make this new operator class the
default B-tree operator class for the <type>complex</type> data type.
If you don't, just leave out the word <literal>DEFAULT</>.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="xindex-opclass-features">
<title>Special Features of Operator Classes</title>
<para>
We can add the new row as follows:
There are two special features of operator classes that we have
not discussed yet, mainly because they are not very useful
with the default B-tree index access method.
</para>
<para>
Normally, declaring an operator as a member of an operator class means
that the index access method can retrieve exactly the set of rows
that satisfy a WHERE condition using the operator. For example,
<programlisting>
INSERT INTO pg_amproc (amopclaid, amprocnum, amproc)
SELECT opcl.oid, 1, p.oid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, pg_proc p
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree') AND
opcname = 'complex_abs_ops' AND
p.proname = 'complex_abs_cmp';
SELECT * FROM table WHERE integer_column < 4;
</programlisting>
can be satisfied exactly by a B-tree index on the integer column.
But there are cases where an index is useful as an inexact guide to
the matching rows. For example, if an R-tree index stores only
bounding boxes for objects, then it cannot exactly satisfy a WHERE
condition that tests overlap between nonrectangular objects such as
polygons. Yet we could use the index to find objects whose bounding
box overlaps the bounding box of the target object, and then do the
exact overlap test only on the objects found by the index. If this
scenario applies, the index is said to be <quote>lossy</> for the
operator, and we mark the <literal>OPERATOR</> clause in the
<command>CREATE OPERATOR CLASS</> command with <literal>RECHECK</>.
<literal>RECHECK</> is valid if the index is guaranteed to return
all the required tuples, plus perhaps some additional tuples, which
can be eliminated by performing the original operator comparison.
</para>
<para>
And we're done! (Whew.) It should now be possible to create
and use B-tree indexes on <type>complex</type> columns.
Consider again the situation where we are storing in the index only
the bounding box of a complex object such as a polygon. In this
case there's not much value in storing the whole polygon in the index
entry --- we may as well store just a simpler object of type
<literal>box</>. This situation is expressed by the <literal>STORAGE</>
option in <command>CREATE OPERATOR CLASS</>: we'd write something like
<programlisting>
CREATE OPERATOR CLASS polygon_ops
DEFAULT FOR TYPE polygon USING gist AS
...
STORAGE box;
</programlisting>
At present, only the GiST access method supports a
<literal>STORAGE</> type that's different from the column datatype.
The GiST <literal>compress</> and <literal>decompress</> support
routines must deal with datatype conversion when <literal>STORAGE</>
is used.
</para>
</sect1>
......
src/tutorial/complex.source
View file @ c2d0ebce
......@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@
-- use this new type.
--
--
-- Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
-- Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2002, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
-- Portions Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
--
-- $Id: complex.source,v 1.12 2002/04/17 20:57:57 tgl Exp $
-- $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/tutorial/complex.source,v 1.13 2002/07/30 05:24:56 tgl Exp $
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
......@@ -46,13 +47,14 @@ CREATE FUNCTION complex_out(opaque)
CREATE TYPE complex (
internallength = 16,
input = complex_in,
output = complex_out
output = complex_out,
alignment = double
);
-----------------------------
-- Using the new type:
-- user-defined types can be use like ordinary built-in types.
-- user-defined types can be used like ordinary built-in types.
-----------------------------
-- eg. we can use it in a schema
......@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@ CREATE TABLE test_complex (
b complex
);
-- data for user-defined type are just strings in the proper textual
-- data for user-defined types are just strings in the proper textual
-- representation.
INSERT INTO test_complex VALUES ('(1.0, 2.5)', '(4.2, 3.55 )');
......@@ -74,7 +76,7 @@ SELECT * FROM test_complex;
-- Creating an operator for the new type:
-- Let's define an add operator for complex types. Since POSTGRES
-- supports function overloading, we'll use + as the add operator.
-- (Operators can be reused with different number and types of
-- (Operator names can be reused with different numbers and types of
-- arguments.)
-----------------------------
......@@ -121,20 +123,11 @@ CREATE AGGREGATE complex_sum (
SELECT complex_sum(a) FROM test_complex;
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! --
-- YOU MAY SKIP THE SECTION BELOW ON INTERFACING WITH INDICES. YOU DON'T --
-- NEED THE FOLLOWING IF YOU DON'T USE INDICES WITH NEW DATA TYPES. --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SELECT 'READ ABOVE!' AS STOP;
-----------------------------
-- Interfacing New Types with Indices:
-- Interfacing New Types with Indexes:
-- We cannot define a secondary index (eg. a B-tree) over the new type
-- yet. We need to modify a few system catalogs to show POSTGRES how
-- to use the new type. Unfortunately, there is no simple command to
-- do this. Please bear with me.
-- yet. We need to create all the required operators and support
-- functions, then we can make the operator class.
-----------------------------
-- first, define the required operators
......@@ -170,81 +163,20 @@ CREATE OPERATOR > (
restrict = scalargtsel, join = scalargtjoinsel
);
INSERT INTO pg_opclass (opcamid, opcname, opcnamespace, opcowner, opcintype, opcdefault, opckeytype)
VALUES (
(SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree'),
'complex_abs_ops',
(SELECT oid FROM pg_namespace WHERE nspname = 'pg_catalog'),
1, -- UID of superuser is hardwired to 1 as of PG 7.3
(SELECT oid FROM pg_type WHERE typname = 'complex'),
true,
0);
SELECT oid, *
FROM pg_opclass WHERE opcname = 'complex_abs_ops';
SELECT o.oid AS opoid, o.oprname
INTO TEMP TABLE complex_ops_tmp
FROM pg_operator o, pg_type t
WHERE o.oprleft = t.oid and o.oprright = t.oid
and t.typname = 'complex';
-- make sure we have the right operators
SELECT * from complex_ops_tmp;
INSERT INTO pg_amop (amopclaid, amopstrategy, amopreqcheck, amopopr)
SELECT opcl.oid, 1, false, c.opoid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, complex_ops_tmp c
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops'
and c.oprname = '<';
INSERT INTO pg_amop (amopclaid, amopstrategy, amopreqcheck, amopopr)
SELECT opcl.oid, 2, false, c.opoid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, complex_ops_tmp c
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops'
and c.oprname = '<=';
INSERT INTO pg_amop (amopclaid, amopstrategy, amopreqcheck, amopopr)
SELECT opcl.oid, 3, false, c.opoid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, complex_ops_tmp c
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops'
and c.oprname = '=';
INSERT INTO pg_amop (amopclaid, amopstrategy, amopreqcheck, amopopr)
SELECT opcl.oid, 4, false, c.opoid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, complex_ops_tmp c
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops'
and c.oprname = '>=';
INSERT INTO pg_amop (amopclaid, amopstrategy, amopreqcheck, amopopr)
SELECT opcl.oid, 5, false, c.opoid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, complex_ops_tmp c
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops'
and c.oprname = '>';
--
-- create the support function too
CREATE FUNCTION complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex) RETURNS int4
AS '_OBJWD_/complex' LANGUAGE 'c';
SELECT oid, proname FROM pg_proc WHERE proname = 'complex_abs_cmp';
-- now we can make the operator class
CREATE OPERATOR CLASS complex_abs_ops
DEFAULT FOR TYPE complex USING btree AS
OPERATOR 1 < ,
OPERATOR 2 <= ,
OPERATOR 3 = ,
OPERATOR 4 >= ,
OPERATOR 5 > ,
FUNCTION 1 complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex);
INSERT INTO pg_amproc (amopclaid, amprocnum, amproc)
SELECT opcl.oid, 1, pro.oid
FROM pg_opclass opcl, pg_proc pro
WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops'
and proname = 'complex_abs_cmp';
-- now, we can define a btree index on complex types. First, let's populate
-- the table. Note that postgres needs many more tuples to start using the
......@@ -259,35 +191,8 @@ SELECT * from test_complex where a = '(56.0,-22.5)';
SELECT * from test_complex where a < '(56.0,-22.5)';
SELECT * from test_complex where a > '(56.0,-22.5)';
DELETE FROM pg_amop WHERE
amopclaid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_opclass WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops');
DELETE FROM pg_amproc WHERE
amopclaid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_opclass WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops');
DELETE FROM pg_opclass WHERE
opcamid = (SELECT oid FROM pg_am WHERE amname = 'btree')
and opcname = 'complex_abs_ops';
DROP FUNCTION complex_in(opaque);
-- clean up the example
DROP TABLE test_complex;
DROP TYPE complex CASCADE;
DROP FUNCTION complex_out(opaque);
DROP FUNCTION complex_add(complex, complex);
DROP FUNCTION complex_abs_lt(complex, complex);
DROP FUNCTION complex_abs_le(complex, complex);
DROP FUNCTION complex_abs_eq(complex, complex);
DROP FUNCTION complex_abs_ge(complex, complex);
DROP FUNCTION complex_abs_gt(complex, complex);
DROP FUNCTION complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex);
DROP OPERATOR + (complex, complex);
DROP OPERATOR < (complex, complex);
DROP OPERATOR <= (complex, complex);
DROP OPERATOR = (complex, complex);
DROP OPERATOR >= (complex, complex);
DROP OPERATOR > (complex, complex);
DROP AGGREGATE complex_sum (complex);
DROP TYPE complex;
DROP TABLE test_complex, complex_ops_tmp;
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