postgresql/src/backend/nodes
Alvaro Herrera 09ff76fcdb Recast "ONLY" column CHECK constraints as NO INHERIT
The original syntax wasn't universally loved, and it didn't allow its
usage in CREATE TABLE, only ALTER TABLE.  It now works everywhere, and
it also allows using ALTER TABLE ONLY to add an uninherited CHECK
constraint, per discussion.

The pg_constraint column has accordingly been renamed connoinherit.

This commit partly reverts some of the changes in
61d81bd28d, particularly some pg_dump and
psql bits, because now pg_get_constraintdef includes the necessary NO
INHERIT within the constraint definition.

Author: Nikhil Sontakke
Some tweaks by me
2012-04-20 23:56:57 -03:00
..
Makefile Remove cvs keywords from all files. 2010-09-20 22:08:53 +02:00
README Remove useless whitespace at end of lines 2010-11-23 22:34:55 +02:00
bitmapset.c Use parameterized paths to generate inner indexscans more flexibly. 2012-01-27 19:26:38 -05:00
copyfuncs.c Recast "ONLY" column CHECK constraints as NO INHERIT 2012-04-20 23:56:57 -03:00
equalfuncs.c Recast "ONLY" column CHECK constraints as NO INHERIT 2012-04-20 23:56:57 -03:00
list.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
makefuncs.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
nodeFuncs.c Code review for protransform patches. 2012-03-23 17:29:57 -04:00
nodes.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
outfuncs.c Recast "ONLY" column CHECK constraints as NO INHERIT 2012-04-20 23:56:57 -03:00
params.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
print.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
read.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
readfuncs.c Add some infrastructure for contrib/pg_stat_statements. 2012-03-27 15:17:40 -04:00
tidbitmap.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00
value.c Update copyright notices for year 2012. 2012-01-01 18:01:58 -05:00

README

src/backend/nodes/README

Node Structures
===============

Andrew Yu (11/94)

Introduction
------------

The current node structures are plain old C structures. "Inheritance" is
achieved by convention. No additional functions will be generated. Functions
that manipulate node structures reside in this directory.


FILES IN THIS DIRECTORY (src/backend/nodes/)

    General-purpose node manipulation functions:
	copyfuncs.c	- copy a node tree
	equalfuncs.c	- compare two node trees
	outfuncs.c	- convert a node tree to text representation
	readfuncs.c	- convert text representation back to a node tree
	makefuncs.c	- creator functions for some common node types
	nodeFuncs.c	- some other general-purpose manipulation functions

    Specialized manipulation functions:
	bitmapset.c	- Bitmapset support
	list.c		- generic list support
	params.c	- Param support
	tidbitmap.c	- TIDBitmap support
	value.c		- support for Value nodes

FILES IN src/include/nodes/

    Node definitions:
	nodes.h		- define node tags (NodeTag)
	primnodes.h	- primitive nodes
	parsenodes.h	- parse tree nodes
	plannodes.h	- plan tree nodes
	relation.h	- planner internal nodes
	execnodes.h	- executor nodes
	memnodes.h	- memory nodes
	pg_list.h	- generic list


Steps to Add a Node
-------------------

Suppose you wanna define a node Foo:

1. Add a tag (T_Foo) to the enum NodeTag in nodes.h.  (If you insert the
   tag in a way that moves the numbers associated with existing tags,
   you'll need to recompile the whole tree after doing this.  It doesn't
   force initdb though, because the numbers never go to disk.)
2. Add the structure definition to the appropriate include/nodes/???.h file.
   If you intend to inherit from, say a Plan node, put Plan as the first field
   of your struct definition.
3. If you intend to use copyObject, equal, nodeToString or stringToNode,
   add an appropriate function to copyfuncs.c, equalfuncs.c, outfuncs.c
   and readfuncs.c accordingly.  (Except for frequently used nodes, don't
   bother writing a creator function in makefuncs.c)  The header comments
   in those files give general rules for whether you need to add support.
4. Add cases to the functions in nodeFuncs.c as needed.  There are many
   other places you'll probably also need to teach about your new node
   type.  Best bet is to grep for references to one or two similar existing
   node types to find all the places to touch.


Historical Note
---------------

Prior to the current simple C structure definitions, the Node structures
used a pseudo-inheritance system which automatically generated creator and
accessor functions. Since every node inherited from LispValue, the whole thing
was a mess. Here's a little anecdote:

    LispValue definition -- class used to support lisp structures
    in C.  This is here because we did not want to totally rewrite
    planner and executor code which depended on lisp structures when
    we ported postgres V1 from lisp to C. -cim 4/23/90