13.3.1. Implementation of Views in PostgreSQL

Views in PostgreSQL are implemented using the rule system. In fact there is essentially no difference between

CREATE VIEW myview AS SELECT * FROM mytab;

compared against the two commands

CREATE TABLE myview (same attribute list as for mytab);
CREATE RULE "_RETURN" AS ON SELECT TO myview DO INSTEAD
    SELECT * FROM mytab;

because this is exactly what the CREATE VIEW command does internally. This has some side effects. One of them is that the information about a view in the PostgreSQL system catalogs is exactly the same as it is for a table. So for the query parser, there is absolutely no difference between a table and a view. They are the same thing - relations. That is the important one for now.

13.3.2. How SELECT Rules Work

Rules ON SELECT are applied to all queries as the last step, even if the command given is an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE. And they have different semantics from the others in that they modify the parse tree in place instead of creating a new one. So SELECT rules are described first.

Currently, there can be only one action in an ON SELECT rule, and it must be an unconditional SELECT action that is INSTEAD. This restriction was required to make rules safe enough to open them for ordinary users and it restricts rules ON SELECT to real view rules.

The examples for this document are two join views that do some calculations and some more views using them in turn. One of the two first views is customized later by adding rules for INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE operations so that the final result will be a view that behaves like a real table with some magic functionality. It is not such a simple example to start from and this makes things harder to get into. But it's better to have one example that covers all the points discussed step by step rather than having many different ones that might mix up in mind.

The database needed to play with the examples is named al_bundy. You'll see soon why this is the database name. And it needs the procedural language PL/pgSQL installed, because we need a little min() function returning the lower of 2 integer values. We create that as

CREATE FUNCTION min(integer, integer) RETURNS integer AS '
    BEGIN
        IF $1 < $2 THEN
            RETURN $1;
        END IF;
        RETURN $2;
    END;
' LANGUAGE plpgsql;

The real tables we need in the first two rule system descriptions are these:

CREATE TABLE shoe_data (
    shoename   char(10),      -- primary key
    sh_avail   integer,       -- available # of pairs
    slcolor    char(10),      -- preferred shoelace color
    slminlen   float,         -- miminum shoelace length
    slmaxlen   float,         -- maximum shoelace length
    slunit     char(8)        -- length unit
);

CREATE TABLE shoelace_data (
    sl_name    char(10),      -- primary key
    sl_avail   integer,       -- available # of pairs
    sl_color   char(10),      -- shoelace color
    sl_len     float,         -- shoelace length
    sl_unit    char(8)        -- length unit
);

CREATE TABLE unit (
    un_name    char(8),       -- the primary key
    un_fact    float          -- factor to transform to cm
);

I think most of us wear shoes and can realize that this is really useful data. Well there are shoes out in the world that don't require shoelaces, but this doesn't make Al's life easier and so we ignore it.

The views are created as

CREATE VIEW shoe AS
    SELECT sh.shoename,
           sh.sh_avail,
           sh.slcolor,
           sh.slminlen,
           sh.slminlen * un.un_fact AS slminlen_cm,
           sh.slmaxlen,
           sh.slmaxlen * un.un_fact AS slmaxlen_cm,
           sh.slunit
      FROM shoe_data sh, unit un
     WHERE sh.slunit = un.un_name;

CREATE VIEW shoelace AS
    SELECT s.sl_name,
           s.sl_avail,
           s.sl_color,
           s.sl_len,
           s.sl_unit,
           s.sl_len * u.un_fact AS sl_len_cm
      FROM shoelace_data s, unit u
     WHERE s.sl_unit = u.un_name;

CREATE VIEW shoe_ready AS
    SELECT rsh.shoename,
           rsh.sh_avail,
           rsl.sl_name,
           rsl.sl_avail,
           min(rsh.sh_avail, rsl.sl_avail) AS total_avail
      FROM shoe rsh, shoelace rsl
     WHERE rsl.sl_color = rsh.slcolor
       AND rsl.sl_len_cm >= rsh.slminlen_cm
       AND rsl.sl_len_cm <= rsh.slmaxlen_cm;

The CREATE VIEW command for the shoelace view (which is the simplest one we have) will create a relation shoelace and an entry in pg_rewrite that tells that there is a rewrite rule that must be applied whenever the relation shoelace is referenced in a query's range table. The rule has no rule qualification (discussed later, with the non SELECT rules, since SELECT rules currently cannot have them) and it is INSTEAD. Note that rule qualifications are not the same as query qualifications! The rule's action has a query qualification.

The rule's action is one query tree that is a copy of the SELECT statement in the view creation command.

Now we populate unit, shoe_data and shoelace_data and Al types the first SELECT in his life:

al_bundy=> INSERT INTO unit VALUES ('cm', 1.0);
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO unit VALUES ('m', 100.0);
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO unit VALUES ('inch', 2.54);
al_bundy=> 
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoe_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sh1', 2, 'black', 70.0, 90.0, 'cm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoe_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sh2', 0, 'black', 30.0, 40.0, 'inch');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoe_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sh3', 4, 'brown', 50.0, 65.0, 'cm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoe_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sh4', 3, 'brown', 40.0, 50.0, 'inch');
al_bundy=> 
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl1', 5, 'black', 80.0, 'cm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl2', 6, 'black', 100.0, 'cm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl3', 0, 'black', 35.0 , 'inch');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl4', 8, 'black', 40.0 , 'inch');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl5', 4, 'brown', 1.0 , 'm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl6', 0, 'brown', 0.9 , 'm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl7', 7, 'brown', 60 , 'cm');
al_bundy=> INSERT INTO shoelace_data VALUES 
al_bundy->     ('sl8', 1, 'brown', 40 , 'inch');
al_bundy=> 
al_bundy=> SELECT * FROM shoelace;
sl_name   |sl_avail|sl_color  |sl_len|sl_unit |sl_len_cm
----------+--------+----------+------+--------+---------
sl1       |       5|black     |    80|cm      |       80
sl2       |       6|black     |   100|cm      |      100
sl7       |       7|brown     |    60|cm      |       60
sl3       |       0|black     |    35|inch    |     88.9
sl4       |       8|black     |    40|inch    |    101.6
sl8       |       1|brown     |    40|inch    |    101.6
sl5       |       4|brown     |     1|m       |      100
sl6       |       0|brown     |   0.9|m       |       90
(8 rows)

It's the simplest SELECT Al can do on our views, so we take this to explain the basics of view rules. The SELECT * FROM shoelace was interpreted by the parser and produced the parse tree

SELECT shoelace.sl_name, shoelace.sl_avail,
       shoelace.sl_color, shoelace.sl_len,
       shoelace.sl_unit, shoelace.sl_len_cm
  FROM shoelace shoelace;

and this is given to the rule system. The rule system walks through the range table and checks if there are rules in pg_rewrite for any relation. When processing the range table entry for shoelace (the only one up to now) it finds the _RETURN rule with the parse tree

SELECT s.sl_name, s.sl_avail,
       s.sl_color, s.sl_len, s.sl_unit,
       float8mul(s.sl_len, u.un_fact) AS sl_len_cm
  FROM shoelace *OLD*, shoelace *NEW*,
       shoelace_data s, unit u
 WHERE bpchareq(s.sl_unit, u.un_name);

Note that the parser changed the calculation and qualification into calls to the appropriate functions. But in fact this changes nothing.

To expand the view, the rewriter simply creates a subselect range-table entry containing the rule's action parse tree, and substitutes this range table entry for the original one that referenced the view. The resulting rewritten parse tree is almost the same as if Al had typed

SELECT shoelace.sl_name, shoelace.sl_avail,
       shoelace.sl_color, shoelace.sl_len,
       shoelace.sl_unit, shoelace.sl_len_cm
  FROM (SELECT s.sl_name,
               s.sl_avail,
               s.sl_color,
               s.sl_len,
               s.sl_unit,
               s.sl_len * u.un_fact AS sl_len_cm
          FROM shoelace_data s, unit u
         WHERE s.sl_unit = u.un_name) shoelace;

There is one difference however: the sub-query's range table has two extra entries shoelace *OLD*, shoelace *NEW*. These entries don't participate directly in the query, since they aren't referenced by the sub-query's join tree or target list. The rewriter uses them to store the access permission check info that was originally present in the range-table entry that referenced the view. In this way, the executor will still check that the user has proper permissions to access the view, even though there's no direct use of the view in the rewritten query.

That was the first rule applied. The rule system will continue checking the remaining range-table entries in the top query (in this example there are no more), and it will recursively check the range-table entries in the added sub-query to see if any of them reference views. (But it won't expand *OLD* or *NEW* --- otherwise we'd have infinite recursion!) In this example, there are no rewrite rules for shoelace_data or unit, so rewriting is complete and the above is the final result given to the planner.

Now we face Al with the problem that the Blues Brothers appear in his shop and want to buy some new shoes, and as the Blues Brothers are, they want to wear the same shoes. And they want to wear them immediately, so they need shoelaces too.

Al needs to know for which shoes currently in the store he has the matching shoelaces (color and size) and where the total number of exactly matching pairs is greater or equal to two. We teach him what to do and he asks his database:

al_bundy=> SELECT * FROM shoe_ready WHERE total_avail >= 2;
shoename  |sh_avail|sl_name   |sl_avail|total_avail
----------+--------+----------+--------+-----------
sh1       |       2|sl1       |       5|          2
sh3       |       4|sl7       |       7|          4
(2 rows)

Al is a shoe guru and so he knows that only shoes of type sh1 would fit (shoelace sl7 is brown and shoes that need brown shoelaces aren't shoes the Blues Brothers would ever wear).

The output of the parser this time is the parse tree

SELECT shoe_ready.shoename, shoe_ready.sh_avail,
       shoe_ready.sl_name, shoe_ready.sl_avail,
       shoe_ready.total_avail
  FROM shoe_ready shoe_ready
 WHERE int4ge(shoe_ready.total_avail, 2);

The first rule applied will be the one for the shoe_ready view and it results in the parse tree

SELECT shoe_ready.shoename, shoe_ready.sh_avail,
       shoe_ready.sl_name, shoe_ready.sl_avail,
       shoe_ready.total_avail
  FROM (SELECT rsh.shoename,
               rsh.sh_avail,
               rsl.sl_name,
               rsl.sl_avail,
               min(rsh.sh_avail, rsl.sl_avail) AS total_avail
          FROM shoe rsh, shoelace rsl
         WHERE rsl.sl_color = rsh.slcolor
           AND rsl.sl_len_cm >= rsh.slminlen_cm
           AND rsl.sl_len_cm <= rsh.slmaxlen_cm) shoe_ready
 WHERE int4ge(shoe_ready.total_avail, 2);

Similarly, the rules for shoe and shoelace are substituted into the range table of the sub-query, leading to a three-level final query tree:

SELECT shoe_ready.shoename, shoe_ready.sh_avail,
       shoe_ready.sl_name, shoe_ready.sl_avail,
       shoe_ready.total_avail
  FROM (SELECT rsh.shoename,
               rsh.sh_avail,
               rsl.sl_name,
               rsl.sl_avail,
               min(rsh.sh_avail, rsl.sl_avail) AS total_avail
          FROM (SELECT sh.shoename,
                       sh.sh_avail,
                       sh.slcolor,
                       sh.slminlen,
                       sh.slminlen * un.un_fact AS slminlen_cm,
                       sh.slmaxlen,
                       sh.slmaxlen * un.un_fact AS slmaxlen_cm,
                       sh.slunit
                  FROM shoe_data sh, unit un
                 WHERE sh.slunit = un.un_name) rsh,
               (SELECT s.sl_name,
                       s.sl_avail,
                       s.sl_color,
                       s.sl_len,
                       s.sl_unit,
                       s.sl_len * u.un_fact AS sl_len_cm
                  FROM shoelace_data s, unit u
                 WHERE s.sl_unit = u.un_name) rsl
         WHERE rsl.sl_color = rsh.slcolor
           AND rsl.sl_len_cm >= rsh.slminlen_cm
           AND rsl.sl_len_cm <= rsh.slmaxlen_cm) shoe_ready
 WHERE int4ge(shoe_ready.total_avail, 2);

It turns out that the planner will collapse this tree into a two-level query tree: the bottommost selects will be "pulled up" into the middle select since there's no need to process them separately. But the middle select will remain separate from the top, because it contains aggregate functions. If we pulled those up it would change the behavior of the topmost select, which we don't want. However, collapsing the query tree is an optimization that the rewrite system doesn't have to concern itself with.

13.3.3. View Rules in Non-SELECT Statements

Two details of the parse tree aren't touched in the description of view rules above. These are the command type and the result relation. In fact, view rules don't need this information.

There are only a few differences between a parse tree for a SELECT and one for any other command. Obviously they have another command type and this time the result relation points to the range table entry where the result should go. Everything else is absolutely the same. So having two tables t1 and t2 with attributes a and b, the parse trees for the two statements

SELECT t2.b FROM t1, t2 WHERE t1.a = t2.a;

UPDATE t1 SET b = t2.b WHERE t1.a = t2.a;

are nearly identical.

• The range tables contain entries for the tables t1 and t2.

• The target lists contain one variable that points to attribute b of the range table entry for table t2.

• The qualification expressions compare the attributes a of both ranges for equality.

• The join trees show a simple join between t1 and t2.

The consequence is, that both parse trees result in similar execution plans. They are both joins over the two tables. For the UPDATE the missing columns from t1 are added to the target list by the planner and the final parse tree will read as

UPDATE t1 SET a = t1.a, b = t2.b WHERE t1.a = t2.a;

and thus the executor run over the join will produce exactly the same result set as a

SELECT t1.a, t2.b FROM t1, t2 WHERE t1.a = t2.a;

will do. But there is a little problem in UPDATE. The executor does not care what the results from the join it is doing are meant for. It just produces a result set of rows. The difference that one is a SELECT command and the other is an UPDATE is handled in the caller of the executor. The caller still knows (looking at the parse tree) that this is an UPDATE, and he knows that this result should go into table t1. But which of the rows that are there has to be replaced by the new row?

To resolve this problem, another entry is added to the target list in UPDATE (and also in DELETE) statements: the current tuple ID (CTID). This is a system attribute containing the file block number and position in the block for the row. Knowing the table, the CTID can be used to retrieve the original t1 row to be updated. After adding the CTID to the target list, the query actually looks like

SELECT t1.a, t2.b, t1.ctid FROM t1, t2 WHERE t1.a = t2.a;

Now another detail of PostgreSQL enters the stage. At this moment, table rows aren't overwritten and this is why ABORT TRANSACTION is fast. In an UPDATE, the new result row is inserted into the table (after stripping CTID) and in the tuple header of the row that CTID pointed to the cmax and xmax entries are set to the current command counter and current transaction ID. Thus the old row is hidden and after the transaction committed the vacuum cleaner can really move it out.

Knowing all that, we can simply apply view rules in absolutely the same way to any command. There is no difference.

13.3.4. The Power of Views in PostgreSQL

The above demonstrates how the rule system incorporates view definitions into the original parse tree. In the second example a simple SELECT from one view created a final parse tree that is a join of 4 tables (unit is used twice with different names).

13.3.5. What about updating a view?

What happens if a view is named as the target relation for an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE? After doing the substitutions described above, we will have a query tree in which the result relation points at a subquery range table entry. This will not work, so the rewriter throws an error if it sees it has produced such a thing.

To change this we can define rules that modify the behavior of non-SELECT queries. This is the topic of the next section.