Cannot assign ROWTYPE, RECORD variables in PL/pgSQL

Bug: Cannot assign ROWTYPE, RECORD variables in PL/pgSQL
Affects: PL/pgSQL
Severity: Annoyance
Priority: Minor Enhancement
Confirmed On: 7.3beta2, Linux

Given the following function:
=======================================
create or replace function rowtype_test ()
returns text as '
declare this_row candidates%rowtype;
that_row candidates%rowtype;
begin
select * into this_row
from candidates;

that_row := this_row;

return that_row.first_name;

end;'
language 'plpgsql';
=======================================

... it will error out at the assignment "that_row := this_row".

For that matter, any attempt to assign the contents of two ROWTYPE or RECORD
variables directly to each other will error out:

that_record := this_record;

SELECT this_row INTO that_row;

SELECT * INTO that_row
FROM this_row;

The only way to populate that_row with a copy of this_row is by re-querying
the source table. While a relatively easy workaround, this behaviour is
annoying and inconsistent. It would be nice to fix in 7.3.1 or 7.4.

Thanks for your attention.

--
-Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco