Re: returning setof in plpgsql

"David Durst" <ddurst(at)larubber(dot)com> writes:
> CREATE FUNCTION lookup_account(varchar(32)) RETURNS SETOF accounts AS '
> DECLARE
> aname ALIAS FOR $1;
> rec RECORD;
> BEGIN
> select into rec * from accounts where accountname = aname;
> return rec;
> END;'
> LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

As written, this function can only return a single row (so you hardly
need SETOF). If you intend that it be able to return multiple rows
when accountname is not unique, then you'll need a loop and RETURN NEXT
commands. It'd probably be less tedious to use a SQL-language function:

CREATE FUNCTION lookup_account(varchar(32)) RETURNS SETOF accounts AS '
select * from accounts where accountname = $1'
language sql;

> This seems to hang when I attempt to select it using:

> select accountid(
> lookup_account('some account')),
> accountname(lookup_account('some account')),
> type(lookup_account('some account')),
> balance(lookup_account('some account'));

It works for me (in 7.3), but in any case that's a bad approach: you're
invoking the function four times, independently. Better is

select accountid,accountname,type,balance
from lookup_account('some account');

(again, this syntax requires 7.3)

regards, tom lane