Re: Roadmap for FE/BE protocol redesign

Peter Eisentraut writes:
> Dave Page writes:
>
> > Well what I *really* need has been made quite clear in other posts,
but,
> > when I say resultset in the same sentence as pgAdmin, I'm referring
to
> > the ability to enter an arbitrary SQL query, have the results
displayed
> > in a grid, which can then be editted. To do this pgAdmin needs to be
> > able to figure out enough info about the source of the data to
generate
> > the required insert/update/delete statements.
>
> Right. But since you can't really write a literal SQL statement that
does
> an update that refers to a previous query, you are already doing a
fair
> amount of internal magic anyway, so if the meta-data is determined by
> magic as well, that seems consistent.

While this may be true, it is possible to build a client side system
that can do this for you. Views and cursors are great, but they are not
always the best tool for the job.
>
> What you need is an updateable cursor on the server side. It has all
the
> facilities you need, including standardized ways to find out the
> updatability metadata. Please concentrate on that and do not attempt
to
> clutter the wire protocol with data that will not withstand a
throrough
> investigation of semantics.

It's not foolproof and may even be foolhardy, but there are certain
advantages to client-side decision making. A couple of integers or so
for each attribute is not a terribly high price to pay. If a compelling
case can be made that it can be put to good use, why not do it?

Merlin