Having a little trouble with TRIGGERS

Hi all,

My apologies if this has been answered - I haven't found a reference to
it...

I am using PostgreSQL 7.0.3 (installed from an RPM) on a RedHat 6.0 system.
I have created a database and are trying to create a trigger. The purpose
of this trigger is to automatically add the current date to a few fields
(maintDate) in a table on an UPDATE, and the createDate on an INSERT.
i.e. If a user modifies a record, the current date is updated in the record.
Just a basic tracking method so I know WHO and WHEN a record was modified.

Here is the code I am using:

CREATE FUNCTION trigger_insert_update_tblUser()
RETURNS opaque
AS 'DECLARE
trig_type text;
rec_count integer;

BEGIN
-- Determine if this is an INSERT or an UPDATE
IF (
SELECT
COUNT(*)
FROM
old) > 0
THEN
-- This is an update
trig_type := "i";
ELSE
-- This is an insert
trig_type := "u";
END IF;

-- Trigger logic after this line
IF trig_type = "i" THEN
-- Set the maint date
NEW.maintDate = date(now());
END IF;

IF trig_type = "u" THEN
-- Set the create and maint dates
NEW.maintDate := date(now());
NEW.dateCreated := date(now());
END IF;

-- End of trigger logic
RETURN NEW;
END;'
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

The problem is that when I try to insert a record into the table, I get the
following error:

ERROR: CURRENT used in non-rule query.

I've been banging my head against a brick wall for the past few days. I
*think* that it has something to do with a problem of "new" being aliased
somehow with "CURRENT", but I don't know!!! Save me from insanity!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Brendan Green
bgreen(at)simtap(dot)com(dot)au