Re: feature idea – automatic up

anony wrote:
> Maybe this feature is already out there.
> I guess you could write triggers to do some of this.
>
> Often when designing a database I add a start_date and end_date column
> to the table. The start_date is when the record was created and the
> end_date is when the record expired. For UPDATES, I populate the
> end_date and INSERT a new record. This allows you to track changes
> though out time.

You probably want to read up on "Temporal Databases" which is what
you're talking about. I believe there is a book by C.J.Date on the topic
as it relates to relational DBs.

From a curiosity point of view, there apparently used to be a
"time-travel" feature in (really) old versions of PG. MVCC effectively
creates a new row for every update anyway, so you could "rewind" to
previous transaction IDs to see the data then.

--
Richard Huxton
Archonet Ltd