Re: constraint and ordered value

Daryl Richter wrote:
>> No. A constraint only applies to one row at a time. If you try to
>> work around
>> this by calling a function that does queries it isn't guarenteed to
>> work.
>> And if you are thinking of calling a function that does a query, you
>> aren't
>> looking at saving time over using triggers.
>>
>> Also, if you are going to have concurrent updates, you are going to
>> need to
>> do table locking to make this work.
>
> And, finally, you should ask yourself *why* are you doing this, given
> that one of the fundamental properties of a table (relation) is that
> the rows (tuples) are *unordered.* So much of what makes a relational
> db a wonderful thing for storing data depends on this notion.
>
> If you provide an explanation of what you are trying to model, perhaps
> we can help you find a better schema design.

Thanks for the insightful answers. Actually I'm just learning about and
trying out CHECK constraints in Postgres (and Firebird) :-)

Regards,
dave