Re: Notes or comments on columns in a table

On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 11:09 AM, Campbell, Lance <lance(at)illinois(dot)edu>wrote:

> PostgreSQL 9.2****
>
> When creating a table or altering a column of a table, is there a way to
> add notes on a column?****
>
> ** **
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> If not:****
>
> I have a new enhancement request. When creating a table or altering a
> column, it would be nice if a user could add “comments” or “notes” to a
> column. This note would only appear when doing “\d table_name”. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Why? I was adding a new column to a table called “type”. Normally I only
> add types as characters even though integers are much better for indexing.
> The problem with integers is I never remember what value means what. Does
> a 1 mean directory or file. So I end up creating “type” as a character so
> I can do a quick SELECT DISTINCT to figure out the options. I would use
> integers if I could do \d table_name to see in the notes section what
> values meant. I would think other people run into this issue all the time.
>

You should use an enumerated type definition.

create type my_file_type (
'File',
'Directory',
'SymLink')

create table foo (
id integer primary key,
filetype my_file_type
)

insert into foo(1, 'File');

select * from foo;
1 File

... and so forth.

Craig

> ****
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> Thanks,****
>
> ** **
>
> Lance Campbell****
>
> Software Architect****
>
> Web Services at Public Affairs****
>
> 217-333-0382****
>
> [image: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign logo]<http://illinois.edu/>
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