Re: temporal support patch

Hello.

SQL 2011 standard wasn't available in time I started this project so I
built my implementation on older standards TSQL2 and SQL/Temporal, that
were only available. None of these were accepted by ANSI/ISO commissions
however.

There is different syntax in SQL 2011 and it looks like one that IBM DB2
had been using even before this standard were published.

So my implementation differs in syntax, but features are same as stated in
"system versioned tables" part of slideshow.

Regards
Miroslav Simulcik

2012/5/17 Pavel Stehule <pavel(dot)stehule(at)gmail(dot)com>

> Hello
>
> what is conformance of your solution with temporal extension in ANSI SQL
> 2011
>
>
> http://www.slideshare.net/CraigBaumunk/temporal-extensions-tosql20112012010438
>
> Regards
>
> Pavel Stehule
>
> 2012/5/16 Miroslav Šimulčík <simulcik(dot)miro(at)gmail(dot)com>:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > as a part of my master's thesis I have created temporal support patch for
> > PostgreSQL. It enables the creation of special temporal tables with
> entries
> > versioning. Modifying operations (UPDATE, DELETE, TRUNCATE) on these
> tables
> > don't cause permanent changes to entries, but create new versions of
> them.
> > Thus user can easily get to the past states of the table.
> >
> > Basic information on temporal databases can be found
> > on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_database
> >
> > In field of temporal databases, there are only proprietary solution
> > available. During the analysis I found these:
> > - IBM DB2 10 for z/OS
> > - Oracle 11g Workspace Manager
> > - Teradata Database 13.10
> >
> > Primary goal of my work was the creation of opensource solution, that is
> > easy to use and is backward compatible with existing applications,
> so that
> > the change of the original tables to temporal ones, does not require
> changes
> > to applications that work with them. This patch is built on standard
> > SQL/Temporal with some minor modifications inspired by commercial
> temporal
> > database systems. Currently it only deals with transaction time support.
> >
> > Here is simple description on how it works:
> >
> > 1. user can create transaction time table using modified CREATE TABLE
> > command:
> >
> > CREATE TABLE person(name varchar(50)) AS TRANSACTIONTIME;
> >
> > This command automatically creates all objects required for
> transaction
> > time support:
> >
> > List of relations
> > Schema | Name | Type | Owner
> > --------+----------------------+----------+----------
> > public | person | table | tester
> > public | person__entry_id_seq | sequence | tester
> > public | person_hist | table | postgres
> >
> >
> > Table "public.person"
> > Column | Type |
> > Modifiers
> >
> >
> ------------+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > name | character varying(50) |
> > _entry_id | bigint | not null default
> > nextval('person__entry_id_seq'::regclass)
> > _sys_start | timestamp without time zone | not null default
> > clock_timestamp()
> > _sys_end | timestamp without time zone | not null default
> > '294276-12-31 23:59:59.999999'::timestamp without time zone
> > Indexes:
> > "person__entry_id_idx" btree (_entry_id)
> > "person__sys_start__sys_end_idx" btree (_sys_start, _sys_end)
> >
> >
> > Table "public.person_hist"
> > Column | Type | Modifiers
> > ------------+-----------------------------+-----------
> > name | character varying(50) |
> > _entry_id | bigint | not null
> > _sys_start | timestamp without time zone | not null
> > _sys_end | timestamp without time zone | not null
> > Indexes:
> > "person_hist__entry_id_idx" btree (_entry_id)
> > "person_hist__sys_start__sys_end_idx" btree (_sys_start,
> _sys_end)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Table person stores current versions of entries. 3 additional columns
> > are added:
> > _entry_id - id of entry. It groups together different versions of
> > entry.
> > _sys_start - beginning of the version validity period (version
> > creation timestamp).
> > _sys_end - end of the version validity period.
> >
> > Table person_hist stores historical versions of entries. It has the
> same
> > structure and indexes as the person table, but without any constraints
> and
> > default values.
> >
> > 2. another way of creating transaction time table is adding transaction
> time
> > support to existing standard table using ALTER command.
> >
> > CREATE TABLE person(name varchar(50));
> > ALTER TABLE person ADD TRANSACTIONTIME;
> >
> > 3. INSERT entry
> >
> > INSERT INTO person VALUES('Jack');
> >
> > SELECT *, _entry_id, _sys_start, _sys_end FROM person;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> >
> >
> ------+-----------+----------------------------+------------------------------
> > Jack | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916 | 294276-12-31
> > 23:59:59.999999
> >
> > 4. UPDATE entry
> >
> > UPDATE person SET name = 'Tom';
> >
> > SELECT *, _entry_id, _sys_start, _sys_end FROM person;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> >
> >
> ------+-----------+----------------------------+------------------------------
> > Tom | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:44.736195 | 294276-12-31
> > 23:59:59.999999
> >
> > SELECT * FROM person_hist;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> >
> >
> ------+-----------+----------------------------+----------------------------
> > Jack | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916 | 2012-05-16
> > 22:11:44.736194
> >
> > 5. DELETE entry
> >
> > DELETE FROM person;
> >
> > SELECT *, _entry_id, _sys_start, _sys_end FROM person;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> > ------+-----------+------------+----------
> >
> > SELECT * FROM person_hist;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> >
> >
> ------+-----------+----------------------------+----------------------------
> > Jack | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916 | 2012-05-16
> > 22:11:44.736194
> > Tom | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:44.736195 | 2012-05-16
> > 22:14:33.875869
> >
> > 6. selecting entries
> >
> > INSERT INTO person VALUES('Mike');
> > INSERT INTO person VALUES('Mike');
> >
> > --standard SELECT - operates only with current versions of entries
> > SELECT * FROM person;
> >
> > name
> > ------
> > Mike
> > Mike
> >
> > --special temporal SELECT which operates with all versions
> > NONSEQUENCED TRANSACTIONTIME SELECT *, _entry_id, _sys_start,
> _sys_end
> > FROM person;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> >
> >
> ------+-----------+----------------------------+------------------------------
> > Mike | 3 | 2012-05-16 22:20:55.055671 | 294276-12-31
> > 23:59:59.999999
> > Mike | 2 | 2012-05-16 22:20:51.619475 | 294276-12-31
> > 23:59:59.999999
> > Jack | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916 | 2012-05-16
> > 22:11:44.736194
> > Tom | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:44.736195 | 2012-05-16
> > 22:14:33.875869
> >
> > --special temporal SELECT which operates with versions valid in
> > specified time
> > TRANSACTIONTIME AS OF '2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916' SELECT *,
> _entry_id,
> > _sys_start, _sys_end FROM person;
> >
> > name | _entry_id | _sys_start | _sys_end
> >
> >
> ------+-----------+----------------------------+----------------------------
> > Jack | 1 | 2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916 | 2012-05-16
> > 22:11:44.736194
> >
> > --it is also possible to set timestamp globally for session. All
> > subsequent SELECTs without any temporal modifier will operate
> with versions
> > valid in this time,
> > SET history_timestamp TO '2012-05-16 22:11:39.856916';
> >
> > SELECT * FROM person;
> >
> > name
> > ------
> > Jack
> >
> > --to select only current versions when history_tiumestamp is set,
> > CURRENT TRANSACTIONTIME have to be used with SELECT
> > CURRENT TRANSACTIONTIME SELECT * FROM person;
> >
> > name
> > ------
> > Mike
> > Mike
> >
> >
> >
> > This is only a illustration of main functionality. Later I can create a
> > document about the design and implementation details, but first I need to
> > know if such temporal features as described here, could be added to
> future
> > versions of PostgreSQL, after meeting all the requirements of a new
> patch.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Miroslav Simulcik
>