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Last active March 8, 2022 06:50
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Trigger-based equivalent of old PostgreSQL time travel module - see https://blog.myitcv.io/2014/02/25/row-level-version-control-with-postgresql.html for more details
/*
Copyright (c) 2015 Paul Jolly <paul@myitcv.org.uk)
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.
*/
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION process_timetravel_before() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $timetravel_before$
DECLARE
temp_row RECORD; -- a temporary variable used on updates/deletes
time_now TIMESTAMP; -- get the time now just once.... for consistency's sake
BEGIN
time_now = now();
IF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE' OR TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
-- the user should not be able to update historic rows
IF OLD.valid_to != 'infinity' THEN
RAISE EXCEPTION 'Cannot % old row', TG_OP;
END IF;
-- use of TG_TABLE_NAME keeps this generic and non-table specific
-- see http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/plpgsql-statements.html#PLPGSQL-STATEMENTS-EXECUTING-DYN
EXECUTE 'SELECT * FROM ' || TG_TABLE_NAME::regclass || ' WHERE ctid = $1 FOR UPDATE' USING OLD.ctid;
-- not sure whether this is strictly required... could we modify OLD without side effects?
temp_row := OLD;
temp_row.valid_to := time_now;
IF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE') THEN
-- 'bump' the valid_from and ensure valid_to = 'infinity'
NEW.valid_from := time_now;
NEW.valid_to := 'infinity';
-- allow the update to continue... so that the correct number of rows are reported
-- as having been affected
RETURN NEW;
ELSIF (TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
-- we want to allow the delete to continue... so that the correct number of rows are reported
-- as having been affected
RETURN OLD;
END IF;
RETURN NULL; -- shouldn't ever get here
ELSIF (TG_OP = 'INSERT' AND NEW.valid_from is null OR NEW.valid_to is null) THEN
-- this case could well be avoided by having a table definition with defaults:
--
-- valid_from = now()
-- valid_to = 'infinity'
--
-- but we include this as a safety net
IF NEW.valid_from is null THEN
NEW.valid_from := time_now;
END IF;
IF NEW.valid_to is null THEN
NEW.valid_to := 'infinity';
END IF;
-- allow the insert to continue... so that the correct number of rows are reported
-- as having been affected
RETURN NEW;
ELSIF (TG_OP = 'INSERT') THEN
-- allow the insert to continue... so that the correct number of rows are reported
-- as having been affected
RETURN NEW;
END IF;
RETURN NULL; -- won't get here if we only create the trigger for insert, update and delete
END;
$timetravel_before$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION process_timetravel_after() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $timetravel_after$
DECLARE
temp_row RECORD; -- a temporary variable used on updates/deletes
time_now TIMESTAMP; -- get the time now just once.... for consistency's sake
BEGIN
time_now = now();
IF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE' OR TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
-- not sure whether this is strictly required... could we modify OLD without side effects?
temp_row := OLD;
IF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE') THEN
temp_row.valid_to := NEW.valid_from;
ELSIF (TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
temp_row.valid_to := time_now;
END IF;
-- again, use of TG_TABLE_NAME keeps this generic and non-table specific
EXECUTE 'INSERT INTO ' || TG_TABLE_NAME::regclass || ' SELECT $1.*' USING temp_row;
END IF;
RETURN NULL; -- return value doesn't matter in after
END;
$timetravel_after$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
@breml
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breml commented Mar 11, 2021

@myitcv
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myitcv commented Mar 11, 2021

Thanks, @breml

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