Incorporate examples and doc patches from Mark Kirkwood and David Fetter.

doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml

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+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml,v 1.56 2005/01/14 01:16:22 tgl Exp $
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 <chapter id="plpgsql"> 
@@ -2304,6 +2304,32 @@ SELECT reffunc2();
 
 FETCH ALL IN "&lt;unnamed cursor 1&gt;";
 COMMIT;
+</programlisting>
+       </para>
+
+       <para>
+        The following example shows one way to return multiple cursors
+        from a single function:
+
+<programlisting>
+CREATE FUNCTION myfunc(refcursor, refcursor) RETURNS SETOF refcursor AS $$
+BEGIN
+    OPEN $1 FOR SELECT * FROM table_1;
+    RETURN NEXT $1;
+    OPEN $2 FOR SELECT * FROM table_2;
+    RETURN NEXT $2;
+    RETURN;
+END;
+$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
+
+-- need to be in a transaction to use cursors.
+BEGIN;
+
+SELECT * FROM myfunc('a', 'b');
+
+FETCH ALL FROM a;
+FETCH ALL FROM b;
+COMMIT;
 </programlisting>
        </para>
      </sect3>
@@ -2585,8 +2611,6 @@ $emp_stamp$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
 CREATE TRIGGER emp_stamp BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON emp
     FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE emp_stamp();
 </programlisting>
-
-
    </example>
 
    <para>
@@ -2646,6 +2670,159 @@ AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON emp
     FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE process_emp_audit();
 </programlisting>
    </example>
+
+   <para>
+    One use of triggers is to maintain a summary table
+    of another table. The resulting summary can be used in place of the 
+    original table for certain queries &mdash; often with vastly reduced run 
+    times.
+    This technique is commonly used in Data Warehousing, where the tables
+    of measured or observed data (called fact tables) can be extremely large.
+    <xref linkend="plpgsql-trigger-summary-example"> shows an example of a
+    trigger procedure in <application>PL/pgSQL</application> that maintains
+    a summary table for a fact table in a data warehouse.
+   </para>
+
+
+   <example id="plpgsql-trigger-summary-example">
+    <title>A <application>PL/pgSQL</application> Trigger Procedure For Maintaining A Summary Table</title>
+
+    <para>
+     The schema detailed here is partly based on the <emphasis>Grocery Store
+     </emphasis> example from <emphasis>The Data Warehouse Toolkit</emphasis> 
+     by Ralph Kimball.
+    </para>
+
+<programlisting>
+--
+-- Main tables - time dimension and sales fact.
+--
+CREATE TABLE time_dimension (
+    time_key                    integer NOT NULL,
+    day_of_week                 integer NOT NULL,
+    day_of_month                integer NOT NULL,
+    month                       integer NOT NULL,
+    quarter                     integer NOT NULL,
+    year                        integer NOT NULL
+);
+CREATE UNIQUE INDEX time_dimension_key ON time_dimension(time_key);
+
+CREATE TABLE sales_fact (
+    time_key                    integer NOT NULL,
+    product_key                 integer NOT NULL,
+    store_key                   integer NOT NULL,
+    amount_sold                 numeric(12,2) NOT NULL,
+    units_sold                  integer NOT NULL,
+    amount_cost                 numeric(12,2) NOT NULL
+);
+CREATE INDEX sales_fact_time ON sales_fact(time_key);
+
+--
+-- Summary table - sales by time.
+--
+CREATE TABLE sales_summary_bytime (
+    time_key                    integer NOT NULL,
+    amount_sold                 numeric(15,2) NOT NULL,
+    units_sold                  numeric(12) NOT NULL,
+    amount_cost                 numeric(15,2) NOT NULL
+);
+CREATE UNIQUE INDEX sales_summary_bytime_key ON sales_summary_bytime(time_key);
+
+--
+-- Function and trigger to amend summarized column(s) on UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE.
+--
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION maint_sales_summary_bytime() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $maint_sales_summary_bytime$
+    DECLARE
+        delta_time_key          integer;
+        delta_amount_sold       numeric(15,2);
+        delta_units_sold        numeric(12);
+        delta_amount_cost       numeric(15,2);
+    BEGIN
+
+        -- Work out the increment/decrement amount(s).
+        IF (TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
+
+            delta_time_key = OLD.time_key;
+            delta_amount_sold = -1 * OLD.amount_sold;
+            delta_units_sold = -1 * OLD.units_sold;
+            delta_amount_cost = -1 * OLD.amount_cost;
+
+        ELSIF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE') THEN
+
+            -- forbid updates that change the time_key -
+            -- (probably not too onerous, as DELETE + INSERT is how most 
+            -- changes will be made).
+            IF ( OLD.time_key != NEW.time_key) THEN
+                RAISE EXCEPTION 'Update of time_key : % -&gt; % not allowed', OLD.time_key, NEW.time_key;
+            END IF;
+
+            delta_time_key = OLD.time_key;
+            delta_amount_sold = NEW.amount_sold - OLD.amount_sold;
+            delta_units_sold = NEW.units_sold - OLD.units_sold;
+            delta_amount_cost = NEW.amount_cost - OLD.amount_cost;
+
+        ELSIF (TG_OP = 'INSERT') THEN
+
+            delta_time_key = NEW.time_key;
+            delta_amount_sold = NEW.amount_sold;
+            delta_units_sold = NEW.units_sold;
+            delta_amount_cost = NEW.amount_cost;
+
+        END IF;
+
+
+        -- Update the summary row with the new values.
+        UPDATE sales_summary_bytime
+            SET amount_sold = amount_sold + delta_amount_sold,
+                units_sold = units_sold + delta_units_sold,
+                amount_cost = amount_cost + delta_amount_cost
+            WHERE time_key = delta_time_key;
+
+
+        -- There might have been no row with this time_key (e.g new data!).
+        IF (NOT FOUND) THEN
+            BEGIN
+                INSERT INTO sales_summary_bytime (
+                            time_key, 
+                            amount_sold, 
+                            units_sold, 
+                            amount_cost)
+                    SELECT  f.time_key, 
+                            sum(f.amount_sold), 
+                            sum(f.units_sold), 
+                            sum(f.amount_cost)
+                    FROM sales_fact f
+                    WHERE f.time_key = delta_time_key
+                    GROUP BY f.time_key;
+                -- This query can potentially be very expensive if the trigger 
+                -- is created on sales_fact without the time_key indexes.
+                -- Some care is needed to ensure that this situation does 
+                -- *not* occur.
+            EXCEPTION
+                --
+                -- Catch race condition when two transactions are adding data
+                -- for a new time_key.
+                --
+                WHEN UNIQUE_VIOLATION THEN
+                    UPDATE sales_summary_bytime
+                        SET amount_sold = amount_sold + delta_amount_sold,
+                            units_sold = units_sold + delta_units_sold,
+                            amount_cost = amount_cost + delta_amount_cost
+                        WHERE time_key = delta_time_key;
+
+            END;
+        END IF;
+        RETURN NULL;
+
+    END;
+$maint_sales_summary_bytime$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
+
+CREATE TRIGGER maint_sales_summary_bytime
+AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON sales_fact
+    FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE maint_sales_summary_bytime();
+</programlisting>
+   </example>
+
   </sect1>
 
   <!-- **** Porting from Oracle PL/SQL **** -->

doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml

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-$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml,v 1.76 2005/01/10 00:04:43 tgl Exp $
+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml,v 1.77 2005/01/14 01:16:52 tgl Exp $
 PostgreSQL documentation
 -->
 
@@ -537,6 +537,17 @@ ALTER TABLE distributors
 </programlisting>
   </para>
 
+  <para>
+   To change an integer column containing UNIX timestamps to <type>timestamp
+   with time zone</type> via a <literal>USING</literal> clause:
+<programlisting>
+ALTER TABLE foo
+    ALTER COLUMN foo_timestamp TYPE timestamp with time zone
+    USING
+        timestamp with time zone 'epoch' + foo_timestamp * interval '1 second';
+</programlisting>
+  </para>
+
   <para>
    To rename an existing column:
 <programlisting>

doc/src/sgml/ref/create_opclass.sgml

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-$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_opclass.sgml,v 1.12 2003/11/29 19:51:38 pgsql Exp $
+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_opclass.sgml,v 1.13 2005/01/14 01:16:52 tgl Exp $
 PostgreSQL documentation
 -->
 
@@ -205,6 +205,16 @@ CREATE OPERATOR CLASS <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ DEFAUL
   </para>
  </refsect1>
   
+ <refsect1>
+  <title>Notes</title>
+
+  <para>
+   The operators should not be defined by SQL functions.  A SQL function
+   is likely to be inlined into the calling query, which will prevent
+   the optimizer from recognizing that the query matches an index.
+  </para>
+ </refsect1>
+  
  <refsect1>
   <title>Examples</title>