Lists: | pgsql-general |
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From: | Clive Page <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk> |
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To: | pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org |
Subject: | Column descriptions - could they be propagated to new tables? |
Date: | 2006-04-05 08:59:22 |
Message-ID: | Pine.LNX.4.63.0604050951550.7042@peneca.star.le.ac.uk |
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Lists: | pgsql-general |
Since I discovered the facilities in Postgres for providing and listing
column descrptions, I have found them very useful, especially for adding a
string showing physical units to my columns. For example:
\d+ cat
Table "public.cat"
Column | Type | Modifiers | Description
-----------------+------------------+-----------+--------------
src_num | integer | |
ra | double precision | | deg
decl | double precision | | deg
radec_err | real | | arcsec
lii | double precision | | deg
bii | double precision | | deg
pn_cts | real | | counts
However if one performs a JOIN creating a new table, all these
descriptions fail to transfer. I haven't been able to find any easy way
of propagating the descriptions - would it be a useful facility to have
them propagated automatically? I would have thought that things like
units would be useful even in many scientific applications, e.g. to have
monetary columns described as dollars/pounds/euros or whatever.
--
Clive Page
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE1 7RH, U.K.
From: | "Merlin Moncure" <mmoncure(at)gmail(dot)com> |
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To: | "Clive Page" <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk> |
Cc: | pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org |
Subject: | Re: Column descriptions - could they be propagated to new tables? |
Date: | 2006-04-05 16:15:07 |
Message-ID: | b42b73150604050915k1427caeeq1e07de94e0841397@mail.gmail.com |
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Lists: | pgsql-general |
On 4/5/06, Clive Page <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk> wrote:
> Since I discovered the facilities in Postgres for providing and listing
> column descrptions, I have found them very useful, especially for adding a
> string showing physical units to my columns.
Have you considered using domains for these types? You can comment
the domain appropriately. While the domain description will not show
in \d+. to get the description you can do \dT on the domain.
Based on your background I also think you might appreciate domains
from a design perspective. There are a couple of disadvantages to
using them so I'd suggest reading about them.
merlin
From: | Clive Page <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk> |
---|---|
To: | Merlin Moncure <mmoncure(at)gmail(dot)com> |
Cc: | pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org |
Subject: | Re: Column descriptions - could they be propagated to new |
Date: | 2006-04-05 16:53:11 |
Message-ID: | Pine.LNX.4.63.0604051752000.7042@peneca.star.le.ac.uk |
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Lists: | pgsql-general |
On Wed, 5 Apr 2006, Merlin Moncure wrote:
> Have you considered using domains for these types? You can comment
> the domain appropriately. While the domain description will not show
> in \d+. to get the description you can do \dT on the domain.
>
> Based on your background I also think you might appreciate domains
> from a design perspective. There are a couple of disadvantages to
> using them so I'd suggest reading about them.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start reading up on them.
--
Clive Page
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE1 7RH, U.K.
From: | Jim Nasby <jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com> |
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To: | Merlin Moncure <mmoncure(at)gmail(dot)com> |
Cc: | "Clive Page" <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk>, pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org |
Subject: | Re: Column descriptions - could they be propagated to new tables? |
Date: | 2006-04-06 21:18:11 |
Message-ID: | 4D8D0951-518D-4C55-B6E4-32FF939CBF9D@pervasive.com |
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Lists: | pgsql-general |
On Apr 5, 2006, at 12:15 PM, Merlin Moncure wrote:
> On 4/5/06, Clive Page <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk> wrote:
>> Since I discovered the facilities in Postgres for providing and
>> listing
>> column descrptions, I have found them very useful, especially for
>> adding a
>> string showing physical units to my columns.
>
> Have you considered using domains for these types? You can comment
> the domain appropriately. While the domain description will not show
> in \d+. to get the description you can do \dT on the domain.
>
> Based on your background I also think you might appreciate domains
> from a design perspective. There are a couple of disadvantages to
> using them so I'd suggest reading about them.
I seem to recall some astronomer having created some custom types for
storing astronomical data in PostgreSQL. Or perhaps he was using
PostGIS. I know that other astronomers are using PostgreSQL/PostGIS
so if you look around you might be able to save yourself quite a bit
of work.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com
Pervasive Software http://pervasive.com work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf cell: 512-569-9461
From: | Clive Page <cgp(at)star(dot)le(dot)ac(dot)uk> |
---|---|
To: | Jim Nasby <jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com> |
Cc: | pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org |
Subject: | Re: Column descriptions - could they be propagated to new |
Date: | 2006-04-07 07:51:14 |
Message-ID: | Pine.LNX.4.63.0604070850250.7042@peneca.star.le.ac.uk |
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Lists: | pgsql-general |
On Thu, 6 Apr 2006, Jim Nasby wrote:
> I seem to recall some astronomer having created some custom types for storing
> astronomical data in PostgreSQL. Or perhaps he was using PostGIS. I know that
> other astronomers are using PostgreSQL/PostGIS so if you look around you
> might be able to save yourself quite a bit of work.
Well I know about pgAstro and pgSphere (and helped a little in testing
them) but maybe there are others. Will look, thanks.
--
Clive Page
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE1 7RH, U.K.