Apparent anomaly with views and unions

From: "Guy Rouillier" <guyr(at)masergy(dot)com>
To: "PostgreSQL General" <pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Apparent anomaly with views and unions
Date: 2005-02-12 00:19:49
Message-ID: CC1CF380F4D70844B01D45982E671B2348E5EF@mtxexch01.add0.masergy.com
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I using 8.0.1. I create 3 tables with these definitions:

create table t1 (serv_id varchar(50) not null);
create table t2 (serv_id varchar(50) not null);
create table t3 (serv_id varchar(50) not null);

Now I create a view like this:

create or replace view v1 as select * from t1;

Next, I attempt to update this view like this:
create or replace view v1 as select * from t1 union select * from t2;

I receive: ERROR: cannot change data type of view column "serv_id"

Next, I drop view v1 and recreate it using the union above. I am now
able to do the following without error:

create or replace view v1 as select * from t1 union select * from t2
union select * from t3;

So it looks like changing a view from a non-union to a union is
producing an error, but changing a view that already contains a 2-way
union to one that contains a 3-way union is allowed (and I'm assuming
any n to n+1 union transition is also allowed.)

Is this intentional? It was certainly not predictable.

--
Guy Rouillier

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