The attached tiny patch (not intended for application yet) provides a space for plperl functions to create and share session persistent data, which I should think would increase the utility of plperl. Essentially it creates a hash called %session_globals which it then injects into the safe container where plperl functions live.
Comments are welcome - this is just a proof of concept. If this seems good to people, I will try to use a similar mechanism to "register" plperl functions so they can call each other.
cheers
andrew
(stupid) example use (using dollar quoting in psql ;-) ):
andrew=# create function perlfunc() returns text language plperl as $$
andrew$# if (!exists $session_globals{x}) { $session_globals{x} = 'abcxyz'; }
andrew$# return $session_globals{x}++;
andrew$# $$;
CREATE FUNCTION
andrew=# select perlfunc();
perlfunc
----------
abcxyz
(1 row)
andrew=# select perlfunc(); perlfunc ---------- abcxza (1 row)
andrew=# create function perlfunc2() returns text language plperl as $$
andrew$# if (!exists $session_globals{x}) { $session_globals{x} = 'abcxyz'; }
andrew$# $session_globals{x} = reverse $session_globals{x};
andrew$# return $session_globals{x}++;
andrew$# $$;
CREATE FUNCTION
andrew=# select perlfunc2();
perlfunc2
-----------
bzxcba
(1 row)
andrew=# select perlfunc2(); perlfunc2 ----------- bbcxzb (1 row)
andrew=# select perlfunc(); perlfunc ---------- bbcxzc (1 row)
---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend
