On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 01:16:45PM +0200, Gilles Darold wrote: > Hi, > > > Here is a proposal to implement HIDDEN columns feature in PostgreSQL. >
Great! Actually I found this very useful, especially for those people using big fields (geometry, files, large texts). > The user defined columns are always visible in the PostgreSQL. If user > wants to hide some column(s) from a SELECT * returned values then the > hidden columns feature is useful. Hidden column can always be used and > returned by explicitly referring it in the query. > > I agree that views are done for that or that using a SELECT * is a bad > practice An a common one, even if we want to think otherwise. I have found that in almost every customer I have the bad luck to get to see code or SELECTs. Not counting that sometimes we have columns for optimization like Dave saved about hidden a ts_vector column. Another use case I can think of is not covered in this patch, but it could be (I hope!) or even if not I would like opinions on this idea. What about a boolean GUC log_hidden_column that throws a LOG message when a hidden column is used directly? The intention is to mark a to-be-deleted column as HIDDEN and then check the logs to understand if is still being used somewhere. I know systems where they carry the baggage of deprecated columns only because they don't know if some system is still using them. I know this would be extending your original proposal, and understand if you decide is not a first patch material. Anyway, a +1 to your proposal. -- Jaime Casanova Director de Servicios Profesionales SystemGuards - Consultores de PostgreSQL
