Let me see if I can add more information here. PSQL appears to only retrieve table metadata when \d is given. For my interface, I will need the ability to present every column as a proper system object (int, byte array, currency, etc) depending on the db type. I will not be able to wait for the user of my interface to execute a method before retrieving this data so I will need to automatically retrieve it every time.
Having looked at the query issued by \d in PSQL, it would seem that I would need to issue that same query for every column in my select. I say that because it contains a join of pg_class and pg_attribute. Am I understanding this right? > -----Original Message----- > From: Rod Taylor [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 9:19 AM > To: Reggie Burnett > Cc: PostgreSQL-development > Subject: Re: [HACKERS] new interface > > On Fri, 2002-12-06 at 09:55, Reggie Burnett wrote: > > I'm working on a new interface to PostgreSQL and having a difficult > > time. Perhaps someone here can shed some light on the subject. > > > > 1. Am I correct in thinking that the OID that I receive with the > > RowDescription is the column type? I have several of those defined from > > The OID is just a relatively unique database wide row marker -- which > you cannot count on existing in user tables. Nothing more or less. In > some of the system tables it is used as a foreign key to records in > other system tables, but Oid by itself has no such meaning. > > > > > I have read through all the docs/faqs I can find and still have no good > > idea about this. > > Take a look at the 'System Catalog' documentation, and in psql the -E > option will show you the 'system' queries used to retrieve the > information for display in psql. > > -- > Rod Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > PGP Key: http://www.rbt.ca/rbtpub.asc ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly
