Thread

1. Lost a function overloading capability?

   Thomas Lockhart <lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu> — 1998-02-18T07:49:33Z

   I was updating some utilities in config/ the other day and noticed that
   we have apparently lost a capability for function overloading on
   built-in functions:
   
     CREATE FUNCTION abstime_datetime(int4)
     RETURNS datetime AS '-' LANGUAGE 'internal';
   
   used to allow me to overload the built-in function abstime_datetime() to
   convert Unix system times stored as integers into a datetime type. I can
   still define it, but it never gets a good input value. For example,
   after defining this function I should be able to say:
   
     SELECT abstime_datetime(0);
     abstime_datetime
     ----------------------------
     Tue Apr 23 13:51:12 1974 GMT
     (1 row)
   
   should give me 'Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 GMT' instead. Input values
   which should be passed by reference are also affected.
   
   Does this ring a bell with anyone? Could something have changed with the
   inclusion of the PL interface (just speculating here)? It would be nice
   to get this capability back, and if not then to remove my contrib code
   which no longer works :(
   
                                                             - Tom
   
   Another possibility is that I am not remembering the right way to do
   this, _and_ didn't remember correctly _and_ didn't test anything back
   when I make the unixdate.sql contrib file. I don't _think_ I would have
   missed all of these steps, but...
   
   
   

2. Re: [HACKERS] Lost a function overloading capability?

   Jan Wieck <jwieck@debis.com> — 1998-02-19T10:26:29Z

   Tom wrote:
   >
   > I was updating some utilities in config/ the other day and noticed that
   > we have apparently lost a capability for function overloading on
   > built-in functions:
   >
   >   CREATE FUNCTION abstime_datetime(int4)
   >   RETURNS datetime AS '-' LANGUAGE 'internal';
   >
   > used to allow me to overload the built-in function abstime_datetime() to
   > convert Unix system times stored as integers into a datetime type. I can
   > still define it, but it never gets a good input value. For example,
   > after defining this function I should be able to say:
   >
   >   SELECT abstime_datetime(0);
   >   abstime_datetime
   >   ----------------------------
   >   Tue Apr 23 13:51:12 1974 GMT
   >   (1 row)
   >
   > should give me 'Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 GMT' instead. Input values
   > which should be passed by reference are also affected.
   
       With  the  Feb/13  cvs  sources  this  still  worked (haven't
       checked newer one). It returns "epoch" (that is Jan 01  ...).
   
   >
   > Does this ring a bell with anyone? Could something have changed with the
   > inclusion of the PL interface (just speculating here)? It would be nice
   > to get this capability back, and if not then to remove my contrib code
   > which no longer works :(
   
       I  don't  think  the PL interface can cause things like this.
       But I wonder how this could happen at all. The recently fixed
       bug  in  CREATE FUNCTION (proretset true due to TypeName node
       from parser) isn't a candidate  for  that  -  it  would  have
       returned NO data at all.
   
   >
   >                                                           - Tom
   >
   > Another possibility is that I am not remembering the right way to do
   > this, _and_ didn't remember correctly _and_ didn't test anything back
   > when I make the unixdate.sql contrib file. I don't _think_ I would have
   > missed all of these steps, but...
   >
   >
   >
   
   
   A little confused, Jan
   
   
   --
   
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   # It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than for being right. #
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