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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>39.3. Writing Trigger Functions in C</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="trigger-datachanges.html" title="39.2. Visibility of Data Changes" /><link rel="next" href="trigger-example.html" title="39.4. A Complete Trigger Example" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">39.3. Writing Trigger Functions in C</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="trigger-datachanges.html" title="39.2. Visibility of Data Changes">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="triggers.html" title="Chapter 39. Triggers">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 39. Triggers</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="trigger-example.html" title="39.4. A Complete Trigger Example">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="TRIGGER-INTERFACE"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">39.3. Writing Trigger Functions in C</h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.8.4.7.2" class="indexterm"></a><a id="id-1.8.4.7.3" class="indexterm"></a><p>
    This section describes the low-level details of the interface to a
    trigger function.  This information is only needed when writing
    trigger functions in C.  If you are using a higher-level language then
    these details are handled for you.  In most cases you should consider
    using a procedural language before writing your triggers in C.  The
    documentation of each procedural language explains how to write a
    trigger in that language.
   </p><p>
    Trigger functions must use the <span class="quote"><span class="quote">version 1</span></span> function manager
    interface.
   </p><p>
    When a function is called by the trigger manager, it is not passed
    any normal arguments, but it is passed a <span class="quote"><span class="quote">context</span></span>
    pointer pointing to a <code class="structname">TriggerData</code> structure.  C
    functions can check whether they were called from the trigger
    manager or not by executing the macro:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
CALLED_AS_TRIGGER(fcinfo)
</pre><p>
    which expands to:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
((fcinfo)-&gt;context != NULL &amp;&amp; IsA((fcinfo)-&gt;context, TriggerData))
</pre><p>
    If this returns true, then it is safe to cast
    <code class="literal">fcinfo-&gt;context</code> to type <code class="literal">TriggerData
    *</code> and make use of the pointed-to
    <code class="structname">TriggerData</code> structure.  The function must
    <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> alter the <code class="structname">TriggerData</code>
    structure or any of the data it points to.
   </p><p>
    <code class="structname">struct TriggerData</code> is defined in
    <code class="filename">commands/trigger.h</code>:

</p><pre class="programlisting">
typedef struct TriggerData
{
    NodeTag          type;
    TriggerEvent     tg_event;
    Relation         tg_relation;
    HeapTuple        tg_trigtuple;
    HeapTuple        tg_newtuple;
    Trigger         *tg_trigger;
    TupleTableSlot  *tg_trigslot;
    TupleTableSlot  *tg_newslot;
    Tuplestorestate *tg_oldtable;
    Tuplestorestate *tg_newtable;
    const Bitmapset *tg_updatedcols;
} TriggerData;
</pre><p>

    where the members are defined as follows:

    </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">type</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        Always <code class="literal">T_TriggerData</code>.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_event</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        Describes the event for which the function is called. You can use the
        following macros to examine <code class="literal">tg_event</code>:

        </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_BEFORE(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger fired before the operation.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_AFTER(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger fired after the operation.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_INSTEAD(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger fired instead of the operation.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_FOR_ROW(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger fired for a row-level event.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_FOR_STATEMENT(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger fired for a statement-level event.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_BY_INSERT(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger was fired by an <code class="command">INSERT</code> command.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_BY_UPDATE(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger was fired by an <code class="command">UPDATE</code> command.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_BY_DELETE(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger was fired by a <code class="command">DELETE</code> command.
           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">TRIGGER_FIRED_BY_TRUNCATE(tg_event)</code></span></dt><dd><p>
            Returns true if the trigger was fired by a <code class="command">TRUNCATE</code> command.
           </p></dd></dl></div><p>
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_relation</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        A pointer to a structure describing the relation that the trigger fired for.
        Look at <code class="filename">utils/rel.h</code> for details about
        this structure.  The most interesting things are
        <code class="literal">tg_relation-&gt;rd_att</code> (descriptor of the relation
        tuples) and <code class="literal">tg_relation-&gt;rd_rel-&gt;relname</code>
        (relation name; the type is not <code class="type">char*</code> but
        <code class="type">NameData</code>; use
        <code class="literal">SPI_getrelname(tg_relation)</code> to get a <code class="type">char*</code> if you
        need a copy of the name).
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_trigtuple</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        A pointer to the row for which the trigger was fired. This is
        the row being inserted, updated, or deleted.  If this trigger
        was fired for an <code class="command">INSERT</code> or
        <code class="command">DELETE</code> then this is what you should return
        from the function if you don't want to replace the row with
        a different one (in the case of <code class="command">INSERT</code>) or
        skip the operation.  For triggers on foreign tables, values of system
        columns herein are unspecified.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_newtuple</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        A pointer to the new version of the row, if the trigger was
        fired for an <code class="command">UPDATE</code>, and <code class="symbol">NULL</code> if
        it is for an <code class="command">INSERT</code> or a
        <code class="command">DELETE</code>. This is what you have to return
        from the function if the event is an <code class="command">UPDATE</code>
        and you don't want to replace this row by a different one or
        skip the operation.  For triggers on foreign tables, values of system
        columns herein are unspecified.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_trigger</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        A pointer to a structure of type <code class="structname">Trigger</code>,
        defined in <code class="filename">utils/reltrigger.h</code>:

</p><pre class="programlisting">
typedef struct Trigger
{
    Oid         tgoid;
    char       *tgname;
    Oid         tgfoid;
    int16       tgtype;
    char        tgenabled;
    bool        tgisinternal;
    bool        tgisclone;
    Oid         tgconstrrelid;
    Oid         tgconstrindid;
    Oid         tgconstraint;
    bool        tgdeferrable;
    bool        tginitdeferred;
    int16       tgnargs;
    int16       tgnattr;
    int16      *tgattr;
    char      **tgargs;
    char       *tgqual;
    char       *tgoldtable;
    char       *tgnewtable;
} Trigger;
</pre><p>

       where <code class="structfield">tgname</code> is the trigger's name,
       <code class="structfield">tgnargs</code> is the number of arguments in
       <code class="structfield">tgargs</code>, and <code class="structfield">tgargs</code> is an array of
       pointers to the arguments specified in the <code class="command">CREATE
       TRIGGER</code> statement. The other members are for internal use
       only.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_trigslot</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        The slot containing <code class="structfield">tg_trigtuple</code>,
        or a <code class="symbol">NULL</code> pointer if there is no such tuple.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_newslot</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        The slot containing <code class="structfield">tg_newtuple</code>,
        or a <code class="symbol">NULL</code> pointer if there is no such tuple.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_oldtable</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        A pointer to a structure of type <code class="structname">Tuplestorestate</code>
        containing zero or more rows in the format specified by
        <code class="structfield">tg_relation</code>, or a <code class="symbol">NULL</code> pointer
        if there is no <code class="literal">OLD TABLE</code> transition relation.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_newtable</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        A pointer to a structure of type <code class="structname">Tuplestorestate</code>
        containing zero or more rows in the format specified by
        <code class="structfield">tg_relation</code>, or a <code class="symbol">NULL</code> pointer
        if there is no <code class="literal">NEW TABLE</code> transition relation.
       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="structfield">tg_updatedcols</code></span></dt><dd><p>
        For <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> triggers, a bitmap set indicating the
        columns that were updated by the triggering command.  Generic trigger
        functions can use this to optimize actions by not having to deal with
        columns that were not changed.
       </p><p>
        As an example, to determine whether a column with attribute number
        <code class="varname">attnum</code> (1-based) is a member of this bitmap set,
        call <code class="literal">bms_is_member(attnum -
        FirstLowInvalidHeapAttributeNumber,
        trigdata-&gt;tg_updatedcols))</code>.
       </p><p>
        For triggers other than <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> triggers, this will
        be <code class="symbol">NULL</code>.
       </p></dd></dl></div><p>
   </p><p>
    To allow queries issued through SPI to reference transition tables, see
    <a class="xref" href="spi-spi-register-trigger-data.html" title="SPI_register_trigger_data"><span class="refentrytitle">SPI_register_trigger_data</span></a>.
   </p><p>
    A trigger function must return either a
    <code class="structname">HeapTuple</code> pointer or a <code class="symbol">NULL</code> pointer
    (<span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> an SQL null value, that is, do not set <em class="parameter"><code>isNull</code></em> true).
    Be careful to return either
    <code class="structfield">tg_trigtuple</code> or <code class="structfield">tg_newtuple</code>,
    as appropriate, if you don't want to modify the row being operated on.
   </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="trigger-datachanges.html" title="39.2. Visibility of Data Changes">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="triggers.html" title="Chapter 39. Triggers">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="trigger-example.html" title="39.4. A Complete Trigger Example">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">39.2. Visibility of Data Changes </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 39.4. A Complete Trigger Example</td></tr></table></div></body></html>