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+<!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>68.3. Extensibility</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="gist-builtin-opclasses.html" title="68.2. Built-in Operator Classes" /><link rel="next" href="gist-implementation.html" title="68.4. Implementation" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">68.3. Extensibility</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gist-builtin-opclasses.html" title="68.2. Built-in Operator Classes">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="gist.html" title="Chapter 68. GiST Indexes">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 68. GiST Indexes</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.2 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gist-implementation.html" title="68.4. Implementation">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="GIST-EXTENSIBILITY"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">68.3. Extensibility <a href="#GIST-EXTENSIBILITY" class="id_link">#</a></h2></div></div></div><p>
+ Traditionally, implementing a new index access method meant a lot of
+ difficult work. It was necessary to understand the inner workings of the
+ database, such as the lock manager and Write-Ahead Log. The
+ <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> interface has a high level of abstraction,
+ requiring the access method implementer only to implement the semantics of
+ the data type being accessed. The <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> layer itself
+ takes care of concurrency, logging and searching the tree structure.
+ </p><p>
+ This extensibility should not be confused with the extensibility of the
+ other standard search trees in terms of the data they can handle. For
+ example, <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> supports extensible B-trees
+ and hash indexes. That means that you can use
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> to build a B-tree or hash over any
+ data type you want. But B-trees only support range predicates
+ (<code class="literal">&lt;</code>, <code class="literal">=</code>, <code class="literal">&gt;</code>),
+ and hash indexes only support equality queries.
+ </p><p>
+ So if you index, say, an image collection with a
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> B-tree, you can only issue queries
+ such as <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">is imagex equal to imagey</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">is imagex less
+ than imagey</span>”</span> and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">is imagex greater than imagey</span>”</span>.
+ Depending on how you define <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">equals</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">less than</span>”</span>
+ and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">greater than</span>”</span> in this context, this could be useful.
+ However, by using a <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> based index, you could create
+ ways to ask domain-specific questions, perhaps <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">find all images of
+ horses</span>”</span> or <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">find all over-exposed images</span>”</span>.
+ </p><p>
+ All it takes to get a <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> access method up and running
+ is to implement several user-defined methods, which define the behavior of
+ keys in the tree. Of course these methods have to be pretty fancy to
+ support fancy queries, but for all the standard queries (B-trees,
+ R-trees, etc.) they're relatively straightforward. In short,
+ <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> combines extensibility along with generality, code
+ reuse, and a clean interface.
+ </p><p>
+ There are five methods that an index operator class for
+ <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> must provide, and six that are optional.
+ Correctness of the index is ensured
+ by proper implementation of the <code class="function">same</code>, <code class="function">consistent</code>
+ and <code class="function">union</code> methods, while efficiency (size and speed) of the
+ index will depend on the <code class="function">penalty</code> and <code class="function">picksplit</code>
+ methods.
+ Two optional methods are <code class="function">compress</code> and
+ <code class="function">decompress</code>, which allow an index to have internal tree data of
+ a different type than the data it indexes. The leaves are to be of the
+ indexed data type, while the other tree nodes can be of any C struct (but
+ you still have to follow <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> data type rules here,
+ see about <code class="literal">varlena</code> for variable sized data). If the tree's
+ internal data type exists at the SQL level, the <code class="literal">STORAGE</code> option
+ of the <code class="command">CREATE OPERATOR CLASS</code> command can be used.
+ The optional eighth method is <code class="function">distance</code>, which is needed
+ if the operator class wishes to support ordered scans (nearest-neighbor
+ searches). The optional ninth method <code class="function">fetch</code> is needed if the
+ operator class wishes to support index-only scans, except when the
+ <code class="function">compress</code> method is omitted. The optional tenth method
+ <code class="function">options</code> is needed if the operator class has
+ user-specified parameters.
+ The optional eleventh method <code class="function">sortsupport</code> is used to
+ speed up building a <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> index.
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">consistent</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Given an index entry <code class="literal">p</code> and a query value <code class="literal">q</code>,
+ this function determines whether the index entry is
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">consistent</span>”</span> with the query; that is, could the predicate
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote"><em class="replaceable"><code>indexed_column</code></em>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>indexable_operator</code></em> <code class="literal">q</code></span>”</span> be true for
+ any row represented by the index entry? For a leaf index entry this is
+ equivalent to testing the indexable condition, while for an internal
+ tree node this determines whether it is necessary to scan the subtree
+ of the index represented by the tree node. When the result is
+ <code class="literal">true</code>, a <code class="literal">recheck</code> flag must also be returned.
+ This indicates whether the predicate is certainly true or only possibly
+ true. If <code class="literal">recheck</code> = <code class="literal">false</code> then the index has
+ tested the predicate condition exactly, whereas if <code class="literal">recheck</code>
+ = <code class="literal">true</code> the row is only a candidate match. In that case the
+ system will automatically evaluate the
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>indexable_operator</code></em> against the actual row value to see
+ if it is really a match. This convention allows
+ <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> to support both lossless and lossy index
+ structures.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_consistent(internal, data_type, smallint, oid, internal)
+RETURNS bool
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_consistent);
+
+Datum
+my_consistent(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GISTENTRY *entry = (GISTENTRY *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ data_type *query = PG_GETARG_DATA_TYPE_P(1);
+ StrategyNumber strategy = (StrategyNumber) PG_GETARG_UINT16(2);
+ /* Oid subtype = PG_GETARG_OID(3); */
+ bool *recheck = (bool *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(4);
+ data_type *key = DatumGetDataType(entry-&gt;key);
+ bool retval;
+
+ /*
+ * determine return value as a function of strategy, key and query.
+ *
+ * Use GIST_LEAF(entry) to know where you're called in the index tree,
+ * which comes handy when supporting the = operator for example (you could
+ * check for non empty union() in non-leaf nodes and equality in leaf
+ * nodes).
+ */
+
+ *recheck = true; /* or false if check is exact */
+
+ PG_RETURN_BOOL(retval);
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ Here, <code class="varname">key</code> is an element in the index and <code class="varname">query</code>
+ the value being looked up in the index. The <code class="literal">StrategyNumber</code>
+ parameter indicates which operator of your operator class is being
+ applied — it matches one of the operator numbers in the
+ <code class="command">CREATE OPERATOR CLASS</code> command.
+ </p><p>
+ Depending on which operators you have included in the class, the data
+ type of <code class="varname">query</code> could vary with the operator, since it will
+ be whatever type is on the right-hand side of the operator, which might
+ be different from the indexed data type appearing on the left-hand side.
+ (The above code skeleton assumes that only one type is possible; if
+ not, fetching the <code class="varname">query</code> argument value would have to depend
+ on the operator.) It is recommended that the SQL declaration of
+ the <code class="function">consistent</code> function use the opclass's indexed data
+ type for the <code class="varname">query</code> argument, even though the actual type
+ might be something else depending on the operator.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">union</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This method consolidates information in the tree. Given a set of
+ entries, this function generates a new index entry that represents
+ all the given entries.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_union(internal, internal)
+RETURNS storage_type
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_union);
+
+Datum
+my_union(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GistEntryVector *entryvec = (GistEntryVector *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ GISTENTRY *ent = entryvec-&gt;vector;
+ data_type *out,
+ *tmp,
+ *old;
+ int numranges,
+ i = 0;
+
+ numranges = entryvec-&gt;n;
+ tmp = DatumGetDataType(ent[0].key);
+ out = tmp;
+
+ if (numranges == 1)
+ {
+ out = data_type_deep_copy(tmp);
+
+ PG_RETURN_DATA_TYPE_P(out);
+ }
+
+ for (i = 1; i &lt; numranges; i++)
+ {
+ old = out;
+ tmp = DatumGetDataType(ent[i].key);
+ out = my_union_implementation(out, tmp);
+ }
+
+ PG_RETURN_DATA_TYPE_P(out);
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ As you can see, in this skeleton we're dealing with a data type
+ where <code class="literal">union(X, Y, Z) = union(union(X, Y), Z)</code>. It's easy
+ enough to support data types where this is not the case, by
+ implementing the proper union algorithm in this
+ <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> support method.
+ </p><p>
+ The result of the <code class="function">union</code> function must be a value of the
+ index's storage type, whatever that is (it might or might not be
+ different from the indexed column's type). The <code class="function">union</code>
+ function should return a pointer to newly <code class="function">palloc()</code>ed
+ memory. You can't just return the input value as-is, even if there is
+ no type change.
+ </p><p>
+ As shown above, the <code class="function">union</code> function's
+ first <code class="type">internal</code> argument is actually
+ a <code class="structname">GistEntryVector</code> pointer. The second argument is a
+ pointer to an integer variable, which can be ignored. (It used to be
+ required that the <code class="function">union</code> function store the size of its
+ result value into that variable, but this is no longer necessary.)
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">compress</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Converts a data item into a format suitable for physical storage in
+ an index page.
+ If the <code class="function">compress</code> method is omitted, data items are stored
+ in the index without modification.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_compress(internal)
+RETURNS internal
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_compress);
+
+Datum
+my_compress(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GISTENTRY *entry = (GISTENTRY *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ GISTENTRY *retval;
+
+ if (entry-&gt;leafkey)
+ {
+ /* replace entry-&gt;key with a compressed version */
+ compressed_data_type *compressed_data = palloc(sizeof(compressed_data_type));
+
+ /* fill *compressed_data from entry-&gt;key ... */
+
+ retval = palloc(sizeof(GISTENTRY));
+ gistentryinit(*retval, PointerGetDatum(compressed_data),
+ entry-&gt;rel, entry-&gt;page, entry-&gt;offset, FALSE);
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ /* typically we needn't do anything with non-leaf entries */
+ retval = entry;
+ }
+
+ PG_RETURN_POINTER(retval);
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ You have to adapt <em class="replaceable"><code>compressed_data_type</code></em> to the specific
+ type you're converting to in order to compress your leaf nodes, of
+ course.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">decompress</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Converts the stored representation of a data item into a format that
+ can be manipulated by the other GiST methods in the operator class.
+ If the <code class="function">decompress</code> method is omitted, it is assumed that
+ the other GiST methods can work directly on the stored data format.
+ (<code class="function">decompress</code> is not necessarily the reverse of
+ the <code class="function">compress</code> method; in particular,
+ if <code class="function">compress</code> is lossy then it's impossible
+ for <code class="function">decompress</code> to exactly reconstruct the original
+ data. <code class="function">decompress</code> is not necessarily equivalent
+ to <code class="function">fetch</code>, either, since the other GiST methods might not
+ require full reconstruction of the data.)
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_decompress(internal)
+RETURNS internal
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_decompress);
+
+Datum
+my_decompress(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ PG_RETURN_POINTER(PG_GETARG_POINTER(0));
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ The above skeleton is suitable for the case where no decompression
+ is needed. (But, of course, omitting the method altogether is even
+ easier, and is recommended in such cases.)
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">penalty</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Returns a value indicating the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">cost</span>”</span> of inserting the new
+ entry into a particular branch of the tree. Items will be inserted
+ down the path of least <code class="function">penalty</code> in the tree.
+ Values returned by <code class="function">penalty</code> should be non-negative.
+ If a negative value is returned, it will be treated as zero.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_penalty(internal, internal, internal)
+RETURNS internal
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT; -- in some cases penalty functions need not be strict
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_penalty);
+
+Datum
+my_penalty(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GISTENTRY *origentry = (GISTENTRY *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ GISTENTRY *newentry = (GISTENTRY *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(1);
+ float *penalty = (float *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(2);
+ data_type *orig = DatumGetDataType(origentry-&gt;key);
+ data_type *new = DatumGetDataType(newentry-&gt;key);
+
+ *penalty = my_penalty_implementation(orig, new);
+ PG_RETURN_POINTER(penalty);
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ For historical reasons, the <code class="function">penalty</code> function doesn't
+ just return a <code class="type">float</code> result; instead it has to store the value
+ at the location indicated by the third argument. The return
+ value per se is ignored, though it's conventional to pass back the
+ address of that argument.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="function">penalty</code> function is crucial to good performance of
+ the index. It'll get used at insertion time to determine which branch
+ to follow when choosing where to add the new entry in the tree. At
+ query time, the more balanced the index, the quicker the lookup.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">picksplit</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ When an index page split is necessary, this function decides which
+ entries on the page are to stay on the old page, and which are to move
+ to the new page.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_picksplit(internal, internal)
+RETURNS internal
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_picksplit);
+
+Datum
+my_picksplit(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GistEntryVector *entryvec = (GistEntryVector *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ GIST_SPLITVEC *v = (GIST_SPLITVEC *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(1);
+ OffsetNumber maxoff = entryvec-&gt;n - 1;
+ GISTENTRY *ent = entryvec-&gt;vector;
+ int i,
+ nbytes;
+ OffsetNumber *left,
+ *right;
+ data_type *tmp_union;
+ data_type *unionL;
+ data_type *unionR;
+ GISTENTRY **raw_entryvec;
+
+ maxoff = entryvec-&gt;n - 1;
+ nbytes = (maxoff + 1) * sizeof(OffsetNumber);
+
+ v-&gt;spl_left = (OffsetNumber *) palloc(nbytes);
+ left = v-&gt;spl_left;
+ v-&gt;spl_nleft = 0;
+
+ v-&gt;spl_right = (OffsetNumber *) palloc(nbytes);
+ right = v-&gt;spl_right;
+ v-&gt;spl_nright = 0;
+
+ unionL = NULL;
+ unionR = NULL;
+
+ /* Initialize the raw entry vector. */
+ raw_entryvec = (GISTENTRY **) malloc(entryvec-&gt;n * sizeof(void *));
+ for (i = FirstOffsetNumber; i &lt;= maxoff; i = OffsetNumberNext(i))
+ raw_entryvec[i] = &amp;(entryvec-&gt;vector[i]);
+
+ for (i = FirstOffsetNumber; i &lt;= maxoff; i = OffsetNumberNext(i))
+ {
+ int real_index = raw_entryvec[i] - entryvec-&gt;vector;
+
+ tmp_union = DatumGetDataType(entryvec-&gt;vector[real_index].key);
+ Assert(tmp_union != NULL);
+
+ /*
+ * Choose where to put the index entries and update unionL and unionR
+ * accordingly. Append the entries to either v-&gt;spl_left or
+ * v-&gt;spl_right, and care about the counters.
+ */
+
+ if (my_choice_is_left(unionL, curl, unionR, curr))
+ {
+ if (unionL == NULL)
+ unionL = tmp_union;
+ else
+ unionL = my_union_implementation(unionL, tmp_union);
+
+ *left = real_index;
+ ++left;
+ ++(v-&gt;spl_nleft);
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ /*
+ * Same on the right
+ */
+ }
+ }
+
+ v-&gt;spl_ldatum = DataTypeGetDatum(unionL);
+ v-&gt;spl_rdatum = DataTypeGetDatum(unionR);
+ PG_RETURN_POINTER(v);
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ Notice that the <code class="function">picksplit</code> function's result is delivered
+ by modifying the passed-in <code class="structname">v</code> structure. The return
+ value per se is ignored, though it's conventional to pass back the
+ address of <code class="structname">v</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ Like <code class="function">penalty</code>, the <code class="function">picksplit</code> function
+ is crucial to good performance of the index. Designing suitable
+ <code class="function">penalty</code> and <code class="function">picksplit</code> implementations
+ is where the challenge of implementing well-performing
+ <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> indexes lies.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">same</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Returns true if two index entries are identical, false otherwise.
+ (An <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">index entry</span>”</span> is a value of the index's storage type,
+ not necessarily the original indexed column's type.)
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_same(storage_type, storage_type, internal)
+RETURNS internal
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_same);
+
+Datum
+my_same(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ prefix_range *v1 = PG_GETARG_PREFIX_RANGE_P(0);
+ prefix_range *v2 = PG_GETARG_PREFIX_RANGE_P(1);
+ bool *result = (bool *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(2);
+
+ *result = my_eq(v1, v2);
+ PG_RETURN_POINTER(result);
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ For historical reasons, the <code class="function">same</code> function doesn't
+ just return a Boolean result; instead it has to store the flag
+ at the location indicated by the third argument. The return
+ value per se is ignored, though it's conventional to pass back the
+ address of that argument.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">distance</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Given an index entry <code class="literal">p</code> and a query value <code class="literal">q</code>,
+ this function determines the index entry's
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">distance</span>”</span> from the query value. This function must be
+ supplied if the operator class contains any ordering operators.
+ A query using the ordering operator will be implemented by returning
+ index entries with the smallest <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">distance</span>”</span> values first,
+ so the results must be consistent with the operator's semantics.
+ For a leaf index entry the result just represents the distance to
+ the index entry; for an internal tree node, the result must be the
+ smallest distance that any child entry could have.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_distance(internal, data_type, smallint, oid, internal)
+RETURNS float8
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ And the matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_distance);
+
+Datum
+my_distance(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GISTENTRY *entry = (GISTENTRY *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ data_type *query = PG_GETARG_DATA_TYPE_P(1);
+ StrategyNumber strategy = (StrategyNumber) PG_GETARG_UINT16(2);
+ /* Oid subtype = PG_GETARG_OID(3); */
+ /* bool *recheck = (bool *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(4); */
+ data_type *key = DatumGetDataType(entry-&gt;key);
+ double retval;
+
+ /*
+ * determine return value as a function of strategy, key and query.
+ */
+
+ PG_RETURN_FLOAT8(retval);
+}
+</pre><p>
+
+ The arguments to the <code class="function">distance</code> function are identical to
+ the arguments of the <code class="function">consistent</code> function.
+ </p><p>
+ Some approximation is allowed when determining the distance, so long
+ as the result is never greater than the entry's actual distance. Thus,
+ for example, distance to a bounding box is usually sufficient in
+ geometric applications. For an internal tree node, the distance
+ returned must not be greater than the distance to any of the child
+ nodes. If the returned distance is not exact, the function must set
+ <code class="literal">*recheck</code> to true. (This is not necessary for internal tree
+ nodes; for them, the calculation is always assumed to be inexact.) In
+ this case the executor will calculate the accurate distance after
+ fetching the tuple from the heap, and reorder the tuples if necessary.
+ </p><p>
+ If the distance function returns <code class="literal">*recheck = true</code> for any
+ leaf node, the original ordering operator's return type must
+ be <code class="type">float8</code> or <code class="type">float4</code>, and the distance function's
+ result values must be comparable to those of the original ordering
+ operator, since the executor will sort using both distance function
+ results and recalculated ordering-operator results. Otherwise, the
+ distance function's result values can be any finite <code class="type">float8</code>
+ values, so long as the relative order of the result values matches the
+ order returned by the ordering operator. (Infinity and minus infinity
+ are used internally to handle cases such as nulls, so it is not
+ recommended that <code class="function">distance</code> functions return these values.)
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">fetch</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Converts the compressed index representation of a data item into the
+ original data type, for index-only scans. The returned data must be an
+ exact, non-lossy copy of the originally indexed value.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_fetch(internal)
+RETURNS internal
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ The argument is a pointer to a <code class="structname">GISTENTRY</code> struct. On
+ entry, its <code class="structfield">key</code> field contains a non-NULL leaf datum in
+ compressed form. The return value is another <code class="structname">GISTENTRY</code>
+ struct, whose <code class="structfield">key</code> field contains the same datum in its
+ original, uncompressed form. If the opclass's compress function does
+ nothing for leaf entries, the <code class="function">fetch</code> method can return the
+ argument as-is. Or, if the opclass does not have a compress function,
+ the <code class="function">fetch</code> method can be omitted as well, since it would
+ necessarily be a no-op.
+ </p><p>
+ The matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_fetch);
+
+Datum
+my_fetch(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ GISTENTRY *entry = (GISTENTRY *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ input_data_type *in = DatumGetPointer(entry-&gt;key);
+ fetched_data_type *fetched_data;
+ GISTENTRY *retval;
+
+ retval = palloc(sizeof(GISTENTRY));
+ fetched_data = palloc(sizeof(fetched_data_type));
+
+ /*
+ * Convert 'fetched_data' into the a Datum of the original datatype.
+ */
+
+ /* fill *retval from fetched_data. */
+ gistentryinit(*retval, PointerGetDatum(converted_datum),
+ entry-&gt;rel, entry-&gt;page, entry-&gt;offset, FALSE);
+
+ PG_RETURN_POINTER(retval);
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ If the compress method is lossy for leaf entries, the operator class
+ cannot support index-only scans, and must not define
+ a <code class="function">fetch</code> function.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">options</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Allows definition of user-visible parameters that control operator
+ class behavior.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_options(internal)
+RETURNS void
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ The function is passed a pointer to a <code class="structname">local_relopts</code>
+ struct, which needs to be filled with a set of operator class
+ specific options. The options can be accessed from other support
+ functions using the <code class="literal">PG_HAS_OPCLASS_OPTIONS()</code> and
+ <code class="literal">PG_GET_OPCLASS_OPTIONS()</code> macros.
+ </p><p>
+ An example implementation of my_options() and parameters use
+ from other support functions are given below:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+typedef enum MyEnumType
+{
+ MY_ENUM_ON,
+ MY_ENUM_OFF,
+ MY_ENUM_AUTO
+} MyEnumType;
+
+typedef struct
+{
+ int32 vl_len_; /* varlena header (do not touch directly!) */
+ int int_param; /* integer parameter */
+ double real_param; /* real parameter */
+ MyEnumType enum_param; /* enum parameter */
+ int str_param; /* string parameter */
+} MyOptionsStruct;
+
+/* String representation of enum values */
+static relopt_enum_elt_def myEnumValues[] =
+{
+ {"on", MY_ENUM_ON},
+ {"off", MY_ENUM_OFF},
+ {"auto", MY_ENUM_AUTO},
+ {(const char *) NULL} /* list terminator */
+};
+
+static char *str_param_default = "default";
+
+/*
+ * Sample validator: checks that string is not longer than 8 bytes.
+ */
+static void
+validate_my_string_relopt(const char *value)
+{
+ if (strlen(value) &gt; 8)
+ ereport(ERROR,
+ (errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_PARAMETER_VALUE),
+ errmsg("str_param must be at most 8 bytes")));
+}
+
+/*
+ * Sample filler: switches characters to lower case.
+ */
+static Size
+fill_my_string_relopt(const char *value, void *ptr)
+{
+ char *tmp = str_tolower(value, strlen(value), DEFAULT_COLLATION_OID);
+ int len = strlen(tmp);
+
+ if (ptr)
+ strcpy((char *) ptr, tmp);
+
+ pfree(tmp);
+ return len + 1;
+}
+
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_options);
+
+Datum
+my_options(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ local_relopts *relopts = (local_relopts *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+
+ init_local_reloptions(relopts, sizeof(MyOptionsStruct));
+ add_local_int_reloption(relopts, "int_param", "integer parameter",
+ 100, 0, 1000000,
+ offsetof(MyOptionsStruct, int_param));
+ add_local_real_reloption(relopts, "real_param", "real parameter",
+ 1.0, 0.0, 1000000.0,
+ offsetof(MyOptionsStruct, real_param));
+ add_local_enum_reloption(relopts, "enum_param", "enum parameter",
+ myEnumValues, MY_ENUM_ON,
+ "Valid values are: \"on\", \"off\" and \"auto\".",
+ offsetof(MyOptionsStruct, enum_param));
+ add_local_string_reloption(relopts, "str_param", "string parameter",
+ str_param_default,
+ &amp;validate_my_string_relopt,
+ &amp;fill_my_string_relopt,
+ offsetof(MyOptionsStruct, str_param));
+
+ PG_RETURN_VOID();
+}
+
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_compress);
+
+Datum
+my_compress(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ int int_param = 100;
+ double real_param = 1.0;
+ MyEnumType enum_param = MY_ENUM_ON;
+ char *str_param = str_param_default;
+
+ /*
+ * Normally, when opclass contains 'options' method, then options are always
+ * passed to support functions. However, if you add 'options' method to
+ * existing opclass, previously defined indexes have no options, so the
+ * check is required.
+ */
+ if (PG_HAS_OPCLASS_OPTIONS())
+ {
+ MyOptionsStruct *options = (MyOptionsStruct *) PG_GET_OPCLASS_OPTIONS();
+
+ int_param = options-&gt;int_param;
+ real_param = options-&gt;real_param;
+ enum_param = options-&gt;enum_param;
+ str_param = GET_STRING_RELOPTION(options, str_param);
+ }
+
+ /* the rest implementation of support function */
+}
+
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Since the representation of the key in <acronym class="acronym">GiST</acronym> is
+ flexible, it may depend on user-specified parameters. For instance,
+ the length of key signature may be specified. See
+ <code class="literal">gtsvector_options()</code> for example.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="function">sortsupport</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Returns a comparator function to sort data in a way that preserves
+ locality. It is used by <code class="command">CREATE INDEX</code> and
+ <code class="command">REINDEX</code> commands. The quality of the created index
+ depends on how well the sort order determined by the comparator function
+ preserves locality of the inputs.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="function">sortsupport</code> method is optional. If it is not
+ provided, <code class="command">CREATE INDEX</code> builds the index by inserting
+ each tuple to the tree using the <code class="function">penalty</code> and
+ <code class="function">picksplit</code> functions, which is much slower.
+ </p><p>
+ The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> declaration of the function must look like
+ this:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_sortsupport(internal)
+RETURNS void
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME'
+LANGUAGE C STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+
+ The argument is a pointer to a <code class="structname">SortSupport</code>
+ struct. At a minimum, the function must fill in its comparator field.
+ The comparator takes three arguments: two Datums to compare, and
+ a pointer to the <code class="structname">SortSupport</code> struct. The
+ Datums are the two indexed values in the format that they are stored
+ in the index; that is, in the format returned by the
+ <code class="function">compress</code> method. The full API is defined in
+ <code class="filename">src/include/utils/sortsupport.h</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ The matching code in the C module could then follow this skeleton:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(my_sortsupport);
+
+static int
+my_fastcmp(Datum x, Datum y, SortSupport ssup)
+{
+ /* establish order between x and y by computing some sorting value z */
+
+ int z1 = ComputeSpatialCode(x);
+ int z2 = ComputeSpatialCode(y);
+
+ return z1 == z2 ? 0 : z1 &gt; z2 ? 1 : -1;
+}
+
+Datum
+my_sortsupport(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ SortSupport ssup = (SortSupport) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+
+ ssup-&gt;comparator = my_fastcmp;
+ PG_RETURN_VOID();
+}
+</pre><p>
+ </p></dd></dl></div><p>
+ All the GiST support methods are normally called in short-lived memory
+ contexts; that is, <code class="varname">CurrentMemoryContext</code> will get reset after
+ each tuple is processed. It is therefore not very important to worry about
+ pfree'ing everything you palloc. However, in some cases it's useful for a
+ support method to cache data across repeated calls. To do that, allocate
+ the longer-lived data in <code class="literal">fcinfo-&gt;flinfo-&gt;fn_mcxt</code>, and
+ keep a pointer to it in <code class="literal">fcinfo-&gt;flinfo-&gt;fn_extra</code>. Such
+ data will survive for the life of the index operation (e.g., a single GiST
+ index scan, index build, or index tuple insertion). Be careful to pfree
+ the previous value when replacing a <code class="literal">fn_extra</code> value, or the leak
+ will accumulate for the duration of the operation.
+ </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gist-builtin-opclasses.html" title="68.2. Built-in Operator Classes">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="gist.html" title="Chapter 68. GiST Indexes">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gist-implementation.html" title="68.4. Implementation">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">68.2. Built-in Operator Classes </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.2 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 68.4. Implementation</td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file