The client has to read the incoming data stream for indications of the type of data that is coming next, then further read a description of each field name, type, and nullabillity in the event it is a dataset. It is not pretty. I don't know how the higher level interfaces handle it, but here is some interesting reading on TDS. It has changed a bit since 5.0, but the basics are the same. http://www.sybase.com/content/1013412/tds34.pdf Also, FreeTDS http://www.freetds.org is interesting. They have high level interfaces but I haven't had to use them. - Ian On 7/27/05, Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Wed, Jul 27, 2005 at 12:45:12PM +1000, Ezequiel Tolnay wrote: > > Ezequiel Tolnay wrote: > > >(...) A function is meant to return a > > >result (or a set of results) of a predefined type *during* execution, > > >whilst a stored procedure (...) > > > > I meant to say *after* instead of *during*. The capabilitie to return > > results during execution could only be suported by stored procedures. > > I know this is being fiddly but in PostgreSQL a function doesn't have > to return all its values in one go. It can, in a loop, do calculations, > return a row, do more calculations, return a row and these rows can be > received by the client in real time (ie not wait for completion). > > But your description of stored procedures was useful. It's basically > more like a script you would feed to psql. You indicate that the > procedure can return multiple sets. How is this handled by the client? > > If you're not returning data then it would be like a void function > using NOTICE to communicate with the client. > > Still, thanks for the info... > > Have a nice day, > -- > Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@xxxxxxxxx> http://svana.org/kleptog/ > > Patent. n. Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a > > tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone > > else to do the other 95% so you can sue them. > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
