On Dec 7, 11:42 pm, tony_cad...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Tony Caduto) wrote: > BigSmoke wrote: > > On Dec 7, 11:07 pm, mmonc...@xxxxxxxxx ("Merlin Moncure") wrote: > > >> On 7 Dec 2006 14:02:53 -0800, BigSmoke <bigsm...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > >>> I'm facing a particular task for which I need any procedural language > >>> but PL/PgSQL. I can't use PL/PgSQL because it doesn't allow me to use > >>> local variables such as new and old from a dynamic command. > > >> could you clarify what you are trying to do and why pl/pgsql cant do it? > > > I'm dealing with a trigger function which needs to check the nullness > > of a column in 'new' and 'old'. The catch is that the trigger function > > needs to take the name of that column as an argument. (I've tried a > > kludge which stores 'new' and 'old' in a temporary table, but this > > kludge seems too unreliable to trust.)Why can't you just use something like this: > > IF new.yourcolumnname IS NULL THEN > > END IF; > > I test for null in PLpgsql all the time. > > Am I missing something? Yes, you're missing something. ;-) Your example doesn't work in my case where mycolumnname is in argument that is passed to the function. - Rowan