Fix incomplete definition of ALTER TABLE ADD/DROP CONSTRAINT syntax.

Add some verbiage about recent tweaks to behavior of ADD and DROP
COLUMN when there are descendant tables.
This commit is contained in:
Tom Lane 2002-10-19 22:51:45 +00:00
parent 4a67565b37
commit 93dca0d224

View File

@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<!--
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml,v 1.50 2002/09/21 18:32:54 petere Exp $
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml,v 1.51 2002/10/19 22:51:45 tgl Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
-->
@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ * ]
class="PARAMETER">new_column</replaceable>
ALTER TABLE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
RENAME TO <replaceable class="PARAMETER">new_table</replaceable>
ALTER TABLE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
ADD <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table_constraint_definition</replaceable>
ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ * ]
ADD <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table_constraint</replaceable>
ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ * ]
DROP CONSTRAINT <replaceable class="PARAMETER">constraint_name</replaceable> [ RESTRICT | CASCADE ]
ALTER TABLE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
OWNER TO <replaceable class="PARAMETER">new_owner</replaceable>
@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ ALTER TABLE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable class="PARAMETER"> table_constraint_definition </replaceable></term>
<term><replaceable class="PARAMETER"> table_constraint </replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
New table constraint for the table.
@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ ALTER TABLE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ADD <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table_constraint_definition</replaceable></term>
<term>ADD <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table_constraint</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This form adds a new constraint to a table using the same syntax as
@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ ALTER TABLE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable>
<term>DROP CONSTRAINT</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This form drops constraints on a table (and its children).
This form drops constraints on a table.
Currently, constraints on tables are not required to have unique
names, so there may be more than one constraint matching the specified
name. All such constraints will be dropped.
@ -376,6 +376,22 @@ VACUUM FULL table;
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
If a table has any descendant tables, it is not permitted to ADD or
RENAME a column in the parent table without doing the same to the
descendants --- that is, ALTER TABLE ONLY will be rejected. This
ensures that the descendants always have columns matching the parent.
</para>
<para>
A recursive DROP COLUMN operation will remove a descendant table's column
only if the descendant does not inherit that column from any other
parents and never had an independent definition of the column.
A nonrecursive DROP COLUMN (i.e., ALTER TABLE ONLY ... DROP COLUMN)
never removes any descendant columns, but instead marks them as
independently defined rather than inherited.
</para>
<para>
Changing any part of the schema of a system
catalog is not permitted.