Return a record with PL/pgSQL function - to speed up the query

Question

I have a non-forking game daemon written in Perl, which uses acync queries to write player stats into a PostgreSQL 9.3 database. But when I need to read something from database (like if a player is banned or if the player has a VIP status), then I use synchronous queries.

This makes the game stop for a short moment, until the value has been read from the database.

I can not rewrite my game daemon to use async queries for reading values (I tried, but it required too many changes), so my question is: would it make sense to combine several unrelated queries (that I need to make when a new player connects) to 1 procedure and how could I return several values at the same time to my Perl program?

My current queries all take a player ID as parameter and return 1 value:

-- Has the player been banned?
select true from pref_ban where id=?

-- What is the reputation of this player?
select
count(nullif(nice, false)) -
count(nullif(nice, true)) as rep
from pref_rep where id=?

-- Is he or she a special VIP player?
select vip > now() as vip from pref_users where id=?

-- How many games has the player played to the end?
select completed from pref_match where id=?

To combine the above queries I probably need a procedure like this one:

create or replace function get_user_info(_id varchar) returns XXX as $BODY$
    declare
        is_banned boolean;
        reputation integer;
        is_vip boolean;
        completed_games integer;
    begin

        select 1 into is_banned from pref_ban where id=_id;

        select
        count(nullif(nice, false)) -
        count(nullif(nice, true)) 
        into reputation
        from pref_rep where id=_id;

        select vip > now() into is_vip from pref_users where id=_id;

        select completed into completed_games from pref_match where id=_id;

        return XXX; /* How to return 4 values here? */

    end;
$BODY$ language plpgsql;

Please help me to declare the above procedure properly.

Answer 1

Using OUT parameters achieve basically the same thing as in @klin's answer, but without creating user-defined types. Just move all your variables from the declare block into the argument-list as OUT parameters:

create or replace function get_user_info(
    IN  _id varchar,
    OUT is_banned boolean,
    OUT reputation integer,
    OUT is_vip boolean,
    OUT completed_games integer
)
-- no returns clause necessary, output structure controlled by OUT parameters
-- returns XXX
as $BODY$
begin
    select true into is_banned from pref_ban where id=_id;

    select
    count(nullif(nice, false)) -
    count(nullif(nice, true)) 
    into reputation
    from pref_rep where id=_id;

    select vip > now() into is_vip from pref_users where id=_id;

    select completed into completed_games from pref_match where id=_id;

    -- no return statement necessary, output values already stored in OUT parameters
    -- return XXX;
end
$BODY$ language plpgsql;

This will return a record (exactly one), so you can select its values as a normal record:

-- this will return all properties (columns) from your function:
select * from get_user_info();

-- these will return one property (column) from your function:
select is_banned from get_user_info();
select (get_user_info()).is_banned;

Answer 2

You should define a composite type. You can use it as return type of function and for record variables inside a function.

Example:

create type user_type as (
    is_banned boolean,
    reputation integer,
    is_vip boolean,
    completed_games integer);

create or replace function check_user_type ()
returns user_type language plpgsql as $$
declare
    rec user_type;
begin
    select true into rec.is_banned;
    select 100 into rec.reputation;
    select false into rec.is_vip;
    select 22 into rec.completed_games;
--  you can do the same in a little bit nicer way:
--  select true, 100, false, 22 into rec
    return rec;
end $$;

select * from check_user_type();

In my opinion using functions like this is quite reasonable in terms of both performance and application logic.

---

User-defined composite types are very useful if you want to return set of rows from your function. Then you should define return type of the function as setof composite-type and use return next or return query.

Example:

create or replace function check_set_of_user_type ()
returns setof user_type language plpgsql as $$
declare
    rec user_type;
begin
    for rec in
        select i/2*2 = i, i, i < 3, i+ 20
        from generate_series(1, 4) i
    loop
        return next rec;
    end loop;

    return query 
        select true, 100+ i, true, 100+ i
        from generate_series(1, 2) i;
end $$;

select * from check_set_of_user_type();

 is_banned | reputation | is_vip | completed_games
-----------+------------+--------+-----------------
 f         |          1 | t      |              21
 t         |          2 | t      |              22
 f         |          3 | f      |              23
 t         |          4 | f      |              24
 t         |        101 | t      |             101
 t         |        102 | t      |             102