[vox-tech] pl/pgsql question: dynamic access to record.column

[Jeff Newmiller]

Dylan Beaudette wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am learning how to use PL/PGSQL and have come upon something that I just 
> don't seem to be able to solve on my own. 
> 
> I have a function, which takes a column name as an argument. A FOR loop 
> iterates over rows, using a RECORD datatype to store each iteration of the 
> loop. 
> 
> If I hard-code in a column name into some calculation, things work fine. 
> However, I cannot seem to figure out how to _dynamically_ access a column 
> from a RECORD datatype:

My recommendation is... DON'T. SQL is very inefficient that way.

Instead of setting up your tables with a bunch of columns you need to
iterate over, set up one additional column that contains the "index" for
whatever you were iterating over by columns. and have a "values" column
to hold the data.

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