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><H1
CLASS="SECT1"
><A
NAME="INDEX-FUNCTIONS"
>54.2. Index Access Method Functions</A
></H1
><P
>   The index construction and maintenance functions that an index access
   method must provide are:
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>IndexBuildResult *
ambuild (Relation heapRelation,
         Relation indexRelation,
         IndexInfo *indexInfo);</PRE
><P>
   Build a new index.  The index relation has been physically created,
   but is empty.  It must be filled in with whatever fixed data the
   access method requires, plus entries for all tuples already existing
   in the table.  Ordinarily the <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambuild</CODE
> function will call
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>IndexBuildHeapScan()</CODE
> to scan the table for existing tuples
   and compute the keys that need to be inserted into the index.
   The function must return a palloc'd struct containing statistics about
   the new index.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>void
ambuildempty (Relation indexRelation);</PRE
><P>
   Build an empty index, and write it to the initialization fork (INIT_FORKNUM)
   of the given relation.  This method is called only for unlogged tables; the
   empty index written to the initialization fork will be copied over the main
   relation fork on each server restart.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>bool
aminsert (Relation indexRelation,
          Datum *values,
          bool *isnull,
          ItemPointer heap_tid,
          Relation heapRelation,
          IndexUniqueCheck checkUnique);</PRE
><P>
   Insert a new tuple into an existing index.  The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>values</TT
> and
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>isnull</TT
> arrays give the key values to be indexed, and
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>heap_tid</TT
> is the TID to be indexed.
   If the access method supports unique indexes (its
   <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_am</TT
>.<TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>amcanunique</TT
> flag is true) then
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>checkUnique</TT
> indicates the type of uniqueness check to
   perform.  This varies depending on whether the unique constraint is
   deferrable; see <A
HREF="index-unique-checks.html"
>Section 54.5</A
> for details.
   Normally the access method only needs the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>heapRelation</TT
>
   parameter when performing uniqueness checking (since then it will have to
   look into the heap to verify tuple liveness).
  </P
><P
>   The function's Boolean result value is significant only when
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>checkUnique</TT
> is <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>UNIQUE_CHECK_PARTIAL</TT
>.
   In this case a TRUE result means the new entry is known unique, whereas
   FALSE means it might be non-unique (and a deferred uniqueness check must
   be scheduled).  For other cases a constant FALSE result is recommended.
  </P
><P
>   Some indexes might not index all tuples.  If the tuple is not to be
   indexed, <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>aminsert</CODE
> should just return without doing anything.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>IndexBulkDeleteResult *
ambulkdelete (IndexVacuumInfo *info,
              IndexBulkDeleteResult *stats,
              IndexBulkDeleteCallback callback,
              void *callback_state);</PRE
><P>
   Delete tuple(s) from the index.  This is a <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"bulk delete"</SPAN
> operation
   that is intended to be implemented by scanning the whole index and checking
   each entry to see if it should be deleted.
   The passed-in <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>callback</TT
> function must be called, in the style
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>callback(<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>TID</I
></TT
>, callback_state) returns bool</TT
>,
   to determine whether any particular index entry, as identified by its
   referenced TID, is to be deleted.  Must return either NULL or a palloc'd
   struct containing statistics about the effects of the deletion operation.
   It is OK to return NULL if no information needs to be passed on to
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amvacuumcleanup</CODE
>.
  </P
><P
>   Because of limited <TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>maintenance_work_mem</TT
>,
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambulkdelete</CODE
> might need to be called more than once when many
   tuples are to be deleted.  The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>stats</TT
> argument is the result
   of the previous call for this index (it is NULL for the first call within a
   <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>VACUUM</TT
> operation).  This allows the AM to accumulate statistics
   across the whole operation.  Typically, <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambulkdelete</CODE
> will
   modify and return the same struct if the passed <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>stats</TT
> is not
   null.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>IndexBulkDeleteResult *
amvacuumcleanup (IndexVacuumInfo *info,
                 IndexBulkDeleteResult *stats);</PRE
><P>
   Clean up after a <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>VACUUM</TT
> operation (zero or more
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambulkdelete</CODE
> calls).  This does not have to do anything
   beyond returning index statistics, but it might perform bulk cleanup
   such as reclaiming empty index pages.  <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>stats</TT
> is whatever the
   last <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambulkdelete</CODE
> call returned, or NULL if
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambulkdelete</CODE
> was not called because no tuples needed to be
   deleted.  If the result is not NULL it must be a palloc'd struct.
   The statistics it contains will be used to update <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_class</TT
>,
   and will be reported by <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>VACUUM</TT
> if <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>VERBOSE</TT
> is given.
   It is OK to return NULL if the index was not changed at all during the
   <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>VACUUM</TT
> operation, but otherwise correct stats should
   be returned.
  </P
><P
>   As of <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> 8.4,
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amvacuumcleanup</CODE
> will also be called at completion of an
   <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>ANALYZE</TT
> operation.  In this case <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>stats</TT
> is always
   NULL and any return value will be ignored.  This case can be distinguished
   by checking <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>info-&gt;analyze_only</TT
>.  It is recommended
   that the access method do nothing except post-insert cleanup in such a
   call, and that only in an autovacuum worker process.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>bool
amcanreturn (Relation indexRelation);</PRE
><P>
   Check whether the index can support <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>index-only scans</I
> by
   returning the indexed column values for an index entry in the form of an
   IndexTuple.  Return TRUE if so, else FALSE.  If the index AM can never
   support index-only scans (an example is hash, which stores only
   the hash values not the original data), it is sufficient to set its
   <TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>amcanreturn</TT
> field to zero in <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_am</TT
>.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>void
amcostestimate (PlannerInfo *root,
                IndexPath *path,
                double loop_count,
                Cost *indexStartupCost,
                Cost *indexTotalCost,
                Selectivity *indexSelectivity,
                double *indexCorrelation);</PRE
><P>
   Estimate the costs of an index scan.  This function is described fully
   in <A
HREF="index-cost-estimation.html"
>Section 54.6</A
>, below.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>bytea *
amoptions (ArrayType *reloptions,
           bool validate);</PRE
><P>
   Parse and validate the reloptions array for an index.  This is called only
   when a non-null reloptions array exists for the index.
   <TT
CLASS="PARAMETER"
>reloptions</TT
> is a <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>text</TT
> array containing entries of the
   form <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
><TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>=</TT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>value</I
></TT
>.
   The function should construct a <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>bytea</TT
> value, which will be copied
   into the <TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>rd_options</TT
> field of the index's relcache entry.
   The data contents of the <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>bytea</TT
> value are open for the access
   method to define; most of the standard access methods use struct
   <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>StdRdOptions</TT
>.
   When <TT
CLASS="PARAMETER"
>validate</TT
> is true, the function should report a suitable
   error message if any of the options are unrecognized or have invalid
   values; when <TT
CLASS="PARAMETER"
>validate</TT
> is false, invalid entries should be
   silently ignored.  (<TT
CLASS="PARAMETER"
>validate</TT
> is false when loading options
   already stored in <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_catalog</TT
>; an invalid entry could only
   be found if the access method has changed its rules for options, and in
   that case ignoring obsolete entries is appropriate.)
   It is OK to return NULL if default behavior is wanted.
  </P
><P
>   The purpose of an index, of course, is to support scans for tuples matching
   an indexable <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>WHERE</TT
> condition, often called a
   <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>qualifier</I
> or <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>scan key</I
>.  The semantics of
   index scanning are described more fully in <A
HREF="index-scanning.html"
>Section 54.3</A
>,
   below.  An index access method can support <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"plain"</SPAN
> index scans,
   <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"bitmap"</SPAN
> index scans, or both.  The scan-related functions that an
   index access method must or may provide are:
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>IndexScanDesc
ambeginscan (Relation indexRelation,
             int nkeys,
             int norderbys);</PRE
><P>
   Prepare for an index scan.  The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>nkeys</TT
> and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>norderbys</TT
>
   parameters indicate the number of quals and ordering operators that will be
   used in the scan; these may be useful for space allocation purposes.
   Note that the actual values of the scan keys aren't provided yet.
   The result must be a palloc'd struct.
   For implementation reasons the index access method
   <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>must</I
></SPAN
> create this struct by calling
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>RelationGetIndexScan()</CODE
>.  In most cases
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambeginscan</CODE
> does little beyond making that call and perhaps
   acquiring locks;
   the interesting parts of index-scan startup are in <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amrescan</CODE
>.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>void
amrescan (IndexScanDesc scan,
          ScanKey keys,
          int nkeys,
          ScanKey orderbys,
          int norderbys);</PRE
><P>
   Start or restart an index scan, possibly with new scan keys.  (To restart
   using previously-passed keys, NULL is passed for <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>keys</TT
> and/or
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>orderbys</TT
>.)  Note that it is not allowed for
   the number of keys or order-by operators to be larger than
   what was passed to <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>ambeginscan</CODE
>.  In practice the restart
   feature is used when a new outer tuple is selected by a nested-loop join
   and so a new key comparison value is needed, but the scan key structure
   remains the same.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>boolean
amgettuple (IndexScanDesc scan,
            ScanDirection direction);</PRE
><P>
   Fetch the next tuple in the given scan, moving in the given
   direction (forward or backward in the index).  Returns TRUE if a tuple was
   obtained, FALSE if no matching tuples remain.  In the TRUE case the tuple
   TID is stored into the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>scan</TT
> structure.  Note that
   <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"success"</SPAN
> means only that the index contains an entry that matches
   the scan keys, not that the tuple necessarily still exists in the heap or
   will pass the caller's snapshot test.  On success, <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgettuple</CODE
>
   must also set <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>scan-&gt;xs_recheck</TT
> to TRUE or FALSE.
   FALSE means it is certain that the index entry matches the scan keys.
   TRUE means this is not certain, and the conditions represented by the
   scan keys must be rechecked against the heap tuple after fetching it.
   This provision supports <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"lossy"</SPAN
> index operators.
   Note that rechecking will extend only to the scan conditions; a partial
   index predicate (if any) is never rechecked by <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgettuple</CODE
>
   callers.
  </P
><P
>   If the index supports index-only scans (i.e.,
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amcanreturn</CODE
> returns TRUE for it),
   then on success the AM must also check
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>scan-&gt;xs_want_itup</TT
>, and if that is true it must return
   the original indexed data for the index entry, in the form of an
   <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>IndexTuple</TT
> pointer stored at <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>scan-&gt;xs_itup</TT
>,
   with tuple descriptor <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>scan-&gt;xs_itupdesc</TT
>.
   (Management of the data referenced by the pointer is the access method's
   responsibility.  The data must remain good at least until the next
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgettuple</CODE
>, <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amrescan</CODE
>, or <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amendscan</CODE
>
   call for the scan.)
  </P
><P
>   The <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgettuple</CODE
> function need only be provided if the access
   method supports <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"plain"</SPAN
> index scans.  If it doesn't, the
   <TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>amgettuple</TT
> field in its <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_am</TT
> row must
   be set to zero.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>int64
amgetbitmap (IndexScanDesc scan,
             TIDBitmap *tbm);</PRE
><P>
   Fetch all tuples in the given scan and add them to the caller-supplied
   <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>TIDBitmap</TT
> (that is, OR the set of tuple IDs into whatever set is already
   in the bitmap).  The number of tuples fetched is returned (this might be
   just an approximate count, for instance some AMs do not detect duplicates).
   While inserting tuple IDs into the bitmap, <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgetbitmap</CODE
> can
   indicate that rechecking of the scan conditions is required for specific
   tuple IDs.  This is analogous to the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>xs_recheck</TT
> output parameter
   of <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgettuple</CODE
>.  Note: in the current implementation, support
   for this feature is conflated with support for lossy storage of the bitmap
   itself, and therefore callers recheck both the scan conditions and the
   partial index predicate (if any) for recheckable tuples.  That might not
   always be true, however.
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgetbitmap</CODE
> and
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgettuple</CODE
> cannot be used in the same index scan; there
   are other restrictions too when using <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgetbitmap</CODE
>, as explained
   in <A
HREF="index-scanning.html"
>Section 54.3</A
>.
  </P
><P
>   The <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amgetbitmap</CODE
> function need only be provided if the access
   method supports <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"bitmap"</SPAN
> index scans.  If it doesn't, the
   <TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>amgetbitmap</TT
> field in its <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_am</TT
> row must
   be set to zero.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>void
amendscan (IndexScanDesc scan);</PRE
><P>
   End a scan and release resources.  The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>scan</TT
> struct itself
   should not be freed, but any locks or pins taken internally by the
   access method must be released.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>void
ammarkpos (IndexScanDesc scan);</PRE
><P>
   Mark current scan position.  The access method need only support one
   remembered scan position per scan.
  </P
><P
></P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>void
amrestrpos (IndexScanDesc scan);</PRE
><P>
   Restore the scan to the most recently marked position.
  </P
><P
>   By convention, the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>pg_proc</TT
> entry for an index
   access method function should show the correct number of arguments,
   but declare them all as type <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>internal</TT
> (since most of the arguments
   have types that are not known to SQL, and we don't want users calling
   the functions directly anyway).  The return type is declared as
   <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>void</TT
>, <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>internal</TT
>, or <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>boolean</TT
> as appropriate.
   The only exception is <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amoptions</CODE
>, which should be correctly
   declared as taking <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>text[]</TT
> and <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>bool</TT
> and returning
   <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>bytea</TT
>.  This provision allows client code to execute
   <CODE
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>amoptions</CODE
> to test validity of options settings.
  </P
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