"David G. Johnston" <[email protected]> writes:
> On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 9:41 PM Tom Lane <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Guyren Howe <[email protected]> writes:
>>> This seems like an important consideration. I've spent 10 minutes
>>> searching the documentation for PG 11 and can't find where it is
>>> documented. Perhaps it should be made more prominent?
>> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/xproc.html
> CREATE FUNCTION links into 37.3 but CREATE PROCEDURE doesn't link into 37.4
> Even if this may not be sufficient it seems reasonable to at least remain
> consistent. I suspect most people start at CREATE, not "Server
> Programming".
Yeah, fair point, and it also seems like we ought to give those links
more prominence. In the attached proposed patch, I put them into the
introductory section of the reference pages. I also failed to resist
the temptation to do some wordsmithing in 38.4 ...
regards, tom lane
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml
index 9d41967ad3..9242c54329 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml
@@ -1959,7 +1959,8 @@ SELECT * FROM get_available_flightid(CURRENT_DATE);
or <command>DO</command> block can call a procedure
using <command>CALL</command>. Output parameters are handled
differently from the way that <command>CALL</command> works in plain
- SQL. Each <literal>INOUT</literal> parameter of the procedure must
+ SQL. Each <literal>OUT</literal> or <literal>INOUT</literal>
+ parameter of the procedure must
correspond to a variable in the <command>CALL</command> statement, and
whatever the procedure returns is assigned back to that variable after
it returns. For example:
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_function.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_function.sgml
index 3c1eaea651..d18a5ab5d2 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_function.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_function.sgml
@@ -100,6 +100,11 @@ CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] FUNCTION
To be able to create a function, you must have <literal>USAGE</literal>
privilege on the argument types and the return type.
</para>
+
+ <para>
+ Refer to <xref linkend="xfunc"/> for further information on writing
+ functions.
+ </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
@@ -578,12 +583,6 @@ CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] FUNCTION
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
-
- <para>
- Refer to <xref linkend="xfunc"/> for further information on writing
- functions.
- </para>
-
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="sql-createfunction-overloading">
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_procedure.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_procedure.sgml
index e258eca5ce..b4d2e5920c 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_procedure.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_procedure.sgml
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] PROCEDURE
To be able to create a procedure, you must have <literal>USAGE</literal>
privilege on the argument types.
</para>
+
+ <para>
+ Refer to <xref linkend="xproc"/> for further information on writing
+ procedures.
+ </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
@@ -328,6 +333,10 @@ $$;
CALL insert_data(1, 2);
</programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+ For more information and examples, see <xref linkend="xproc"/>.
+ </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="sql-createprocedure-compat">
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml
index 2863f7c206..c492348261 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml
@@ -81,19 +81,19 @@
</indexterm>
<para>
- A procedure is a database object similar to a function. The difference is
+ A procedure is a database object similar to a function. One difference is
that a procedure does not return a value, so there is no return type
declaration. While a function is called as part of a query or DML
command, a procedure is called in isolation using
the <link linkend="sql-call"><command>CALL</command></link> command. If the <command>CALL</command> command is not
- part of an explicit transaction, a procedure in many server-side
- languages can commit, rollback, and begin new transactions during
- its execution, which is not possible in functions.
+ part of an explicit transaction block, a procedure can commit or roll back
+ transactions (then automatically beginning a new transaction) during
+ its execution, which a function cannot do.
</para>
<para>
- The explanations on how to define user-defined functions in the rest of
- this chapter apply to procedures as well, except that
+ The explanations in the following sections about how to define
+ user-defined functions apply to procedures as well, except that
the <link linkend="sql-createprocedure"><command>CREATE PROCEDURE</command></link> command is used instead, there is
no return type, and some other features such as strictness don't apply.
</para>
