On Wed, Jun 13, 2007 at 01:20:25PM +0100, Dave Page wrote: > >>Just adding the schema name seems the most sensible and usable option - > >>not to mention the easiest! > > > >While completely ignoring the current behaviour and likely the reason > >it's done the way it is now... explain output was, and still is > >primairly, for humans to read. > > Humans deserve schemas as well!! :-). As for the likely reason for the > current behaviour, well, I'd rather have precise, > non-potentially-ambiguous info than save a few characters.
Just to open a whole new can of worms ;-) I read an article a couple of days ago about the "machine readable showplan output" in SQL Server 2005 (basically, it's EXPLAIN output but in XML format). It does make a lot of sense if yourp rimary interface is != commandline (psql), such as pgadmin or phppgadmin. The idea being that you can stick in *all* the details you want, since you can't possibly clutter up the display. And you stick them in a well-defined XML format (or another format if you happen to hate XML) where the client-side program can easily parse out whatever it needs. It's also future-proof - if you add a new field somewhere, the client program parser won't break. Something worth doing? Not to replace the current explain output, but as a second option (EXPLAIN XML whatever)? //Magnus ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly