Re: [patch] Proposal for \crosstabview in psql

On 2/11/16 4:21 AM, Dean Rasheed wrote:
> Thinking about this some more though, perhaps*sorting*  the columns is
> the wrong way to be thinking about it. Perhaps a better approach would
> be to allow the columns to be*listed*  (optionally, using a separate
> query). Something like the following (don't get too hung up on the
> syntax):
>
> SELECT name,
>         to_char(date, 'Mon') AS month,
>         sum(amount) AS amount
>   FROM invoices
>   GROUP BY 1,2
>   ORDER BY name
> \crosstabview cols = (select to_char(d, 'Mon') from
> generate_series('2000-01-01'::date, '2000-12-01', '1 month') d)

My concern with that is that often you don't know what the columns will 
be, because you don't know what exact data the query will produce. So to 
use this syntax you'd have to re-create a huge chunk of the original 
query. :(
-- 
Jim Nasby, Data Architect, Blue Treble Consulting, Austin TX
Experts in Analytics, Data Architecture and PostgreSQL
Data in Trouble? Get it in Treble! http://BlueTreble.com