Disallow set-returning functions inside CASE or COALESCE.

When we reimplemented SRFs in commit 69f4b9c85, our initial choice was
to allow the behavior to vary from historical practice in cases where a
SRF call appeared within a conditional-execution construct (currently,
only CASE or COALESCE).  But that was controversial to begin with, and
subsequent discussion has resulted in a consensus that it's better to
throw an error instead of executing the query differently from before,
so long as we can provide a reasonably clear error message and a way to
rewrite the query.

Hence, add a parser mechanism to allow detection of such cases during
parse analysis.  The mechanism just requires storing, in the ParseState,
a pointer to the set-returning FuncExpr or OpExpr most recently emitted
by parse analysis.  Then the parsing functions for CASE and COALESCE can
detect the presence of a SRF in their arguments by noting whether this
pointer changes while analyzing their arguments.  Furthermore, if it does,
it provides a suitable error cursor location for the complaint.  (This
means that if there's more than one SRF in the arguments, the error will
point at the last one to be analyzed not the first.  While connoisseurs of
parsing behavior might find that odd, it's unlikely the average user would
ever notice.)

While at it, we can also provide more specific error messages than before
about some pre-existing restrictions, such as no-SRFs-within-aggregates.
Also, reject at parse time cases where a NULLIF or IS DISTINCT FROM
construct would need to return a set.  We've never supported that, but the
restriction is depended on in more subtle ways now, so it seems wise to
detect it at the start.

Also, provide some documentation about how to rewrite a SRF-within-CASE
query using a custom wrapper SRF.

It turns out that the information_schema.user_mapping_options view
contained an instance of exactly the behavior we're now forbidding; but
rewriting it makes it more clear and safer too.

initdb forced because of user_mapping_options change.

Patch by me, with error message suggestions from Alvaro Herrera and
Andres Freund, pursuant to a complaint from Regina Obe.

Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/000001d2d5de$d8d66170$8a832450$@pcorp.us

3 files changed, 9 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/src/include/parser/parse_func.h b/src/include/parser/parse_func.h
index 5be1812242a..68572e9d2a9 100644
--- a/src/include/parser/parse_func.h
+++ b/src/include/parser/parse_func.h
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ typedef enum
 
 
 extern Node *ParseFuncOrColumn(ParseState *pstate, List *funcname, List *fargs,
-				  FuncCall *fn, int location);
+				  Node *last_srf, FuncCall *fn, int location);
 
 extern FuncDetailCode func_get_detail(List *funcname,
 				List *fargs, List *fargnames,
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ extern Oid LookupFuncWithArgs(ObjectWithArgs *func,
 extern Oid LookupAggWithArgs(ObjectWithArgs *agg,
 				  bool noError);
 
-extern void check_srf_call_placement(ParseState *pstate, int location);
+extern void check_srf_call_placement(ParseState *pstate, Node *last_srf,
+						 int location);
 
 #endif   /* PARSE_FUNC_H */
diff --git a/src/include/parser/parse_node.h b/src/include/parser/parse_node.h
index 0b54840e295..6a3507f3b14 100644
--- a/src/include/parser/parse_node.h
+++ b/src/include/parser/parse_node.h
@@ -157,6 +157,9 @@ typedef Node *(*CoerceParamHook) (ParseState *pstate, Param *param,
  * p_hasAggs, p_hasWindowFuncs, etc: true if we've found any of the indicated
  * constructs in the query.
  *
+ * p_last_srf: the set-returning FuncExpr or OpExpr most recently found in
+ * the query, or NULL if none.
+ *
  * p_pre_columnref_hook, etc: optional parser hook functions for modifying the
  * interpretation of ColumnRefs and ParamRefs.
  *
@@ -199,6 +202,8 @@ struct ParseState
 	bool		p_hasSubLinks;
 	bool		p_hasModifyingCTE;
 
+	Node	   *p_last_srf;		/* most recent set-returning func/op found */
+
 	/*
 	 * Optional hook functions for parser callbacks.  These are null unless
 	 * set up by the caller of make_parsestate.
diff --git a/src/include/parser/parse_oper.h b/src/include/parser/parse_oper.h
index d783b37f0f5..ab3c4aa62f6 100644
--- a/src/include/parser/parse_oper.h
+++ b/src/include/parser/parse_oper.h
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ extern Oid	oprfuncid(Operator op);
 
 /* Build expression tree for an operator invocation */
 extern Expr *make_op(ParseState *pstate, List *opname,
-		Node *ltree, Node *rtree, int location);
+		Node *ltree, Node *rtree, Node *last_srf, int location);
 extern Expr *make_scalar_array_op(ParseState *pstate, List *opname,
 					 bool useOr,
 					 Node *ltree, Node *rtree, int location);