Composite types are converted to and from Perl hashes since commit REL9_1_ALPHA4~146 (Convert Postgres arrays to Perl arrays on PL/perl input arguments; 2011-02-17), but are not stringified as claimed by the commit message and release notes (unless nested in an array).
To illustrate: CREATE TYPE foo AS (bar INTEGER, baz TEXT); DO $$ my $val = spi_exec_query(q< SELECT ROW(42,'test')::foo AS col >)->{rows}->[0]->{col}; elog(NOTICE, "$val ".ref($val)) $$ LANGUAGE plperl; NOTICE: HASH(0xb864a744) HASH DO $$ my $val = spi_exec_query(q< SELECT ARRAY[ ROW(42,'test')::foo ] AS col >)->{rows}->[0]->{col}; elog(NOTICE, "$val ".ref($val)) $$ LANGUAGE plperl; NOTICE: {"(42,test)"} PostgreSQL::InServer::ARRAY On pg 9.0 the expected (but unblessed) strings (42,test) and {"(42,test)"} are returned respectively. To make matters worse, received values cannot be used in queries because spi_exec_prepared() simply ignores hash arguments: # DO $$ my $q = spi_prepare('SELECT $1 AS col', 'foo' ); elog(NOTICE, spi_exec_prepared($q, { bar=>42, baz=>'test' } )->{rows}->[0]->{col}) $$ LANGUAGE plperl; ERROR: spi_exec_prepared: expected 1 argument(s), 0 passed at line 1. Again except if nested in an array: # DO $$ my $q = spi_prepare('SELECT $1 AS col', 'foo[]'); elog(NOTICE, spi_exec_prepared($q, [{ bar=>42, baz=>'test' }])->{rows}->[0]->{col}) $$ LANGUAGE plperl; NOTICE: {"(42,test)"} While the intended feature would be very welcome as well, not being able to convert to text is a serious regression. Thanks and regards, -- Mischa -- Sent via pgsql-bugs mailing list (pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-bugs