Haller, The way I have handled this in the past is to attempt the following insert, followed by an update if the insert doesn't insert any rows:
insert into foo (fooPK, foo2) select 'valuePK', 'value2' where not exists (select 'x' from foo where fooPK = 'valuePK') if number of rows inserted = 0, then the row already exists so do an update update foo set foo2 = 'value2' where fooPK = 'valuePK' Since I don't know what client interface you are using (java, perl, C), I can't give you exact code for this, but the above should be easily implemented in any language. thanks, --Barry Haller Christoph wrote: > Hi all, > Sorry for bothering you with my stuff for the second time > but I haven't got any answer within two days and the problem > appears fundamental, at least to me. > I have a C application running to deal with meteorological data > like temperature, precipitation, wind speed, wind direction, ... > And I mean loads of data like several thousand sets within every > ten minutes. >>From time to time it happens the transmitters have delivered wrong data, > so they send the sets again to be taken as correction. > The idea is to create a unique index on the timestamp, the location id > and the measurement id, then when receiving a duplicate key error > move on to an update command on that specific row. > But, within PostgreSQL this strategy does not work any longer within > a chained transaction, because the duplicate key error leads to > 'abort the whole transaction'. > What I can do is change from chained transaction to unchained transaction, > but what I have read in the mailing list so far, the commit operation > requires loads of cpu time, and I do not have time for this when > processing thousands of sets. > I am wondering now whether there is a fundamental design error in > my strategy. > Any ideas, suggestions highly appreciated and thanks for reading so far. > Regards, Christoph > > My first message: > In a C application I want to run several > insert commands within a chained transaction > (for faster execution). >>From time to time there will be an insert command > causing an > ERROR: Cannot insert a duplicate key into a unique index > > As a result, the whole transaction is aborted and all > the previous inserts are lost. > Is there any way to preserve the data > except working with "autocommit" ? > What I have in mind particularly is something like > "Do not abort on duplicate key error". > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? > > http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/docs/faq.html > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to [EMAIL PROTECTED])