PostgreSQL: Drop column and recreate dependent views

Question

I have below test table and dependent views created.

create table test_col_drp (col1 varchar(100), col2 varchar(100), col3 varchar(100));
create view test_col_drp_vw1 as select col1 col1_vw1, col2 col2_vw1, col3 col3_vw1 from test_col_drp;
create view test_col_drp_vw2 as select col1_vw1 col1_vw2, col2_vw1 col2_vw2, col3_vw1 col3_vw2 from test_col_drp_vw1;

I'm trying to drop a column from the table but getting below error:

alter table test_col_drp drop column col3;

ERROR:  cannot drop table test_col_drp column col3 because other objects depend on it
DETAIL:  view test_col_drp_vw1 depends on table test_col_drp column col3 view test_col_drp_vw2 depends on view test_col_drp_vw1
HINT:  Use DROP ... CASCADE to drop the dependent objects too.
********** Error **********

What would be the best way to drop the column and recreate all the dependent views?

Working on: PostgreSQL 9.6.6 on x86_64-pc-mingw64, compiled by gcc.exe (Rev5, Built by MSYS2 project) 4.9.2, 64-bit

Windows 10

Answer 1

First, you have to drop the views. Then, execute the alter table and finally create the views again. See:

  -- This is what you have in your database  

 create table test_col_drp (col1 varchar(100), col2 varchar(100), col3 varchar(100));
 create view test_col_drp_vw1 as select col1 col1_vw1, col2 col2_vw1, col3 col3_vw1 from test_col_drp;
 create view test_col_drp_vw2 as select col1_vw1 col1_vw2, col2_vw1 col2_vw2, col3_vw1 col3_vw2 from test_col_drp_vw1;

-- drop views and alter table
drop view test_col_drp_vw2;
drop view test_col_drp_vw1;

alter table test_col_drp drop column col3;

-- creating the views again without col3
create view test_col_drp_vw1 as select col1 col1_vw1, col2 col2_vw1 from test_col_drp;
create view test_col_drp_vw2 as select col1_vw1 col1_vw2, col2_vw1 col2_vw2 from test_col_drp_vw1;

An alternative is to use the drop cascade. In this case, you do not need to drop each view individually but you still need to recreate them:

alter table test_col_drp drop column col3 cascade;

--  creating the views again without col3
create view test_col_drp_vw1 as select col1 col1_vw1, col2 col2_vw1 from test_col_drp;
create view test_col_drp_vw2 as select col1_vw1 col1_vw2, col2_vw1 col2_vw2 from test_col_drp_vw1;

Another option is to create a SQL command that generates your alter table using cascade and the create view:

with query_result as (
    SELECT dependent_ns.nspname as dependent_schema
    , dependent_view.relname as dependent_view 
    , source_ns.nspname as source_schema
    , source_table.relname as source_table
    , pg_attribute.attname as column_name
    , row_number() over() as id
    FROM pg_depend 
    JOIN pg_rewrite ON pg_depend.objid = pg_rewrite.oid 
    JOIN pg_class as dependent_view ON pg_rewrite.ev_class = dependent_view.oid 
    JOIN pg_class as source_table ON pg_depend.refobjid = source_table.oid 
    JOIN pg_attribute ON pg_depend.refobjid = pg_attribute.attrelid 
        AND pg_depend.refobjsubid = pg_attribute.attnum 
    JOIN pg_namespace dependent_ns ON dependent_ns.oid = dependent_view.relnamespace
    JOIN pg_namespace source_ns ON source_ns.oid = source_table.relnamespace

    WHERE 1=1
    -- AND source_ns.nspname = 'public'
    AND source_table.relname like 'test_col_drp%'
    AND pg_attribute.attnum > 0 
    AND pg_attribute.attname = 'col3'
) 

select concat('alter table ', source_table, ' drop column ' , column_name, ' cascade;' ) as sql_command from query_result where id = 1
union all
select concat('create or replace view ', dependent_view, ' as select * from ', source_table, ';') as  sql_command from query_result  

Then, the output will be:

alter table test_col_drp drop column col3 cascade;
create or replace view test_col_drp_vw1 as select * from test_col_drp;
create or replace view test_col_drp_vw2 as select * from test_col_drp_vw1;