<secondary>in PL/pgSQL</secondary>
</indexterm>
+ <para>
+ <application>PL/pgSQL</application> can be used to define trigger
+ procedures on data changes or database events.
+ A trigger procedure is created with the <command>CREATE FUNCTION</>
+ command, declaring it as a function with no arguments and a return type of
+ <type>trigger</> (for data change triggers) or
+ <type>event_trigger</> (for database event triggers).
+ Special local variables named <varname>PG_<replaceable>something</></> are
+ automatically defined to describe the condition that triggered the call.
+ </para>
+
<sect2 id="plpgsql-dml-trigger">
<title>Triggers on Data Changes</title>
- <para>
- <application>PL/pgSQL</application> can be used to define trigger
- procedures. A trigger procedure is created with the
- <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> command, declaring it as a function with
- no arguments and a return type of <type>trigger</type>. Note that
- the function must be declared with no arguments even if it expects
- to receive arguments specified in <command>CREATE TRIGGER</> —
- trigger arguments are passed via <varname>TG_ARGV</>, as described
- below.
+ <para>
+ A <link linkend="triggers">data change trigger</> is declared as a
+ function with no arguments and a return type of <type>trigger</>.
+ Note that the function must be declared with no arguments even if it
+ expects to receive some arguments specified in <command>CREATE TRIGGER</>
+ — such arguments are passed via <varname>TG_ARGV</>, as described
+ below.
</para>
<para>
<title>Triggers on Events</title>
<para>
- <application>PL/pgSQL</application> can be used to define event
- triggers. <productname>PostgreSQL</> requires that a procedure that
+ <application>PL/pgSQL</application> can be used to define
+ <link linkend="event-triggers">event triggers</>.
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</> requires that a procedure that
is to be called as an event trigger must be declared as a function with
no arguments and a return type of <literal>event_trigger</>.
</para>