56.2. Creating Custom Scan Plans

A custom scan is represented in a finished plan tree using the following structure:

typedef struct CustomScan
{
    Scan      scan;
    uint32    flags;
    List     *custom_plans;
    List     *custom_exprs;
    List     *custom_private;
    List     *custom_scan_tlist;
    Bitmapset *custom_relids;
    const CustomScanMethods *methods;
} CustomScan;

scan must be initialized as for any other scan, including estimated costs, target lists, qualifications, and so on. flags is a bit mask with the same meaning as in CustomPath. custom_plans can be used to store child Plan nodes. custom_exprs should be used to store expression trees that will need to be fixed up by setrefs.c and subselect.c, while custom_private should be used to store other private data that is only used by the custom scan provider itself. custom_scan_tlist can be NIL when scanning a base relation, indicating that the custom scan returns scan tuples that match the base relation's row type. Otherwise it is a target list describing the actual scan tuples. custom_scan_tlist must be provided for joins, and could be provided for scans if the custom scan provider can compute some non-Var expressions. custom_relids is set by the core code to the set of relations (range table indexes) that this scan node handles; except when this scan is replacing a join, it will have only one member. methods must point to a (usually statically allocated) object implementing the required custom scan methods, which are further detailed below.

When a CustomScan scans a single relation, scan.scanrelid must be the range table index of the table to be scanned. When it replaces a join, scan.scanrelid should be zero.

Plan trees must be able to be duplicated using copyObject, so all the data stored within the "custom" fields must consist of nodes that that function can handle. Furthermore, custom scan providers cannot substitute a larger structure that embeds a CustomScan for the structure itself, as would be possible for a CustomPath or CustomScanState.

Node *(*CreateCustomScanState) (CustomScan *cscan);

void (*TextOutCustomScan) (StringInfo str,
                           const CustomScan *node);