PostgreSQL UNIQUE constraint error message

error handlingPHPpostgresqlunique-constraint

On Appendix A: PostgreSQL error codes, it says:

For some types of errors, the server reports the name of a database object (a table, table column, data type, or constraint) associated with the error; for example, the name of the unique constraint that caused a unique_violation error. Such names are supplied in separate fields of the error report message so that applications need not try to extract them from the possibly-localized human-readable text of the message.

Bold emphasis mine. I have the following table:

CREATE TABLE recipes (
    id SERIAL,
    title TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    description TEXT NOT NULL,
    instructions TEXT NOT NULL,
    image BYTEA,
    CONSTRAINT recipes_pk PRIMARY KEY(id),
    CONSTRAINT title_unique UNIQUE(title)
);

When I try to insert a new row with a duplicate title, I get the following error message in pgAdmin3:

ERROR:  duplicate key value violates unique constraint "title_unique"
DETAIL:  Key (title)=(mytitle) already exists.

Or, using PHP:

["errorInfo"]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    string(5) "23505"
    [1]=>
    int(7)
    [2]=>
    string(117) "ERROR:  duplicate key value violates unique constraint "title_unique"
                 DETAIL:  Key (title)=(mytitle) already exists."
  }

According to the paragraph from the PostgreSQL documentation, shouldn't the constraint name title_unique be found in a separate field of the error info?

I'm using PostgreSQL 9.4.5.

Best Answer

For instance, you can read these separate fields mentioned in your quote inside exception handlers in PL/pgSQL (as instructed in the manual, like @dezso commented):

DO
$$
DECLARE
   err_constraint text;

BEGIN
   INSERT INTO recipes (title) VALUES ('foo'), ('foo');  -- provoke unique violation

EXCEPTION
   WHEN SQLSTATE '23000' THEN  -- Class 23 — Integrity Constraint Violation
      GET STACKED DIAGNOSTICS err_constraint = CONSTRAINT_NAME;
      -- do something with it, for instance:
      RAISE NOTICE '%', err_constraint;
      RAISE;  -- raise original error

END;
$$

Result:

NOTICE:  title_unique

ERROR:  duplicate key value violates unique constraint "title_unique"
DETAIL:  Key (title)=(foo) already exists.
CONTEXT:  SQL statement "INSERT INTO recipes (title) VALUES ('foo')"
PL/pgSQL function inline_code_block line 5 at SQL statement

Aside: you declare the unique constraints twice in your DDL command. (To my surprise, this results in a single constraint in my test on pg 9.5). Either way, do it only once.

CREATE TABLE recipes (
    id SERIAL,
    title TEXT NOT NULL,  -- remove redundant clause
    description TEXT NOT NULL,
    instructions TEXT NOT NULL,
    image BYTEA,
    CONSTRAINT recipes_pk PRIMARY KEY(id),
    CONSTRAINT title_unique UNIQUE(title)
);

Related Solutions

PostgreSQL – insert/update violates foreign key constraints

There are a few problems with your tables. I'll try to address the foreign keys first, since you question asked about them :)

But before that, we should realize that the two sets of tables (the first three you created and the second set, which you created after dropping the first set) are the same. Of course, the definition of Table3 in your second attempt has syntax and logical errors, but the basic idea is:

CREATE TABLE table3 (   
  "ID" bigint NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',   
  "DataID" bigint DEFAULT NULL,   
  "Address" numeric(20) DEFAULT NULL,   
  "Data" bigint DEFAULT NULL,
   PRIMARY KEY ("ID"),   
   FOREIGN KEY ("DataID") REFERENCES Table1("DataID") on delete cascade on update cascade,   
   FOREIGN KEY ("Address") REFERENCES Table2("Address") on delete cascade on update cascade
);

This definition tell PostgreSQL roughly the following: "Create a table with four columns, one will be the primary key (PK), the others can be NULL. If a new row is inserted, check DataID and Address: if they contain a non-NULL value (say 27856), then check Table1 for DataID˙and Table2 for Address. If there is no such value in those tables, then return an error." This last point which you've seen first:

ERROR: insert or update on table "Table3" violates foreign key constraint 
    "Table3_DataID_fkey" DETAIL: Key (DataID)=(27856) is not present in table "Table1".

So simple: if there is no row in Table1 where DataID = 27856, then you can't insert that row into Table3.

If you need that row, you should first insert a row into Table1 with DataID = 27856, and only then try to insert into Table3. If this seems to you not what you want, please describe in a few sentences what you want to achieve, and we can help with a good design.

And now about the other problems.

You define your PKs as

CREATE all_your_tables (
    first_column NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',   
    [...]
    PRIMARY KEY ("ID"),

A primary key means that all the items in it are different from each other, that is, the values are UNIQUE. If you give a static DEFAULT (like '0') to a UNIQUE column, you will experience bad surprises all the time. This is what you got in your third error message.

Furthermore, '0' means a text string, but not a number (bigint or numeric in your case). Use simply 0 instead (or don't use it at all, as I written above).

And a last point (I may be wrong here): in Table2, your Address field is set to numeric(20). At the same time, it is the PK of the table. The column name and the data type suggests that this address can change in the future. If this is true, than it is a very bad choice for a PK. Think about the following scenario: you have an address '1234567890454', which has a child in Table3 like

ID        DataID           Address             Data
123       3216547          1234567890454       654897564134569

Now that address happens to change to something other. How do you make your child row in Table3 follow its parent to the new address? (There are solutions for this, but can cause much confusion.) If this is your case, add an ID column to your table, which will not contain any information from the real world, it will simply serve as an identification value (that is, ID) for an address.

Postgresql – Duplicate key violates unique constraint

Your rule does not have a WHERE clause and any update is trying to modify the whole users table.

You can/should add WHERE id = old.id:

CREATE OR REPLACE RULE students_data_update AS
    ON UPDATE TO students_data DO INSTEAD  
UPDATE users 
SET f_name = new.f_name, 
    l_name = new.l_name,
    --- ...
WHERE id = old.id ;               --- added

Note: I had never used the RULE system before in Postgres. But the above suggestion worked when tested at SQL-Fiddle.

Best Answer

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PostgreSQL – insert/update violates foreign key constraints

Postgresql – Duplicate key violates unique constraint

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