Referencing created tables fails with message that they do not exist!

On Sun, Feb 27, 2005 at 06:50:50PM -0500, Tommy Svensson wrote:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

Could you copy and paste the *exact* commands and error messages
and send them to the list? That might help us see what's going on.

The tables do actually get created. I can se them in DBVisualizer.

If you run psql, what does \d show? (Again, please copy and paste
the exact output.) Is it possible that you created the tables in
mixed case and didn't quote their names when you tried to query
them? If so, then you might want to read "Identifiers and Key
Words" in the "SQL Syntax" chapter of the documentation.

--
Michael Fuhr
http://www.fuhr.org/~mfuhr/

On Sun, 2005-02-27 at 18:50 -0500, Tommy Svensson wrote:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

Creating a new table with a foreign key referencing the first table is
also impossible due to exactly the same error message!

This behaviour is the same using DBVisualizer/jdbc or psql.

So the question is how do you actually reference the tables you have
created so that postgres will find them ?
The tables do actually get created. I can se them in DBVisualizer.

I'm using version 7.4.5 on Linux Mandrake 10.1.

Best Regards,
Tommy Svensson

What do your CREATE TABLE commands look like? Also, what does \d
tablename respond with?

-Robby

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Tommy Svensson <tommy@tommysvensson.net> writes:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or
"The relation public.<table> does not exist!".

I bet it's a case problem. Please give the actual table name and the
exact SQL you are using to create and access it.

-Doug

Try putting quotes around the table name:

select * from "Table";

?

Do you see it in the table list?

\dt

Tommy Svensson wrote:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

Creating a new table with a foreign key referencing the first table is
also impossible due to exactly the same error message!

This behaviour is the same using DBVisualizer/jdbc or psql.

So the question is how do you actually reference the tables you have
created so that postgres will find them ?
The tables do actually get created. I can se them in DBVisualizer.

I'm using version 7.4.5 on Linux Mandrake 10.1.

Best Regards,
Tommy Svensson

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Tommy Svensson presumably uttered the following on 02/27/05 18:50:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

Creating a new table with a foreign key referencing the first table is
also impossible due to exactly the same error message!

This behaviour is the same using DBVisualizer/jdbc or psql.

So the question is how do you actually reference the tables you have
created so that postgres will find them ?
The tables do actually get created. I can se them in DBVisualizer.

What database did you create the tables in? and what database are you
connecting to when trying to issue your SELECT statements? Are you
trying to SELECT from the same application you are using to CREATE
TABLE? It sounds like you created the tables in <database> and perhaps
are trying to SELECT * FROM while connected to template1.

Sven

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005, Tommy Svensson wrote:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

You haven't given alot of information in the above, but this often happens
if the table was created with double quotes (often implicitly by a tool)
in mixed-case but is referenced without double quotes which causes
case-folding. This also sometimes similarly happens with all uppercase
names because PostgreSQL does folding to lowercase rather than the SQL
folding to uppercase.

On Sun, 2005-02-27 at 18:50 -0500, Tommy Svensson wrote:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

you do not give actual examples, nor do you say how you created the
tables, but one possibility is that you ran into the case-folding
feature.

names are folded to lowercase unless quoted in doublequotes.

if you (or the client you use) created your table with
quoted upper-case or mixed case names, you must do the same
with the selects.

CREATE TABLE "Foo" (a text);
SELECT a from "Foo"; -- works
SELECT a from Foo; -- fails

the same applies to other names, such as columns.

gnari

Am Sonntag, den 27.02.2005, 18:50 -0500 schrieb Tommy Svensson:

I have just installed Postgresql and tried it for the first time.

One very serious problem I ran into was when actually trying to use
created tables.
Creating a simple table without any foreign keys works OK, but after
creating the
table it is not possible to do a select on it! I tried the following
variants:

SELECT * FROM <table>;
SELECT * FROM public.<table>;
SELECT * FROM <schema>.public.<table>;

All result in the message "The relation <table> does not exist!" or "The
relation public.<table> does not exist!".

Creating a new table with a foreign key referencing the first table is
also impossible due to exactly the same error message!

This behaviour is the same using DBVisualizer/jdbc or psql.

So the question is how do you actually reference the tables you have
created so that postgres will find them ?
The tables do actually get created. I can se them in DBVisualizer.

I'm using version 7.4.5 on Linux Mandrake 10.1.

You should have provided an exact example of _how_ do you create
your tables.

I bet you created tables with mixed case (in a tool?) but dont use the
" " quoting on these table names when you select.

Thanks for all the replys, I got quite a lot of them, and haven't had
time to read them all yet, but
one common comment I get is "You didn't supply enough information" , "be
more specific", etc.

You are of course right.

From the answers I got however, it seems to be a very high propability
that it is
different case in table name between create and select, etc that causes
the problem. It does
make sense (now). I got the suggestion to quote the table names. I also
switched tools
after creating the first table and trying to create the next since the
first tool was so simple
it did not support foreign keys. That was probably a bad thing to do :-)
I will drop the
table in the tool that created it and then recreate them in the same
tool and quote the names
as suggested. I'm quite sure that will solve my problem.

<inMyDefense skip="OK">
- I've used Oracle, DB2, Mimer, and HSQLDB before, and my experience
with these led me
to beleive that SQL was case insensitive. In fact, I was so sure of it
that a case problem
just never occured to me.
- Since I could create the table I assumed it was OK and there were no
point in describing
the table.
</inMyDefense>

Regards,
Tommy Svensson

Tino Wildenhain wrote:

On Mon, Feb 28, 2005 at 12:50:25PM +0100, Tommy Svensson wrote:

- I've used Oracle, DB2, Mimer, and HSQLDB before, and my experience
with these led me
to beleive that SQL was case insensitive. In fact, I was so sure of it
that a case problem
just never occured to me.

Case isn't a problem if you don't quote identifiers because unquoted
identifiers will be folded to lower case, both when you create them
and then later when you reference them. For example, if you create
a table with this command:

CREATE TABLE XYZ (I INTEGER);

then the system folds XYZ and I to lower case:

\dt
List of relations
Schema | Name | Type | Owner
--------+--------------+-------+-------
public | xyz | table | mfuhr

\d xyz
Table "public.xyz"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
i | integer |

The following queries should all work (not an all-inclusive list):

SELECT I FROM XYZ;
SELECT i FROM xyz;
SELECT I FROM Xyz;
select i from xyz;
sEleCt i fRoM xYz;

But if you quote identifiers when you create them, then they'll be
created with the exact case you specified and you'll need to quote
them whenever you use them:

CREATE TABLE "XYZ" ("I" INTEGER);

\dt
List of relations
Schema | Name | Type | Owner
--------+--------------+-------+-------
public | XYZ | table | mfuhr

\d "XYZ"
Table "public.XYZ"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
I | integer |

SELECT "I" FROM "XYZ"; -- works
SELECT I FROM XYZ; -- fails

--
Michael Fuhr
http://www.fuhr.org/~mfuhr/

OK, I see. I first used the Postgres admin tool in webmin (Linux/unix
web admin tool)
to create the first table. I guess that it quoted my "Project" table.
Anyhow, I dropped
the table from the same tool, and then went to DBVisualizer and
recreated all my tables
there, using uppercase for all table and field names, and then it worked
fine. But as you
explained below, I guess it would not have mattered even if i called my
first table
PrOjEcT since it would be changed to project.

I also realize that it is much safer to actually write the SQL yourself
than let a tool
produce it for you!

/Tommy

Michael Fuhr wrote: