MariaDB/MySQL: ON REPLACE triggers

There are several reasons why, generally, in MySQL/MariaDB one should not use REPLACE as a shortcut for SELECT + (UPDATE or INSERT). One of these reasons is the way REPLACE fires triggers. Of course it does not fire UPDATE triggers, and there is no such thing as a REPLACE trigger; DELETE and INSERT triggers are fired instead. What is not obvious is the order in which REPLACE activates triggers (UPDATE: this beavior was undocumented; I documented it here):

1. BEFORE INSERT;
2. BEFORE DELETE (if a row is being replaced);
3. AFTER DELETE (if a row is being replaced);
4. AFTER INSERT.

Knowing this, we can create REPLACE triggers. Or, better said, we can create a Stored Procedure that is invoked before or after each row’s replacement. It is not exactly easy, but it can be done. Some user variables will help us in two ways:

• They will tell each trigger which triggers have been fired before;
• they will be used to acces NEW values in a DELETE trigger.

Now, take a look at the following example. The notes below will make some points clearer.

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE xmp
(
    a INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    b INT NOT NULL
)
    ENGINE = InnoDB
;

DELIMITER ||
CREATE PROCEDURE xmp_on_replace(IN old_a INT, IN new_a INT, IN old_b INT, IN new_b INT)
    CONTAINS SQL
BEGIN
    SET @out := CONCAT(
        'In column b, we are replacing ', old_b, ' with ', new_b, '. Cool!'
    );
END ||

CREATE TRIGGER xmp_bi
    BEFORE INSERT
    ON xmp
    FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
    SET @maybe_replacing := TRUE;
    SET @new_a := NEW.a;
    SET @new_b := NEW.b;
END ||

CREATE TRIGGER xmp_ai
    AFTER INSERT
    ON xmp
    FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
    SET @maybe_replacing := FALSE;
END ||

CREATE TRIGGER xmp_bd
    BEFORE DELETE
    ON xmp
    FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
    IF @maybe_replacing THEN
        SET @maybe_replacing := FALSE;
        CALL xmp_on_replace(OLD.a, @new_a, OLD.b, @new_b);
        SET @new_a := NULL;
        SET @new_b := NULL;
    END IF;
END ||
DELIMITER ;

When no row is being replaced, the workflow will be the following:

1. The BEFORE INSERT triggers sets some user variables, that will only be useful if a row will be replaced.
2. The AFTER INSERT trigger resets these variables.

If a row is being replaced, the following workflow will take place:

1. The BEFORE INSERT trigger will set some variables.
2. The BEFORE DELETE trigger will reset them and call xmp_on_replace(); both OLD.* and NEW.* values are passed, thanks to the user variables.
3. xmp_on_replace() gives us some information about the row being replaced.

Now, let’s test this example:

MariaDB [test]> INSERT INTO xmp VALUES (2, 0);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

MariaDB [test]> REPLACE xmp VALUES (1, 100), (2, 200), (3, 300);
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.01 sec)
Records: 3 Duplicates: 1 Warnings: 0

MariaDB [test]> SELECT @out;
+-------------------------------------------------+
| @out                                            |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| In column b, we are replacing 0 with 200. Cool! |
+-------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Hey, it works as expected!

Enjoy!
Federico