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PostgreSQL Triggers Lab Exercise | Triggers Hands-On Practice

Hands-on lab exercise to learn PostgreSQL role management, GRANT and REVOKE permissions, role-based access control with practical examples using admin, teacher, and student roles.

🎯 Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

Understand the concept and purpose of triggers in PostgreSQL
Create databases and tables for practical use
Write trigger functions using PL/pgSQL
Use NEW and OLD values effectively
Differentiate between FOR EACH ROW and FOR EACH STATEMENT
Implement real-world business rules using triggers
Apply best practices for designing maintainable trigger systems

🧱 Step 1: Create and Connect Database

CREATE DATABASE company_db;

\c company_db;

📋 Step 2: Create Tables

1. Employees Table

CREATE TABLE employees (
    emp_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    salary NUMERIC,
    department VARCHAR(50)
);

2. Audit Log Table

CREATE TABLE emp_audit (
    audit_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    action_type VARCHAR(20),
    emp_id INT,
    old_salary NUMERIC,
    new_salary NUMERIC,
    changed_on TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

3. Statement Log Table

CREATE TABLE statement_log (
    log_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    message TEXT,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

✏️ Step 3: Insert Sample Data

INSERT INTO employees (name, salary, department)
VALUES
('Ali', 50000, 'IT'),
('Sara', 60000, 'HR'),
('Ahmed', 55000, 'Finance');

⚡ Step 4: Trigger Examples (Real-World)

🔹 Example 1: BEFORE INSERT (Validation)

🎯 Scenario:

Prevent inserting employees with negative salary

Function:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION validate_salary()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
    IF NEW.salary < 0 THEN
        RAISE EXCEPTION 'Salary cannot be negative';
    END IF;
    RETURN NEW;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

Trigger:

CREATE TRIGGER before_insert_salary
BEFORE INSERT ON employees
FOR EACH ROW
EXECUTE FUNCTION validate_salary();

🔹 Example 2: AFTER UPDATE (Using OLD and NEW)

🎯 Scenario:

Track salary changes (audit system)

Function:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION log_salary_update()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
    INSERT INTO emp_audit(action_type, emp_id, old_salary, new_salary)
    VALUES ('UPDATE', OLD.emp_id, OLD.salary, NEW.salary);

    RETURN NEW;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

Trigger:

CREATE TRIGGER after_salary_update
AFTER UPDATE ON employees
FOR EACH ROW
EXECUTE FUNCTION log_salary_update();

Test:

UPDATE employees
SET salary = 70000
WHERE emp_id = 1;

🔹 Example 3: AFTER DELETE (Using OLD)

🎯 Scenario:

Keep record of deleted employees

Function:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION log_employee_delete()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
    INSERT INTO emp_audit(action_type, emp_id, old_salary)
    VALUES ('DELETE', OLD.emp_id, OLD.salary);

    RETURN OLD;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

Trigger:

CREATE TRIGGER after_employee_delete
AFTER DELETE ON employees
FOR EACH ROW
EXECUTE FUNCTION log_employee_delete();

🔹 Example 4: BEFORE UPDATE (Using NEW)

🎯 Scenario:

Prevent salary from being reduced below 30000

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION prevent_low_salary()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
    IF NEW.salary < 30000 THEN
        RAISE EXCEPTION 'Salary cannot be less than 30000';
    END IF;
    RETURN NEW;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

CREATE TRIGGER before_salary_update
BEFORE UPDATE ON employees
FOR EACH ROW
EXECUTE FUNCTION prevent_low_salary();

🔹 Example 5: FOR EACH STATEMENT Trigger

🎯 Scenario:

Log bulk updates (runs once per query)

Function:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION log_bulk_operation()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
    INSERT INTO statement_log(message)
    VALUES ('Bulk update executed on employees table');

    RETURN NULL;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

Trigger:

CREATE TRIGGER after_bulk_update
AFTER UPDATE ON employees
FOR EACH STATEMENT
EXECUTE FUNCTION log_bulk_operation();

Test:

UPDATE employees
SET salary = salary + 1000;

👉 This will:

Update all rows
Trigger audit (row-level) multiple times
Trigger statement log only once

🔍 Key Concepts

Concept	Meaning
`NEW`	New values after INSERT/UPDATE
`OLD`	Previous values before UPDATE/DELETE
`FOR EACH ROW`	Runs for every affected row
`FOR EACH STATEMENT`	Runs once per SQL statement

🧠 Practice Tasks

Create a trigger:
- Automatically assign department = ‘General’ if NULL
Create a trigger:
- Log employee name changes
Create a trigger:
- Prevent deletion of employees from “HR” department
Modify audit table:
- Add column for user (CURRENT_USER)

🏁 Mini Project (Real-World)

💳 Bank System

Table:

CREATE TABLE accounts (
    acc_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    balance NUMERIC
);

Task:

Create trigger to:
- ❌ Prevent withdrawal if balance < 0
- ✅ Log every transaction