xBestIndex malfunction (passing non-literal parameters to table valued function) - sqlite

Question

I'm trying to implement a table valued function (as a SQLite virtual table).
It's a function that would take a string and return a table with all the words of the string.
If I call it with literal values like below, it works fine.
SELECT word FROM splitstring("abc def ghi")
If, however, I call it with a column from another table it doesn't work:
SELECT a.Name, word FROM article a, splitstring(a.Text)
The xBestIndex method gets called all right, but right after that, I get an exception from the ExecuteReader method. The exception message is "xBestIndex malfunction". The xFilter method does not get called because of the exception.
My xBestIndex implementation is simple, it just marks the parameter so I can see it in xFilter:
public override SQLiteErrorCode BestIndex(SQLiteVirtualTable table, SQLiteIndex index)
{
index.Outputs.ConstraintUsages.ElementAt(0).argvIndex = 1;
index.Outputs.ConstraintUsages.ElementAt(0).omit = 1;
return SQLiteErrorCode.Ok;
}
Am I'm doing something wrong or is it impossible to pass non-literal parameters to table valued functions?

Answer 1

Found the issue! I was using constraints that had usable=0. The BestIndex method gets called multiple times by SQLite, the second time with a non-usable constraint.
Here is the fixed body of the BestIndex method.
public override SQLiteErrorCode BestIndex(SQLiteVirtualTable table, SQLiteIndex index)
{
if (index.Inputs.Constraints.Count() != 2)
throw new ArgumentException("The generate_series function requires two integer (long) parameters!");
if (index.Inputs.Constraints.All(c=>c.usable == 1))
{
index.Outputs.ConstraintUsages.ElementAt(0).argvIndex = 1;
index.Outputs.ConstraintUsages.ElementAt(0).omit = 1;
index.Outputs.ConstraintUsages.ElementAt(1).argvIndex = 2;
index.Outputs.ConstraintUsages.ElementAt(1).omit = 1;
}
else
{
index.Outputs.IndexNumber = -1;
index.Outputs.EstimatedCost = double.MaxValue;
}
return SQLiteErrorCode.Ok;
}
Now I check the usable flag. When BestIndex gets called with a constraint with usable=0 I skip it i.e. return a high estimated cost for that index so it doesn't get used.