refresh_continuous_aggregate()

Refresh all buckets of a continuous aggregate in the refresh window given by window_start and window_end.

A continuous aggregate materializes aggregates in time buckets. For example, min, max, average over 1 day worth of data, and is determined by the time_bucket interval. Therefore, when refreshing the continuous aggregate, only buckets that completely fit within the refresh window are refreshed. In other words, it is not possible to compute the aggregate over, for an incomplete bucket. Therefore, any buckets that do not fit within the given refresh window are excluded.

The function expects the window parameter values to have a time type that is compatible with the continuous aggregate’s time bucket expression—for example, if the time bucket is specified in TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE, then the start and end time should be a date or timestamp type. Note that a continuous aggregate using the TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE type aligns with the UTC time zone, so, if window_start and window_end is specified in the local time zone, any time zone shift relative UTC needs to be accounted for when refreshing to align with bucket boundaries.

Required arguments

You must specify the window_start and window_end parameters differently, depending on the type of the time column of the hypertable. For hypertables with TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMPTZ, and DATE time columns, set the refresh window as an INTERVAL type. For hypertables with integer-based timestamps, set the refresh window as an INTEGER type.

Sample usage

Refresh the continuous aggregate conditions between 2020-01-01 and 2020-02-01 exclusive.

CALL refresh_continuous_aggregate('conditions', '2020-01-01', '2020-02-01');

Alternatively, incrementally refresh the continuous aggregate conditions between 2020-01-01 and 2020-02-01 exclusive, working in 12h intervals:

DO
$$
DECLARE
  refresh_interval INTERVAL = '12h'::INTERVAL;
  start_timestamp TIMESTAMPTZ = '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z';
  end_timestamp TIMESTAMPTZ = start_timestamp + refresh_interval;
BEGIN
  WHILE start_timestamp < '2020-02-01T00:00:00Z' LOOP
    CALL refresh_continuous_aggregate('conditions', start_timestamp, end_timestamp);
    RAISE NOTICE 'finished with timestamp %', end_timestamp;
    start_timestamp = end_timestamp;
    end_timestamp = end_timestamp + refresh_interval;
  END LOOP;
END
$$;