CREATE VIEW specifies more column names than columns

Question

If I run the following statements in PostgreSQL 9.4.8, I get this error message:

CREATE VIEW specifies more column names than columns.

Answer 1

Consider the simple example:

postgres=# create function foofunc() returns table(a int, b text) language sql as $$ select 1, 'a'::text $$;
postgres=# select foofunc();
╔═════════╗
║ foofunc ║
╠═════════╣
║ (1,a)   ║
╚═════════╝

When a function called in the column/variable context it returns the single value of the returning type specified. Here is the source of the error: the view's select returns only one column.

However if function called in the table context then it returns the values like a true table:

postgres=# select * from foofunc();
╔═══╤═══╗
║ a │ b ║
╠═══╪═══╣
║ 1 │ a ║
╚═══╧═══╝

So you should to use the second approach when you creating the view:

CREATE VIEW v1 (c1, c2, c3, c4, c5) AS
  SELECT * FROM f1 (1, 2);