[postgis-users] How do I return a list of id's from a stored procedure from a dynamicly generated insert?

[rox]

Postgres 8.3 [altho if 8.4 is required to solve this, that is possible]

I can't seem to figure out how to validly capture/return the values.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION test_insert(p_table_name varchar) RETURNS 
integer[] AS $f$
DECLARE
	qs1 varchar(3000);
	return_ids integer[];
BEGIN

	qs1 :=  'INSERT INTO ' || p_table_name ;
	qs1 :=  qs1 || ' (table_id,name) ';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || '(';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || 	   ' SELECT nextval(''test_inserts_table_id_seq''),';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || 	   	' county_name';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || 	   ' FROM counties';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || ')';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || 'RETURNING table_id';
	qs1 :=  qs1 || ';';

  	EXECUTE qs1 INTO return_ids;

	RETURN returns_ids;
EXCEPTION
	WHEN OTHERS THEN
		RAISE INFO 'error:% %',SQLSTATE,sqlerrm;
	RETURN (-1);
END;

$f$ LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE;

executing via

select test_insert('test_inserts') as intarray;


returns:

INFO:  error:22P02 array value must start with "{" or dimension 
information

ERROR:  array value must start with "{" or dimension information
CONTEXT:  PL/pgSQL function "test_insert" while casting return value to 
function's return type

********** Error **********

ERROR: array value must start with "{" or dimension information
SQL state: 22P02
Context: PL/pgSQL function "test_insert" while casting return value to 
function's return type


I've tried creating the array aggregator in 8.3 and using it on the 
return... eg. RETURNING array_agg(table_id).. but aggregates cannot be 
used "there".

Any suggestions?

thanks,

Roxanne