UNIT 2

CHAPTER 2.3
LECTURE 3.5(Views)

SQL View

An SQL View is a specific representation of data from one or more tables. The tables
referred in the views are known as Base tables. Creating a view does not take any storage
space as only the query is stored in the data dictionary and the actual data is not stored
anywhere.

The maximum number of columns that can be defined in a SQL View are 1000 as in tables.

Benefits / Advantages of SQL Views

The reasons for using views (benefits / advantages of views) in applications can be many
like;

 Reducing complexity.

 Improving security.

 Renaming the table columns.

Views in SQL are kind of virtual tables. A view also has rows and columns as they are in a
real table in the database. We can create a view by selecting fields from one or more tables
present in the database. A View can either have all the rows of a table or specific rows based
on certain condition.

In this article we will learn about creating , deleting and updating Views.

Sample Tables:

StudentDetails

StudentMarks

CREATING VIEWS

We can create View using CREATE VIEW statement. A View can be created from a single
table or multiple tables.

Syntax:
CREATE VIEW view_name AS

SELECT column1, column2.....

FROM table_name

WHERE condition;

view_name: Name for the View

table_name: Name of the table

condition: Condition to select rows

Examples:

Creating View from a single table:

In this example we will create a View named DetailsView from the table StudentDetails.

Query:

CREATE VIEW DetailsView AS

SELECT NAME, ADDRESS

FROM StudentDetails

WHERE S_ID < 5;

To see the data in the View, we can query the view in the same manner as we query a table.

SELECT * FROM DetailsView;

Output:

In this example, we will create a view named StudentNames from the table StudentDetails.

Query:

CREATE VIEW StudentNames AS

SELECT S_ID, NAME

FROM StudentDetails

ORDER BY NAME;
If we now query the view as,

SELECT * FROM StudentNames;

Output:

Creating View from multiple tables: In this example we will create a View named
MarksView from two tables StudentDetails and StudentMarks. To create a View from
multiple tables we can simply include multiple tables in the SELECT statement.

Query:

CREATE VIEW MarksView AS

SELECT StudentDetails.NAME, StudentDetails.ADDRESS, StudentMarks.MARKS

FROM StudentDetails, StudentMarks

WHERE StudentDetails.NAME = StudentMarks.NAME;

To display data of View MarksView:

SELECT * FROM MarksView;

Output:

DELETING VIEWS

We have learned about creating a View, but what if a created View is not needed any more?
Obviously we will want to delete it. SQL allows us to delete an existing View. We can delete
or drop a View using the DROP statement.

Syntax:

DROP VIEW view_name;

view_name: Name of the View which we want to delete.

For example, if we want to delete the View MarksView, we can do this as:

DROP VIEW MarksView;

UPDATING VIEWS
There are certain conditions needed to be satisfied to update a view. If any one of these
conditions is not met, then we will not be allowed to update the view.

1. The SELECT statement which is used to create the view should not include GROUP BY
clause or ORDER BY clause.

2. The SELECT statement should not have the DISTINCT keyword.

3. The View should have all NOT NULL values.

4. The view should not be created using nested queries or complex queries.

5. The view should be created from a single table. If the view is created using multiple
tables then we will not be allowed to update the view.

We can use the CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW statement to add or remove fields from a
view.

Syntax:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW view_name AS

SELECT column1,coulmn2,..

FROM table_name

WHERE condition;

For example, if we want to update the view MarksView and add the field AGE to this View
from StudentMarks Table, we can do this as:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW MarksView AS

SELECT StudentDetails.NAME, StudentDetails.ADDRESS, StudentMarks.MARKS,

FROM StudentDetails, StudentMarks

WHERE StudentDetails.NAME = StudentMarks.NAME;

If we fetch all the data from MarksView now as:

SELECT * FROM MarksView;

Output:

Inserting a row in a view:

Syntax:

INSERT INTO view_name(column1, column2 , column3,..)

VALUES(value1, value2, value3..);

view_name: Name of the View

Example:

In the below example we will insert a new row in the View DetailsView which we have
created above in the example of “creating views from a single table”.

INSERT INTO DetailsView(NAME, ADDRESS)

VALUES("Suresh","Gurgaon");

If we fetch all the data from DetailsView now as,

SELECT * FROM DetailsView;

Output:

Deleting a row from a View:

Deleting rows from a view is also as simple as deleting rows from a table. We can use the
DELETE statement of SQL to delete rows from a view. Also deleting a row from a view first
delete the row from the actual table and the change is then reflected in the view.

Syntax:

DELETE FROM view_name

WHERE condition;

view_name: Name of view from where we want to delete rows

condition: Condition to select rows

Example:

In this example we will delete the last row from the view DetailsView which we just added in
the above example of inserting rows.
 DELETE FROM DetailsView

WHERE NAME="Suresh";

If we fetch all the data from DetailsView now as,

SELECT * FROM DetailsView;

Output:

WITH CHECK OPTION

The WITH CHECK OPTION clause in SQL is a very useful clause for views. It is applicable
to a updatable view. If the view is not updatable, then there is no meaning of including this
clause in the CREATE VIEW statement.

 The WITH CHECK OPTION clause is used to prevent the insertion of rows in the
view where the condition in the WHERE clause in CREATE VIEW statement is not
satisfied.
 If we have used the WITH CHECK OPTION clause in the CREATE VIEW
statement, and if the UPDATE or INSERT clause does not satisfy the conditions then
they will return an error.

Example:

In the below example we are creating a View SampleView from StudentDetails Table with
WITH CHECK OPTION clause.

CREATE VIEW SampleView AS

SELECT S_ID, NAME

FROM StudentDetails

WHERE NAME IS NOT NULL

WITH CHECK OPTION;

In this View if we now try to insert a new row with null value in the NAME column then it
will give an error because the view is created with the condition for NAME column as NOT
NULL.

For example,though the View is updatable but then also the below query for this View is not
valid:
 INSERT INTO SampleView(S_ID)

VALUES(6);

NOTE: The default value of NAME column is null.

Uses of a View :

A good database should contain views due to the given reasons:

1. Restricting data access –

Views provide an additional level of table security by restricting access to a predetermined

2. Hiding data complexity –

A view can hide the complexity that exists in a multiple table join.

3. Simplify commands for the user –

Views allows the user to select information from multiple tables without requiring the users
to actually know how to perform a join.

4. Store complex queries –

Views can be used to store complex queries.

5. Rename Columns –

Views can also be used to rename the columns without affecting the base tables provided the
number of columns in view must match the number of columns specified in select statement.
Thus, renaming helps to to hide the names of the columns of the base tables.

6. Multiple view facility –

Different views can be created on the same table for different users.
Other References

 •SQL | Views -GeeksforGeeks

 Oracle SQL &PL/SQL: SQL Views (sql-plsql.blogspot.com)

 PL/SQL Create View

Suggested Book References

 C.J.Date, “An Introduction to DatabaseSystems”, Addison Wesley.

 Thomas M. Connolly, Carolyn & E.Begg,“Database Systems: A Practical Approach

 Rob,”Database Principal Fundamental Design, Cengage Learning.