Introduction
In this article, we are going to learn about the SQL database concept called views and how to manage views from the database level such as creating a new view, removing a view, and updating the view that with underlying the data.
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Table of contents
- What are views in SQL?
- Creating a View
- Update an SQL View
- Inserting records into SQL View
- Conclusion
What are views in SQL?
Views in SQL are considered as the virtual table and to create a view, we can select the fields from one or more tables that are present in the database. Like the SQL tables, views have the capability of storing the data in the format of rows and columns, but the rows do not have any physical existence in the database. A view can store either all the records of the table or a particular record from the table using the conditional statements in SQL.
Creating a SQL view
Below is the statement for creating a view in SQL database.
Create View View_Name As
Select Column1, Column2 ..... ColumnN From Table_Name
Where Condition;
Let's deep dive into this with a detailed example, Create a sample table with inserting some data into it
SQL Table with Sample Data
CREATE TABLE "AGENTS"
(
"AGENT_CODE" NVARCHAR(10) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
"AGENT_NAME" NVARCHAR(30),
"WORKING_AREA" NVARCHAR(30),
"COMMISSION" bigint,
"PHONE_NO" NVARCHAR(20),
"COUNTRY" NVARCHAR(20)
);
Add some Data to the newly created table through query
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A007', 'Ramasundar', 'Bangalore', 1, '077-25814763', null);
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A003', 'Alex ', 'London', 2, '075-12458969', '');
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A008', 'Alford', 'New York', 3, '044-25874365', '');
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A011', 'Ravi Kumar', 'Bangalore', 4, '077-45625874', '');
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A010', 'Santakumar', 'Chennai', 5, '007-22388644', null);
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A012', 'Lucida', 'San Jose', 6, '044-52981425', '');
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A005', 'Anderson', 'Brisban', 7, '045-21447739', null);
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A001', 'Subbarao', 'Bangalore', 8, '077-12346674', '');
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A002', 'Mukesh', 'Mumbai', 9, '029-12358964', null);
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A006', 'McDen', 'London', 10, '078-22255588', '');
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A004', 'Ivan', 'Torento', 11, '008-22544166', null);
INSERT INTO AGENTS VALUES ('A009', 'Benjamin', 'Hampshair', 12, '008-22536178', '');
Agent_View Syntax
create view Agent_View As
select agent_code,agent_name,commission from AGENTS
where COMMISSION > 5;
Displaying a View
select * from agent_view
Output
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Update an SQL View
We can update the view which depends on one table. SQL will not allow updating the view which is already created with more than one table. We can also modify the existing data and insert new record in the view at any time.
Update Syntax
-- Update SQL View Syntax
Alter View View_Name As
Select Column1,Column2,.... ColumnN from Table_Name
Where condition;
Example
-- Update SQL View Syntax
ALTER view Agent_View As
Select agent_code,Agent_name,commission,WORKING_AREA from AGENTS
Where WORKING_AREA = 'Bangalore';
Output
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Inserting records into SQL View
Query Syntax
-- Insert Statement for Sql View
Insert into View_Name (Column1,Column2, .......ColumnN)
Values(data1,data2,.....dataN);
Example
-- Insert Statement for Sql View
INSERT into Agent_View(agent_code,agent_name,commission,WORKING_AREA)
values('A013','Test',13,'Sweden');
Output
Before executing the result make sure to remove the where condition from the existing view i.e Alter the view again otherwise you won't be able to see the latest inserted records.
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Conclusion
Thank you for reading, I hope this article gives you a brief idea about SQL Views with examples and code samples.
Please let me know your questions, thoughts, or feedback in the comments section. I appreciate your feedback and encouragement.
Keep learning ...!