Create a View in SQL Server 2017

• Create a Query
• Create a Stored Procedure

In SQL Server, you can save a query as a view. Views are beneficial for many reasons, including security, usability, and convenience.

In SQL Server, a view is a virtual table whose contents are defined by a query. It is basically a pre-written query that is stored on the database.

A view consists of a SELECT statement, and when you run a query against the view, you see the results of it like you would when opening a table. Views are referred to as virtual tables because they can pull together data from multiple tables, as well as aggregate data, and present it as though it is a single table.

Benefits of Views

A view can be useful when there are multiple users with different levels of access, who all need to see portions of the data in the database (but not necessarily all of the data). Views can do the following:

• Restrict access to specific rows in a table
• Restrict access to specific columns in a table
• Join columns from multiple tables and present them as though they are part of a single table
• Present aggregate information (such as the results of the COUNT() function)

How to Create a View

To create a view, use the CREATE VIEW statement, followed by the SELECT statement.

CREATE VIEW ViewName 
AS
SELECT ...

That's all there is to it. When you run that statement, the view is saved to the database

Example

Here's an example of creating a view and then selecting data from that view.

1. Create the View

   Run the following statement against the Music database that we've created throughout this tutorial.

   This example creates a view called RockAlbums. It selects all albums that have been assigned a Genre of "Rock".

   CREATE VIEW RockAlbums AS SELECT AlbumName, ArtistName FROM Albums INNER JOIN Artists ON Albums.ArtistId = Artists.ArtistId INNER JOIN Genres ON Albums.GenreId = Genres.GenreId WHERE Genres.Genre = 'Rock';

2. View the View

   Expand the Views node under the applicable database to see your newly created view. You can also expand the view's nodes to see the columns that are included in its definition.

   

3. Run the View

   Now that the view has been created, you can run it by using a SELECT statement. You can select everything, or you can select specific columns, narrow the results further with a WHERE clause, etc.

   SELECT * FROM RockAlbums;

   

Alter a View

You can modify your view with the ALTER VIEW statement.

All you do is provide the new view definition that you'd like to use. So it's almost like creating a new view with the CREATE VIEW statement except it's altering an existing one with the ALTER VIEW statement.

Here's an example.

1. Alter the View

   Run the following statement. This adds a new column to the view's selection (the ReleaseDate column).

   ALTER VIEW RockAlbums AS SELECT AlbumName, ArtistName, ReleaseDate FROM Albums INNER JOIN Artists ON Albums.ArtistId = Artists.ArtistId INNER JOIN Genres ON Albums.GenreId = Genres.GenreId WHERE Genres.Genre = 'Rock';

2. Run the View

   Now that we've added the ReleaseDate column to the view, we can use that in our SQL queries against the view.

   For example, we can select all albums where the release date is after a certain date.

   SELECT * FROM RockAlbums WHERE ReleaseDate > '1985-01-01';

   

• Create a Query
• Create a Stored Procedure