---
title: "Views in Database"  
description: "A view can be thought of as either a virtual table or a stored query. Unless a view is indexed, its data is not stored in the database as a distinct o"  
author: "Uttam Misra"  
published: 2011-03-05  
updated: 2026-05-12  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/blog/128/views-in-database  
category: "database"  
tags: ["database"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Views in Database

A view can be [thought of as](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/39521/who-thought-of-as-a-pioneer-of-economic-nationalism) either a [virtual table](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/876/which-virtual-table-does-a-trigger-use) or a [stored](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/157561/what-is-the-stored-procedure-create-a-procedure-to-find-the-record-by-stu_id-from-the-student-table) query. Unless a view is indexed, its data is not stored in the [database](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/12226/use-of-database-in-sencha-extjs-and-insert-record-from-user-form-using-ajax) as a [distinct](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/159558/why-c-sharp-linq-distinct-doesn-t-work) object. What is stored in the database is a [SELECT statement](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160076/explain-the-sql-select-statement-and-how-it-s-used-to-search-for-data-in-a-database). The [result](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/12011/advantages-of-getting-result-oriented-seo-from-an-agency) set of the SELECT statement forms the virtual table returned by the view. A user can use this virtual table by referencing the view name in Transact-SQL statements the same way a table is referenced.\
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http://www.mindstick.com/Articles/028e3856-3b2f-454d-95d4-f24cdf73999c/?Working%20with%20Views%20in%20Database\

---

Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/blog/128/views-in-database

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