---
title: "View in SQL Server"  
description: "Views can be considered as virtual table. Generally speaking, a table has a set of definition, and it physically stores the data. A view also has a"  
author: "Anonymous User"  
published: 2011-07-05  
updated: 2014-09-18  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/blog/201/view-in-sql-server  
category: "database"  
tags: ["database"]  
reading_time: 3 minutes  

---

# View in SQL Server

\

Views can be [considered as](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/156093/what-is-considered-as-more-significant-creating-content-or-building-backlinks) virtual table. Generally speaking, a table has a set of definition, and it physically stores the data. A view also has a set of definitions, which is build on top of tables or other views, and it does not physically store the data. View is a pre-written query that is stored on the database. A view consists of 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), and when you run the view, you see the results of it like you would when opening a table. A view consists of rows with columns, and you can [retrieve data](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160512/how-to-retrieve-data-from-the-database-in-c-sharp-using-dataadapter) from a view. The fields in the view’s virtual table are the fields of one or more real tables in the database. You can use views to join two tables in your database. You can also use views as a security mechanism to restrict the data available to end users. A view is created by joining one or more tables.\

##### Syntax: Creating View

##### \
Create View < [View Name]> As

< [Select statement form table]> with where clause <optional>

##### Example: Creating View

```
create view testview asselect * from userlogininfo
```

OutPut: select * from testview

Desired Output:

##### 101 ArunKumar Vashundhra Ghaziabad arunbaswar@gmail.com 22222 7607185995 Admin 1989-02-28

##### 102 Arunsingh Vashundhra Ghaziabad arunbaswar@gmail.com 123456 7607185995 Admin 1989-02-28

##### 103 Varunsingh Vashundhra Ghaziabad varunbaswar@gmail.com 00000 7607185995 User 1988-02-28

##### Example: Modify View

alter view testview as

select * from SubCategory

##### Output: select * from testview

##### Desired Output:

##### ASP.NET .NET

##### C# .NET

##### G5 Carbon

##### MY SQL DATABASE

##### SQL SERVER DATABASE

##### kuntal Hello

##### Example: Drop View

```
      drop view testview
```

##### Types of View:

There are many types of [view in SQL](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/11175/view-in-sql) Server in which some important view is given as follows:

##### 1. Standard View:

Combining data from one or more tables through a standard view lets you satisfy most of the benefits of using views. These include focusing on specific data and simplifying data manipulation.

2. Indexed View:

An indexed view is a view that has been materialized. This means it has been computed and stored. You index a view by creating a unique [clustered index](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/337/clustered-non-clustered-indexing-in-sql-server) on it. Indexed views dramatically improve the performance of some types of queries. Indexed views work best for queries that aggregate many rows. They are not well-suited for underlying data sets that are frequently updated.

3. Partitioned View:

A partitioned view joins horizontally partitioned data from a set of member tables across one or more servers.

##### When to Use a View

You need to have a goal in mind when creating a view. There are a number of scenarios where you will want to look for a view as a solution.

· To hide the complexity of the underlying [database schema](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160254/how-to-apply-a-migration-to-update-the-database-schema-in-entity-framework-core), or customize the [data and schema](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/161690/what-are-structured-data-and-schema-markup) for a set of users.

· To control access to [rows and columns](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/161180/how-to-compare-rows-and-columns-in-sql-server-database) of data.

· To [aggregate data](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160897/how-do-i-use-the-group-by-clause-to-aggregate-data-in-sql-server) for performance.

---

Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/blog/201/view-in-sql-server

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