Database/View
Database View
Overview
- A database view is a named presentation of selected or transformed data. It lets a reader work with a useful projection of underlying records without confusing that presentation with the records themselves.
- In relational databases, a view commonly names a query and exposes its result like a table. A view can join, filter, or reshape data from one or more source tables.
In a knowledge garden
- A page can act as a view when it gathers linked or embedded source material and commentary into one readable surface. The source pages remain separately addressable; the view determines how they are presented together.
- For a source garden and a local discussion, the view can place the upstream page alongside local annotations. This makes the combined reading resemble a Palimpsest while preserving the distinction between source and response.
Context
- A view is not necessarily a copy of its source. In SQL, a regular view is defined by a query; the database evaluates that query when the view is used. A materialized view instead stores query results and must be refreshed.
- PostgreSQL's tutorial on views describes a view as a named query usable like an ordinary table.