CREATE [ OR REPLACE ] VIEW
[ owner.]view-name [ ( column-name, ... ) ]
AS query-expression
[ WITH CHECK OPTION ]

Views do not physically exist in the database as tables. They are derived each time they are used. A view is derived as the result of a SELECT statement specified in a CREATE VIEW statement. In a view, specifying the user ID of the table owner is recommended to distinguish tables with the same name.

A view name can be used in place of a table name in SELECT, DELETE, UPDATE, and INSERT statements.

SELECT * can be used in the main query, a subquery, a derived table, or a subselect of the CREATE VIEW statement.

A query can specify a TOP n, FIRST, or LIMIT clause even if there is no ORDER BY clause. At most the specified number of rows are returned, but the order of the rows returned is not defined, so an ORDER BY could be specified but it is not required. When a view is used in a query, the ORDER BY in the view does not determine the order of rows in the query, even if there are no other tables in the FROM clause. That means that an ORDER BY should only be included in a view if it is needed to select which rows are included by a TOP n, FIRST, or LIMIT clause. Otherwise, the ORDER BY clause has no effect and it is ignored by the database server.

Views can be updated unless the query-expression defining the view contains a GROUP BY clause, a WINDOW clause, an aggregate function, or involves a set operator (UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT). An update to the view updates the underlying table(s).

The view's columns are given the names specified in the column-name list. If the column name list is not specified, view columns are given names from the SELECT list items. All items in the SELECT list must have unique names. To use names from the SELECT list items, each item must be a simple column name or have a specified alias.

SQL Anywhere does permit unnamed expressions in the SELECT list of the query-expression referenced in the CREATE VIEW statement. Unnamed expressions in the SELECT list of the query-expression are assigned the name expression, concatenated with an integer value if more than one such expression exists. For example, the following statement would define view V with three columns (expression, expression1, and expression2), and these names would appear in the SYSCOLUMN system view for the created view V.

CREATE VIEW V AS 
   SELECT DATEADD( DAY, 1, NOW() ), DATEADD( DAY, 2, NOW() ), DATEADD( DAY, 2, NOW() ) 
   FROM SYS.DUMMY;

Relying on these generated names is not recommended since other views with unnamed SELECT list expressions have the identical assigned names.

Typically, a view references tables and views (and their respective attributes) that are defined in the catalog. However, a view can also reference SQL variables. In this case, when a query that references the view is executed, the value of the SQL variable is used. Views that reference SQL variables are called parameterized views since the variables act as parameters to the execution of the view.

Parameterized views offer an alternative to embedding the body of an equivalent SELECT block in a query as a derived table in the query's FROM clause. Parameterized views can be useful for queries that are embedded in stored procedures where the SQL variables referenced in the view are input parameters for the procedure.

It is not necessary for the SQL variable to exist when the CREATE VIEW statement is executed. However, if the SQL variable is not defined when a query that refers to the view is executed, an error is returned indicating that the column (variable) could not be found.

You must have the CREATE VIEW system privilege to create views owned by you. You must have the CREATE ANY VIEW or CREATE ANY OBJECT system privilege to create views owned by others.

If the tables referenced by the view are owned by other users, you must have SELECT privileges on those tables.

Automatic commit.

• Creating a regular view
• ALTER VIEW statement
• INSTEAD OF triggers
• SELECT statement

The following example creates a view showing information for male employees only. This view has the same column names as the base table:

CREATE VIEW MaleEmployees
AS SELECT *
FROM GROUPO.Employees
WHERE Sex = 'M';

The following example creates a view showing employees and the departments they belong to:

CREATE VIEW EmployeesAndDepartments
  AS SELECT Surname, GivenName, DepartmentName
  FROM GROUPO.Employees JOIN GROUPO.Departments
  ON Employees.DepartmentID = Departments.DepartmentID;

The following example replaces the EmployeesAndDepartments view created in the previous example. After replacing the view, the view shows the city, state, and country location for each employee:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW EmployeesAndDepartments
  AS SELECT Surname, GivenName, City, State, Country
  FROM GROUPO.Employees JOIN GROUPO.Departments
  ON Employees.DepartmentID = Departments.DepartmentID;

The following example creates a parameterized view based on the variables var1 and var2, which are not attributes of the Employees or Departments tables:

CREATE VIEW EmployeesByState
  AS SELECT Surname, GivenName, DepartmentName
  FROM GROUPO.Employees JOIN GROUPO.Departments
  ON Employees.DepartmentID = Departments.DepartmentID
  WHERE Employees.State = var1 and Employees.Status = var2;

Variables can appear in the view's SELECT statement in any context where a variable is a permitted expression. For example, the following parameterized view utilizes the parameter var1 as the pattern for a LIKE predicate:

CREATE VIEW ProductsByDescription
  AS SELECT *
  FROM GROUPO.Products
  WHERE Products.Description LIKE var1;

To use this view, define the variable var1 before executing the query that references the view. For example, the following BEGIN statement could be placed in a procedure, function, or a batch statement:

BEGIN
DECLARE var1 CHAR(20);
SET var1 = '%cap%';
SELECT * FROM ProductsByDescription
END