What Are Views?

A view is a database object that represents the data in one or more tables in the same structure as a separate table. Here are some basic rules about views:

• Tables store real data.
• Views do not store real data.
• Views must have underlying tables to provide data.
• Each view is based on a single SELECT statement to control what data to collect from tables, and how data should be represented.
• View's columns can be mapped directly to columns in underlying tables.
• View's columns can be created expressions based multiple columns in underlying tables.
• Views can be used in same way as tables in queries.