Summary
Views are saved SELECT statements that allow you to operate on the results returned from them. Views can be used to provide row- or column-level access to data, to wrap up complex joins, to perform complex aggregate queries, and to otherwise customize the display of data. Views are a powerful security tool because users can be granted permission to access limited data in views and denied access to the underlying tables. Views can be updateable, but if a join is involved, only one table at a time is updateable. You can create views using the Enterprise Manager, the Query Analyzer, or an Access project. In SQL Server 2000, there are new view features, such as the capability to index and partition views, and to work with user-defined functions in views or in place of views. The SQL Server 2000 Query Analyzer also has enhanced tools to help you perform index analysis and to optimize performance.