Views

Views are virtual tables. They are used for the following reasons:

1. To apply a permanent filter on a single table and/or restrict to a sub set of fields.
2. To combine related data from multiple tables and optionally apply filters.

Views are considered virtual tables because they do not actually hold any data. The data you see in a view is pulled directly from its tables. Creating a view does not make new copies of data.

As your database grows more complex, you may find specific needs that can be answered by creating a view. Benefits of using views in Caspio:

• Views can be used to filter a very large table, making the structure and record count more manageable.
• Views are often used in Authentications to create role based functionality in your app. For example while your Employee table could contain all employees, different views can be created to limit employees per department and an Authentication based on such view limits access to members of that department.
• Views can be used to join multiple tables. Joining more than one table makes the record information from all of the tables accessible in each record. This is useful when creating relationships.

Like tables, views can be used as the data source of your DataPages or Authentication. When you create a view, you can indicate one of the contributing tables as editable. Views with at least one editable table can be used as the source for DataPages that receive or edit data.

Individual tables are combined in views by using keys (IDs). Keys are reference values that tie two records together. For example, if one table has an AutoNumber field used as a Record ID (Key Value), the records in a second table can use an Integer Number field to keep a reference to that outside ID (Foreign Key).

Read the following articles to learn more about Views:

• Creating a View to Filter Data
• Creating a View to Join Tables
• Self-Join Views
• Modifying Views
• Importing and Exporting Views