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  4. A database view that affects the underlying data?!

A database view that affects the underlying data?!

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  • L Lost User

    N_tro_P wrote:

    A view can't actually change the data as it is or its not a "view" per say

    ..if the underlying data changes, and they request the results of the same view two weeks later? You expect the same results, or new ones?

    Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

    P Online
    P Online
    PIEBALDconsult
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    That depends on what's backing it. In many cases, the tables are "live" and you expect the latest data every time you read the view. In other cases, the tables are in a "reporting" database that might contain "the state of the data as of close-of-business yesterday" and you would not expect different data throughout the day. In that case, something would update the reporting database in the evening. But, it seems like somehow they got this view to perform that update! So they want others (me) to call it once in the evening, but not during the day. :sigh: I'd rather get the updated data, but others are reported as being "confused" by having the data change. :badger:

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    • P PIEBALDconsult

      I think that's different (but still not a good idea) in this case I'm "just reading" from the view, but apparently something (a function or who knows what) is making changes.

      Richard DeemingR Offline
      Richard DeemingR Offline
      Richard Deeming
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      I'm struggling to see how that would be possible. :confused:

      • A view cannot insert, update, or delete any records. It can only select records.
      • A view can select from a table-valued function, but a TVF cannot insert, update, or delete records. Neither can it call a stored procedure, or use temporary tables.
      • You can't create a trigger that would fire when records are selected from a table or view. And you can't create triggers on TVFs at all.

      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

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      • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

        I'm struggling to see how that would be possible. :confused:

        • A view cannot insert, update, or delete any records. It can only select records.
        • A view can select from a table-valued function, but a TVF cannot insert, update, or delete records. Neither can it call a stored procedure, or use temporary tables.
        • You can't create a trigger that would fire when records are selected from a table or view. And you can't create triggers on TVFs at all.

        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

        J Offline
        J Offline
        Jorgen Andersson
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        Richard Deeming wrote:

        A view cannot insert, update, or delete any records. It can only select records.

        Actually it can under some circumstances

        MSDN wrote:

        You can modify the data of an underlying base table through a view, as long as the following conditions are true: Any modifications, including UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements, must reference columns from only one base table. The columns being modified in the view must directly reference the underlying data in the table columns. The columns cannot be derived in any other way, such as through the following: An aggregate function: AVG, COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX, GROUPING, STDEV, STDEVP, VAR, and VARP. A computation. The column cannot be computed from an expression that uses other columns. Columns that are formed by using the set operators UNION, UNION ALL, CROSSJOIN, EXCEPT, and INTERSECT amount to a computation and are also not updatable. The columns being modified are not affected by GROUP BY, HAVING, or DISTINCT clauses. TOP is not used anywhere in the select_statement of the view together with the WITH CHECK OPTION clause.

        CREATE VIEW (Transact-SQL) - MSDN[^] <edit>BTW, most databases support it since it's standardized in SQL-92</edit>

        Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

        Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
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        • J Jorgen Andersson

          Richard Deeming wrote:

          A view cannot insert, update, or delete any records. It can only select records.

          Actually it can under some circumstances

          MSDN wrote:

          You can modify the data of an underlying base table through a view, as long as the following conditions are true: Any modifications, including UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements, must reference columns from only one base table. The columns being modified in the view must directly reference the underlying data in the table columns. The columns cannot be derived in any other way, such as through the following: An aggregate function: AVG, COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX, GROUPING, STDEV, STDEVP, VAR, and VARP. A computation. The column cannot be computed from an expression that uses other columns. Columns that are formed by using the set operators UNION, UNION ALL, CROSSJOIN, EXCEPT, and INTERSECT amount to a computation and are also not updatable. The columns being modified are not affected by GROUP BY, HAVING, or DISTINCT clauses. TOP is not used anywhere in the select_statement of the view together with the WITH CHECK OPTION clause.

          CREATE VIEW (Transact-SQL) - MSDN[^] <edit>BTW, most databases support it since it's standardized in SQL-92</edit>

          Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

          Richard DeemingR Offline
          Richard DeemingR Offline
          Richard Deeming
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          But that's only if you issue an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE statement against the view. My interpretation of PIEBALDconsult's message is that he's only reading the view - a SELECT statement. And I can't think of any way that a SELECT statement against a view could modify the underlying data.


          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

          "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

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          • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

            I'm struggling to see how that would be possible. :confused:

            • A view cannot insert, update, or delete any records. It can only select records.
            • A view can select from a table-valued function, but a TVF cannot insert, update, or delete records. Neither can it call a stored procedure, or use temporary tables.
            • You can't create a trigger that would fire when records are selected from a table or view. And you can't create triggers on TVFs at all.

            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

            P Online
            P Online
            PIEBALDconsult
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            Yeah, I don't know either. If they're not smart enough to know not to do it, then they're probably not smart enough to know how to do it. I can imagine a CLR function that could pull data from somewhere, but that's just not a good idea. For example SELECT id , name , GetManagerID(id) FROM usertable And in the background, the GetManagerID function accesses LDAP and refills the usertable or something.

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            • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

              But that's only if you issue an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE statement against the view. My interpretation of PIEBALDconsult's message is that he's only reading the view - a SELECT statement. And I can't think of any way that a SELECT statement against a view could modify the underlying data.


              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

              J Offline
              J Offline
              Jorgen Andersson
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              I got the impression he's "reading" the view via an SP or similar.

              Piebald wrote:

              in this case I'm "just reading" from the view, but apparently something (a function or who knows what) is making changes.

              Anyway, that means I misread what you wrote.

              Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

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              • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                But that's only if you issue an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE statement against the view. My interpretation of PIEBALDconsult's message is that he's only reading the view - a SELECT statement. And I can't think of any way that a SELECT statement against a view could modify the underlying data.


                "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                P Online
                P Online
                PIEBALDconsult
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                Exactly. That's been covered.

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                • J Jorgen Andersson

                  I got the impression he's "reading" the view via an SP or similar.

                  Piebald wrote:

                  in this case I'm "just reading" from the view, but apparently something (a function or who knows what) is making changes.

                  Anyway, that means I misread what you wrote.

                  Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

                  P Online
                  P Online
                  PIEBALDconsult
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  An ETL in SSIS actually, but that's just details, if I say SELECT ... FROM someview that should cause the data to change.

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                  • P PIEBALDconsult

                    An ETL in SSIS actually, but that's just details, if I say SELECT ... FROM someview that should cause the data to change.

                    J Offline
                    J Offline
                    Jorgen Andersson
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    Then the only possibility I can think of is if some idiot (IMHO) has created a trigger on the view.

                    Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

                    Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • L Lost User

                      N_tro_P wrote:

                      A view can't actually change the data as it is or its not a "view" per say

                      ..if the underlying data changes, and they request the results of the same view two weeks later? You expect the same results, or new ones?

                      Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

                      L Offline
                      L Offline
                      Lost User
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      Eddy Vluggen wrote:

                      You expect the same results, or new ones?

                      As another said it depends. Not all vies are static and will report on new data rather than a slice. Depends on how the view was built, but that is not what the OP is really about. It sounds more like a view was causing the data to actually change meaning a query was doing adding to the data set which is against all view policies.

                      Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.

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                      • L Lost User

                        Brisingr Aerowing wrote:

                        Whoever wrote that view needs to be drawn and quartered. Then each piece quartered again. Then those chunks dumped into a lava pit.It's called a VIEW for a reason, people!

                        I am thinking it isn't actually the developer of the view but the dev of the queries for the view. A view can't actually change the data as it is or its not a "view" per say, but any idiot could have put some insertion or anything with in a query that is accessed when a view is accessed. Granted, probably the same developer but not necessarily.

                        Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        Or even better: Some triggers.

                        The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
                        This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
                        "I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.

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                        • L Lost User

                          Eddy Vluggen wrote:

                          You expect the same results, or new ones?

                          As another said it depends. Not all vies are static and will report on new data rather than a slice. Depends on how the view was built, but that is not what the OP is really about. It sounds more like a view was causing the data to actually change meaning a query was doing adding to the data set which is against all view policies.

                          Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          N_tro_P wrote:

                          It sounds more like a view was causing the data to actually change meaning a query was doing adding to the data set which is against all view policies.

                          A view does not have side-effects. Adding a row is not the same as a view with side-effects :)

                          Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

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                          • J Jorgen Andersson

                            Then the only possibility I can think of is if some idiot (IMHO) has created a trigger on the view.

                            Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

                            Richard DeemingR Offline
                            Richard DeemingR Offline
                            Richard Deeming
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            SQL Server doesn't let you create a trigger that fires on a SELECT.


                            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

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                            • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                              SQL Server doesn't let you create a trigger that fires on a SELECT.


                              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              Jorgen Andersson
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              Quite right you are. :doh: I need to get rid of this cold. My brain is getting mushy.

                              Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

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