Define a View in SQL Server

Use the SQL Server View Editor to define the views in a database in a SQL Server physical model.

To define a SQL Server view

1. Click Views on the Model menu.

   The SQL Server View Editor opens.

2. Select the view in the Navigation Grid that you want to define and work with the following options:

   Click New on the toolbar to create a new view. Use the Enter filter text box to filter a very large list of views to quickly locate the one that you want to define.

   Name

   Specifies the name of the view. Change the name of the view in this field.

   Schema

   Specifies the schema of the database to which the view belongs. Select the schema from the drop-down list.

   Use Alter Syntax

   Generates a combined CREATE and ALTER statement, which, during forward engineering:

   • Creates a view if it does not exist.
   • Alters a view if it exists.

   Applicable SQL Server 2016 onward.

   For user-defined views, once selected, deselecting the option does not revert the change made to the forward engineering script.

   Generate

   Generates SQL during forward engineering. Clear the check box if you do not want to generate SQL.

3. Click the General tab and work with the following options:

   Encryption

   Specifies to use encryption for the view so that the view is not published during SQL Server replication.

   Schema Binding

   Specifies to use schema binding on the view, which binds the view to the schema of tables upon which the view is based.

   View Metadata

   Specifies that the instance of SQL Server returns the metadata information of the view and not the metadata of the tables upon which the view is based.

4. Work with the other tabs in the editor to access additional design features, for example:
   • Specify the tables or views to define the view column in the Select tab
   • Select the tables and views that you want to participate in the view using the From tab
   • Enter text to define a WHERE clause in the Where tab
   • View and change a user-provided DDL statement in the User Defined SQL tab
   • View the SQL code used during Forward Engineering using the SQL tab
   • Work with style sheets which are used to format the font and other graphical themes used in the display of the view in the Style tab
   • Specify the icon style to use for the view in the Icon tab
   • Define view permissions using the Permission tab
   • Specify the order of DDL generation in the Object Creation Order tab
   • View history information and view or edit user notes in the Notes tab
5. (Optional) Click the Comment tab and enter any comments that you want to associate with the object.
6. (Optional) Click the Where Used tab to view where the object is used within the model.
7. (Optional) Click the UDP tab to work with user-defined properties for the object.
8. (Optional) Click the History tab to view the history information for the object.
9. (Optional) Click the Notes tab to view and edit user notes.
10. Click Close.

    The view is defined and the SQL Server View Editor closes.