Example: Creating a database view in SQL Server using SQL

Complexity: Beginner Data Requirement: Use your own data

You can use SQL to create a view on tables and feature classes in an enterprise geodatabase.

The examples in this topic show how a simple view created in Microsoft SQL Server can be used to restrict user access to specific columns. The example is based on a table with the following definition:

CREATE TABLE employees(
  emp_id integer not null, 
  name nvarchar(32), 
  department smallint not null, 
  hire_date datetime2 not null
);

Grant privileges on the table

If the user creating the view is not the owner of the table or tables on which the view is based, the table owner must grant the view creator at least the privilege to select from the table. If the view owner needs to be able to grant privileges on the view to other users, the table owner must grant the view owner the ability to grant privileges to other users.

In this example, the table on which the view is based (employees) is owned by the user gdb. The user creating the view is user rocket. Additionally, the rocket user must grant privileges on the view to other users. Therefore, the gdb user must grant the rocket user the privilege to select from the employees table and include the WITH GRANT OPTION so rocket can grant other users SELECT privileges on the view.

GRANT SELECT 
ON employees 
TO rocket WITH GRANT OPTION;

Create a view

In this example, user rocket creates a view on the employees table to restrict access to only those records where the department is 201:

CREATE VIEW view_dept_201
AS SELECT emp_id, name, hire_date
FROM gdb.employees
WHERE department = 201;

Grant privileges on the view

You can grant privileges on the view to specific users without having to grant those users access to the base table (employees). In this example, the user mgr200 is granted SELECT privileges on the view, view_dept_201:

GRANT SELECT
ON view_dept_201
TO mgr200;

Test privileges

Log in as mgr200 and select records from view_dept_201:

EXECUTE AS mgr200;

SELECT * FROM rocket.view_dept_201;

emp_id   name        hire_date 
112      LOLLI POP   06/30/2007 
134      VAN CHIN    10/15/2007 
150      DON GUN     03/01/2009

As expected, only records for employees in department 201 are returned.