Example: Creating a database view in PostgreSQL using SQL

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

The examples in this topic show how to create a simple view in PostgreSQL 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 varchar(32),
department smallint not null, hire_date timestamp without time zone 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.

psql testdb gdb
Enter password for user gdb:

GRANT SELECT ON gdb.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:

psql testdb rocket
Enter password for user rocket:

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 rocket.view_dept_201 TO mgr200;

Test privileges

Log in as mgr200 and select records from view_dept_201:

psql testdb mgr200
Enter password for mgr200:

SELECT * FROM rocket.view_dept_201; 

emp_id   name        hire_date 
112      LOLLI POP   2007-06-30 08:44:38
134      VAN CHIN    2007-10-15 07:41:20
150      DON GUN     2009-03-01 15:39:05

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