Materialized Views¶

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW¶

You can create a materialized view on a table using a CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW statement:

create_materialized_view_statement: CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW [ IF NOT EXISTS ] `view_name` AS
                                  :     `select_statement`
                                  :     PRIMARY KEY '(' `primary_key` ')'
                                  :     WITH `table_options`

For instance:

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW monkeySpecies_by_population AS
    SELECT * FROM monkeySpecies
    WHERE population IS NOT NULL AND species IS NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY (population, species)
    WITH comment='Allow query by population instead of species';

The CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW statement creates a new materialized view. Each view is a set of rows that corresponds to the rows that are present in the underlying, or base table, as specified in the SELECT statement. A materialized view cannot be directly updated, but updates to the base table will cause corresponding updates in the view.

Creating a materialized view has three main parts:

• The select statement that restricts the data included in the view.

• The primary key definition for the view.

• The options for the view.

Attempting to create an already existing materialized view will return an error unless the IF NOT EXISTS option is used. If it is used, the statement will be a no-op if the materialized view already exists.

MV Select Statement¶

The select statement of a materialized view creation defines which of the base table is included in the view. That statement is limited in a number of ways:

• The selection is limited to those that only select columns of the base table. In other words, you can’t use any function (aggregate or not), casting, term, etc. Aliases are also not supported. You can, however, use * as a shortcut to selecting all columns. Further, static columns cannot be included in a materialized view (which means SELECT * isn’t allowed if the base table has static columns).

• The WHERE clause has the following restrictions:

  • It cannot include any bind_marker.

  • The columns that are not part of the base table primary key can only be restricted by an IS NOT NULL restriction. No other restriction is allowed.

  • As the columns that are part of the view primary key cannot be null, they must always be at least restricted by a IS NOT NULL restriction (or any other restriction, but they must have one).

  • They can also be restricted by relational operations (=, >, <).

• The SELECT statement cannot include any of the following:

  • An ordering clause

  • A limit clause

  • An ALLOW FILTERING clause.

MV Primary Key¶

A view must have a primary key, and that primary key must conform to the following restrictions:

• It must contain all the primary key columns of the base table. This ensures that every row in the view corresponds to exactly one row of the base table.

• It can only contain a single column that is not a primary key column in the base table.

So, for instance, give the following base table definition:

CREATE TABLE t (
    k int,
    c1 int,
    c2 int,
    v1 int,
    v2 int,
    PRIMARY KEY (k, c1, c2)
);

then the following view definitions are allowed:

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW mv1 AS
    SELECT * FROM t WHERE k IS NOT NULL AND c1 IS NOT NULL AND c2 IS NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY (c1, k, c2);

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW mv1 AS
    SELECT * FROM t WHERE v1 IS NOT NULL AND k IS NOT NULL AND c1 IS NOT NULL AND c2 IS NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY (v1, k, c1, c2);

but the following ones are not allowed:

// Error: cannot include both v1 and v2 in the primary key as both are not in the base table primary key
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW mv1 AS
    SELECT * FROM t WHERE k IS NOT NULL AND c1 IS NOT NULL AND c2 IS NOT NULL AND v1 IS NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY (v1, v2, k, c1, c2)

// Error: must include k in the primary as it's a base table primary key column
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW mv1 AS
    SELECT * FROM t WHERE c1 IS NOT NULL AND c2 IS NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY (c1, c2)

MV Options¶

A materialized view is internally implemented by a table, and as such, creating a MV allows the same options than creating a table.

ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW¶

After creation, you can alter the options of a materialized view using the ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW statement:

alter_materialized_view_statement: ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW `view_name` WITH `table_options`

The options that can be updated with an ALTER statement are the same as those used with a CREATE statement (see Create table options).

DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW¶

Dropping a materialized view users the DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW statement:

drop_materialized_view_statement: DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW [ IF EXISTS ] `view_name`;

If the materialized view does not exist, the statement will return an error unless IF EXISTS is used, in which case the operation is a no-op.

• Apache Cassandra Query Language (CQL) Reference

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