Some views are updatable and references to them can be used to
specify tables to be updated in data change statements. That is,
you can use them in statements such as
UPDATE
,
DELETE
, or
INSERT
to update the contents of
the underlying table. Derived tables and common table expressions
can also be specified in multiple-table
UPDATE
and
DELETE
statements, but can only be
used for reading data to specify rows to be updated or deleted.
Generally, the view references must be updatable, meaning that
they may be merged and not materialized. Composite views have more
complex rules.
For a view to be updatable, there must be a one-to-one relationship between the rows in the view and the rows in the underlying table. There are also certain other constructs that make a view nonupdatable. To be more specific, a view is not updatable if it contains any of the following:
Aggregate functions or window functions (
SUM()
,MIN()
,MAX()
,COUNT()
, and so forth)DISTINCT
GROUP BY
HAVING
Subquery in the select list
Nondependent subqueries in the select list fail for
INSERT
, but are okay forUPDATE
,DELETE
. For dependent subqueries in the select list, no data change statements are permitted.Certain joins (see additional join discussion later in this section)
Reference to nonupdatable view in the
FROM
clauseSubquery in the
WHERE
clause that refers to a table in theFROM
clauseRefers only to literal values (in this case, there is no underlying table to update)
ALGORITHM = TEMPTABLE
(use of a temporary table always makes a view nonupdatable)Multiple references to any column of a base table (fails for
INSERT
, okay forUPDATE
,DELETE
)
A generated column in a view is considered updatable because it is
possible to assign to it. However, if such a column is updated
explicitly, the only permitted value is
DEFAULT
. For information about generated
columns, see Section 15.1.20.8, “CREATE TABLE and Generated Columns”.
It is sometimes possible for a multiple-table view to be
updatable, assuming that it can be processed with the
MERGE
algorithm. For this to work, the view
must use an inner join (not an outer join or a
UNION
). Also, only a single table
in the view definition can be updated, so the
SET
clause must name only columns from one of
the tables in the view. Views that use
UNION ALL
are not
permitted even though they might be theoretically updatable.
With respect to insertability (being updatable with
INSERT
statements), an updatable
view is insertable if it also satisfies these additional
requirements for the view columns:
There must be no duplicate view column names.
The view must contain all columns in the base table that do not have a default value.
The view columns must be simple column references. They must not be expressions, such as these:
3.14159 col1 + 3 UPPER(col2) col3 / col4 (subquery)
MySQL sets a flag, called the view updatability flag, at
CREATE VIEW
time. The flag is set
to YES
(true) if
UPDATE
and
DELETE
(and similar operations) are
legal for the view. Otherwise, the flag is set to
NO
(false). The IS_UPDATABLE
column in the Information Schema
VIEWS
table displays the status of
this flag. It means that the server always knows whether a view is
updatable.
If a view is not updatable, statements such
UPDATE
,
DELETE
, and
INSERT
are illegal and are
rejected. (Even if a view is updatable, it might not be possible
to insert into it, as described elsewhere in this section.)
The updatability of views may be affected by the value of the
updatable_views_with_limit
system
variable. See Section 7.1.8, “Server System Variables”.
For the following discussion, suppose that these tables and views exist:
CREATE TABLE t1 (x INTEGER);
CREATE TABLE t2 (c INTEGER);
CREATE VIEW vmat AS SELECT SUM(x) AS s FROM t1;
CREATE VIEW vup AS SELECT * FROM t2;
CREATE VIEW vjoin AS SELECT * FROM vmat JOIN vup ON vmat.s=vup.c;
INSERT
,
UPDATE
, and
DELETE
statements are permitted as
follows:
INSERT
: The insert table of anINSERT
statement may be a view reference that is merged. If the view is a join view, all components of the view must be updatable (not materialized). For a multiple-table updatable view,INSERT
can work if it inserts into a single table.This statement is invalid because one component of the join view is nonupdatable:
INSERT INTO vjoin (c) VALUES (1);
This statement is valid; the view contains no materialized components:
INSERT INTO vup (c) VALUES (1);
UPDATE
: The table or tables to be updated in anUPDATE
statement may be view references that are merged. If a view is a join view, at least one component of the view must be updatable (this differs fromINSERT
).In a multiple-table
UPDATE
statement, the updated table references of the statement must be base tables or updatable view references. Nonupdated table references may be materialized views or derived tables.This statement is valid; column
c
is from the updatable part of the join view:UPDATE vjoin SET c=c+1;
This statement is invalid; column
x
is from the nonupdatable part:UPDATE vjoin SET x=x+1;
This statement is valid; the updated table reference of the multiple-table
UPDATE
is an updatable view (vup
):UPDATE vup JOIN (SELECT SUM(x) AS s FROM t1) AS dt ON ... SET c=c+1;
This statement is invalid; it tries to update a materialized derived table:
UPDATE vup JOIN (SELECT SUM(x) AS s FROM t1) AS dt ON ... SET s=s+1;
DELETE
: The table or tables to be deleted from in aDELETE
statement must be merged views. Join views are not allowed (this differs fromINSERT
andUPDATE
).This statement is invalid because the view is a join view:
DELETE vjoin WHERE ...;
This statement is valid because the view is a merged (updatable) view:
DELETE vup WHERE ...;
This statement is valid because it deletes from a merged (updatable) view:
DELETE vup FROM vup JOIN (SELECT SUM(x) AS s FROM t1) AS dt ON ...;
Additional discussion and examples follow.
Earlier discussion in this section pointed out that a view is not insertable if not all columns are simple column references (for example, if it contains columns that are expressions or composite expressions). Although such a view is not insertable, it can be updatable if you update only columns that are not expressions. Consider this view:
CREATE VIEW v AS SELECT col1, 1 AS col2 FROM t;
This view is not insertable because col2
is an
expression. But it is updatable if the update does not try to
update col2
. This update is permissible:
UPDATE v SET col1 = 0;
This update is not permissible because it attempts to update an expression column:
UPDATE v SET col2 = 0;
If a table contains an AUTO_INCREMENT
column,
inserting into an insertable view on the table that does not
include the AUTO_INCREMENT
column does not
change the value of
LAST_INSERT_ID()
, because the side
effects of inserting default values into columns not part of the
view should not be visible.