In SQL Server, you can create a view with the SCHEMABINDING option to prevent changes to the underlying tables that would affect the view. When a view is created with SCHEMABINDING, you cannot drop or alter the tables that the view depends on without first dropping the view itself. This can help maintain data integrity and improve performance.
Here's the basic syntax to create a view with SCHEMABINDING:
CREATE VIEW YourViewName
WITH SCHEMABINDING
AS
SELECT Column1, Column2, ...
FROM dbo.YourTableName;
Here are the steps:
1. Replace YourViewName with the desired name for your view.
2. Replace Column1, Column2, ... with the names of the columns you want to include in the view.
3. Replace dbo.YourTableName with the name of the table (including schema) that you are selecting from.
Example
Here is an example of creating a view that selects data from a specific table with SCHEMABINDING:
CREATE VIEW dbo.VW_Employees
WITH SCHEMABINDING
AS
SELECT EmployeeID, FirstName, LastName
FROM dbo.Employees;
Important Notes
- You need to ensure that the underlying table schema does not change while the view exists. If you attempt to alter or drop the table referenced by a SCHEMABINDING view, SQL Server will return an error.
- You must fully qualify the referenced tables with the schema name, as shown in the example above.
- If you want to later modify or drop the view, you will first need to drop the view using DROP VIEW before you can make changes to the underlying tables.
Using SCHEMABINDING is particularly useful for indexed views, as it helps to ensure that the underlying data remains stable and supports the necessary optimizations.