USER MANUALS

Indexes of Views

In database management systems, indexes may help queries to run faster.

In Virtual DataPort, you can define indexes in the base views (not in the derived views). These indexes represent the indexes defined in the source. Note that Virtual DataPort does not actually create the indexes in the source.

At runtime, clients that connect to Virtual DataPort using the JDBC or the ODBC driver can get the information of the indexes of the views using the appropriate methods of the API. Some business intelligence tools use this information to generate more efficient queries.

The indexes of the views have to be defined manually following the steps of section Defining an Index of a Base View, except when dealing with JDBC base views. When creating JDBC base views using the Administration Tool, the indexes of the tables in the database are imported automatically.

The indexes are propagated to the derived views of the view where the index has been defined. For example, if you define an index IDX in a base view and then, you create a selection view over this view, the index IDX is propagated to the selection view. At runtime, if a client obtains the indexes of the selection view, the Server will return the information of the index IDX.

There are certain situations where the indexes cannot be propagated. For example,

  • Flatten views

  • Union views

  • In a derived view with Group By, only the indexes whose fields are in the GROUP BY clause are propagated.

When the cache is enabled for a view and its cache mode is “Full”, the indexes propagated to its derived views and to the ODBC and JDBC clients, are the “Cache indexes” and not the indexes defined in the “Indexes” tab. That is because the queries of the view will always retrieve the data from the cache and not from the source.

Defining an Index of a Base View

To create an index in a base view (indexes cannot be defined in derived views), follow these steps:

  1. Click on the tab Indexes.

    If the base view is JDBC, its indexes are automatically imported from the database (they are displayed in italics). These indexes can be edited, but not deleted.

    Note

    When you execute a “Source Refresh” on a base view (see section Source Refresh), the Server also updates the information about the indexes of the table.

  2. Click Add index and follow these steps:

Defining a new index for a base view

Defining a new index for a base view


  1. Enter the name of the index.

  2. Select the Index type: Cluster, Hash or Other.

  3. Select Is unique if the index represents a unicity index.

  4. Select Is primary key if the index represents the primary key of the view.

  5. In the left side of the dialog, there is a list of the fields of the view.

    Select the ones that belong to the index and press Add >>. To select several fields at once, hold Ctrl or Shift and click on the fields you want to select.

    To change the order of the fields in the index, select the check box of the field you want to move and click on image1 and image2.

    To remove a field from the index, select its check box in the list of the right side and click << Remove.

  1. Click Ok to create the index.

  2. To edit an index, select its check box and click Edit selected index.

  3. To remove an index, select its check box and click Remove selected index. The indexes imported from the database are displayed with italics and cannot be deleted. However, if you have edited one of these indexes, you can select it and click “Remove selected index”. By doing this, you will replace the current definition of the index with the definition obtained from the database.

Indexes of the JDBC base view phone_inc

Indexes of the JDBC base view phone_inc

For derived views, the “Indexes” tab of the “Options” dialog, lists the indexes that are propagated from the base views that this view is built upon.

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