Question:
We are building a Web-based interface for an existing database. We’reusing a SQL interpreter that runs the queries, then sends them to theserver without the need for a client side plug-in. Some of the queries takeup to 20 minutes to process. The largest table has more than 800,000 rows. Woulda view table help the query’s performance without slowing down thewhole system? What is the deciding factor in using a view table?

Answer:
Performance issues usually are very specific to the data involved, and arebest decided using test runs. A view may be particularly useful if you useit to limit the rows that would be processed by a query.

Forinstance, a view that contains only the rows related to a particular topicwould allow you to ask users to select a topic in advance of issuingtheir query. This would allow you to use the view rather than the basetable, improving performance.