Adapting materialized views after redefinitions

TLDR

The view maintenance problem is extended to handle changes in the view definition itself, raising the question of whether updates can be performed more efficiently than recomputing from base relations. The study aims to develop techniques for adapting materialized views when the view definition changes, enabling fast updates in dynamic query applications. The authors analyze all redefinitions of SELECT‑FROM‑WHERE‑GROUPBY, UNION, and EXCEPT views, identify auxiliary information to store with a materialization, and demonstrate how to adapt views using the existing materialization when feasible. The approach allows handling multiple simultaneous view redefinitions without intermediate materialization and provides guidelines for users and administrators to achieve efficient adaptation.

Abstract

We consider a variant of the view maintenance problem: How does one keep a materialized view up-to-date when the view definition itself changes? Can one do better than recomputing the view from the base relations? Traditional view maintenance tries to maintain the materialized view in response to modifications to the base relations; we try to adapt the view in response to changes in the view definition.Such techniques are needed for applications where the user can change queries dynamically and see the changes in the results fast. Data archaeology, data visualization, and dynamic queries are examples of such applications.We consider all possible redefinitions of SQL SELECT-FROM-WHERE-GROUPBY, UNION, and EXCEPT views, and show how these views can be adapted using the old materialization for the cases where it is possible to do so. We identify extra information that can be kept with a materialization to facilitate redefinition. Multiple simultaneous changes to a view can be handled without necessarily materializing intermediate results. We identify guidelines for users and database administrators that can be used to facilitate efficient view adaptation.