# Views

A view is a virtual table derived from one or more underlying database tables or views in the source system. A view can be defined via a direct SQL query and allows you to produce custom slices of data.

### Setup

The setup process is very similar to the process for [Tables](/configuration/creating-synthetic-databases/tables.md), except that you provide your own view alias and a SQL query to define the view's contents. The alias is how users will reference the view in queries — `SELECT a, b, c FROM <your_view_alias>` — and the SQL query will determine the schema and contents of the resulting relation.

#### SQL definitions

The SQL query will be executed directly against the source system, and should therefore be written in the source system's native dialect. Currently Subsalt only supports single-query views.

#### Immutability

Views are structurally immutable; you cannot modify the schema or reconfigure metadata once the view has been created. If you need to modify the structure of a view, you should delete and recreate it.


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