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Materialized View

Overview

A materialized view is a pre-computed dataset derived from a query, stored for faster querying than against the base table.

Installation

  • Copy the Package ID  @coalesce/materialized-view
  • In Coalesce, open the Workspace where you wish to install the package.
  • Go to the Build Setting of the Workspace, tab Packages, and click the Install button on the top right of the page.
  • Paste the Package ID, and proceed with the installation process.

Description

Materialized View Stage

The Coalesce Materialized View Stage UDN is a versatile node that allows you to develop and deploy a Materialized View in Snowflake.

A materialized view is a pre-computed data set derived from a query specification (the SELECT in the view definition) and stored for later use. materialized views can speed up expensive aggregation, projection, and selection operations, especially those that run frequently and that run on large data sets.

Node Configuration

The Materialized View Stage has three configuration groups:

Node Properties

There are four configs within the Node Properties group.

PropertyDescription
Storage LocationStorage Location where the Materialized View will be created
Node TypeName of template used to create node objects
DescriptionA description of the node's purpose
Deploy EnabledIf TRUE the node will be deployed / redeployed when changes are detected
If FALSE the node will not be deployed or will be dropped during redeployment

Materialized View Options

There are two configs within the Materialized View Options group.

OptionDescription
Cluster keyTrue/False to determine whether Materialized view is to be clustered or not
- True: Allows you to specify the column based on which clustering is to be done
-Allow Expressions Cluster Key: True allows to add an expression to the specified cluster key
- False: No clustering done
SecureTrue / False Toggle to determine whether Materialized view to be created in a secured mode
- True: Materialized view created in a secured mode
- False: No additional secure option added during Materialized view creation

General Options

OptionDescription
DistinctTrue / False toggle that specifies whether or not to return DISTINCT rows

Limitations of Materialized view

Materialized view has a set of limitations:

  • A materialized view cannot query a materialized or non-materialized view
  • A materialized view does not support group by all but group by is supported
  • A materialized view can query only a single table.

Review Snowflake's Limitations on Creating Materialized Views.

Deployment

Initial Deployment

When deployed for the first time into an environment Materialized View will execute three stages:

StageDescription
Create Materialized ViewThis stage will execute a CREATE OR REPLACE statement and create a Materialized View in the target environment
Applying Materialized View ClusteringThis stage will apply clustering to the created Materialized View if Clustering is set to true
Resume recluster Materialized ViewThis stage will resume the Materialized View based on clustering

Redeployment

After the Materialized View has deployed for the first time into a target environment, subsequent deployments may result in either altering the Materialized View or recreating the Materialized View.

If a Materialized View is to be altered this will run the following stage:

StageDescription
Alter Materialized ViewThis stage will execute an ALTER statement and alter the Materialized View in the target environment setting the new parameters

Altering the Materialized View

There are two config changes that if made in isolation or all-together will result in an ALTER statement to modify the Materialized View in the target environment.

  • Cluster key
  • Secure

Recreating the Materialized View

If anything changes other than the configuration options specified above then the Materialized View will be recreated by running a CREATE OR REPLACE statement.

Undeployment

If a Materialized View is deleted from a Workspace, that Workspace is committed to Git and that commit deployed to a higher-level environment then the Materialized View in the target environment will be dropped.

This is executed as a single stage:

StageDescription
Drop Materialized ViewRemoves the materialized view

Code

Versions

Available versions of the package.

Version #Release DateNotes
1.1.2November 14, 2024
 Node description/comment changes 
1.1.1November 01, 2024
 Sngle initialization block for namespace variables 
1.1.0October 11, 2024
 Cluster key formatting and default option changes 

Support

If you need help, please see our support section or contact us.