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Working with MongoDB Views

MongoDB 201: Querying MongoDB Data Working with MongoDB Views

If you’ve worked with SQL relational databases, you’re no doubt familiar with views.

A view is a named query that’s saved to the database and runs whenever you call it.

Views in MongoDB are similar to SQL views, except that MongoDB views are limited to aggregation queries.

A view provides a way to save an aggregation and run it on demand, without persisting data to disk.

When you call a view, MongoDB executes the query and returns the data from the underlying collection, as though you queried the collection directly.

In this section, you’ll create a view based on data in the customers collection that you set up at the beginning of this course.

The view will be based on a predefined aggregation query that groups data by the package and prio_support fields and then provides the total number of transactions per group.

After you create the view, you’ll use various methods available to Studio 3T to retrieve data through that view.

Next, you’ll update the view definition, and then you’ll delete the view to return the database to its original state.

The MongoDB createview method

A MongoDB view abstracts a collection’s underlying document structure, returning only the data defined by the view’s aggregation.

This abstraction offers several important benefits, such as simplifying code maintenance, streamlining application development, and protecting personal information.

Views are easy to create and take up little disk space because only the view definition itself is persisted to the database. However, they can be used only to read data, not update or delete it. 

To create a view, you can use the MongoDB createView method.

MongoDB saves the view as a named database object. The view must be created in the same database that contains the collection targeted by the view. After the view has been created, you can query it as you would query a collection. 

The following syntax shows the basic elements that make up a view definition:

db.createView(<name>, <collection>, <pipeline>[, collation: <options> ])

The MongoDB createView method takes four arguments, as indicated by the placeholders. You should substitute the placeholders as follows:

  • Replace the <name> placeholder with the name you want to assign to the view.
  • Replace the <collection> placeholder with the name of the target collection.
  • Replace the <pipeline> placeholder with an aggregation pipeline, which is an array made up of one or more stages.
    The pipeline is similar to what’s used for the aggregate method, except with a few minor differences. For example, the createView pipeline does not support the $out or $merge operator. 
  • The collation argument is optional. If you include it, replace the <options> placeholder with a document containing the language-specific rules you want applied to string comparisons.

The best way to understand the createView method is to see an example.

The following statement defines a view named get_totals, which aggregates data in the customers collection in the sales database:

db.createView(
   "get_totals",
   "customers",
  [
    {
      "$match" : { 
        "transactions" : { 
          "$gt" : NumberLong(0) } }
    }, 
    {
      "$group" : { 
        "_id" : { 
          "package" : "$package" }, 
          "SUM(transactions)" : { "$sum" : "$transactions" } } 
    }, 
    { 
      "$project" : { 
        "package" : "$_id.package", 
        "total" : "$SUM(transactions)", 
        "_id" : NumberInt(0) }
    }
  ]
);

The MongoDB createView method’s first argument specifies the view’s name (get_totals), and the second argument identifies that target collection (customers). The third argument is an array that defines three pipeline stages:

  • The $match stage limits the documents to those that have a transactions value greater than 0.
  • The $group stage groups the documents based on the package values and then provides the total number of transactions for each package type.
  • The $project stage specifies that the query should return the package and total fields, but not the _id field.

When you run this statement, MongoDB saves the get_totals view object to the sales database, where it can be accessed at any time, much like a collection.

For example, a user can run a find statement or aggregate statement against the view, further refining the returned data. The query engine does not run the view’s aggregate query until that view is actually called.

Understanding the createView statement is useful in learning about how views work, but know that Studio 3T provides tools that make it easy to create, update, and delete views, without having to build or modify your own createView statements.

For example, you can use the View Editor to create and edit views as easily as you can create aggregations.

After you create the view, you can then query it using the various methods available in Studio 3T for accessing document data, as you’ll see in the following exercises.

By the end of this section, you will learn how to:

  • Create a MongoDB view
  • Query a MongoDB view
  • Modify and delete a MongoDB view

What you will need:

  • Access to a MongoDB Atlas cluster
  • Access to the customers collection in the sales database
Lesson Content
0% Complete 0/3 Steps
Lesson 7, Exercise 1: Creating a MongoDB view
Lesson 7, Exercise 2: Querying a MongoDB view
Lesson 7, Exercise 3: Modifying and deleting a MongoDB view
Test your skills: Working with MongoDB Views
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  • Course Home Expand All
    Performing MongoDB CRUD Operations
    4 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 1, Exercise 1: Adding a document to a collection
    Lesson 1, Exercise 2: Viewing a document in a collection
    Lesson 1, Exercise 3: Updating a document in a collection
    Lesson 1, Exercise 4: Deleting a document from a collection
    Test your skills: Performing CRUD Operations
    Building MongoDB find() Queries
    4 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 2: The MongoDB find method
    Lesson 2, Exercise 1: Using IntelliShell to build and run find statements
    Lesson 2, Exercise 2: Using Visual Query Builder to build and run find statements
    Lesson 2, Exercise 3: Using Query Code and IntelliShell to modify and run a find statement
    Test your skills: Building MongoDB find() Queries
    Working with the MongoDB Aggregation Pipeline
    6 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 3: Introducing the MongoDB aggregate method
    Lesson 3, Exercise 1: Filtering the documents in the aggregation pipeline
    Lesson 3, Exercise 2: Grouping the documents in the aggregation pipeline
    Lesson 3, Exercise 3: Adding and removing fields in the aggregation pipeline
    Lesson 3, Exercise 4: Changing the field order in the aggregation pipeline
    Lesson 3, Exercise 5: Sorting the documents in the aggregation pipeline
    Test your skills: Working with the MongoDB Aggregation Pipeline
    Querying Arrays Using MongoDB $elemMatch
    4 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 4, Exercise 1: Using IntelliShell to query single and multiple values in an array
    Lesson 4, Exercise 2: Using Visual Query Builder to query a single array value
    Lesson 4, Exercise 3: Using Visual Query Builder to query multiple array values
    Test your skills: Querying Arrays Using MongoDB $elemMatch
    MongoDB 201 Mid-Course Feedback
    Querying Embedded Documents in MongoDB Arrays
    3 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 5, Exercise 1: Using the $elemMatch operator to query embedded documents
    Lesson 5, Exercise 2: Using conditional operators to query embedded documents
    Lesson 5, Exercise 3: Using Visual Query Builder to query embedded documents
    Test your skills: Querying Embedded Documents in Arrays
    Querying MongoDB with SQL SELECT Statements
    2 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 6, Exercise 1: Using the SQL Query tool to run SQL statements
    Lesson 6, Exercise 2: Using the SQL Query tool to aggregate collection data
    Test your skills: Querying MongoDB with SQL
    Working with MongoDB Views
    3 Topics | 1 Quiz
    Lesson 7, Exercise 1: Creating a MongoDB view
    Lesson 7, Exercise 2: Querying a MongoDB view
    Lesson 7, Exercise 3: Modifying and deleting a MongoDB view
    Test your skills: Working with MongoDB Views
    Course Extras
    Return to MongoDB 201: Querying MongoDB Data
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