meaning of the navigation tables icon

[nightfall]

Hi all!

I am connecting for the first time to a sql server, and I am trying to understand which items are "of interest" to me - i.e. to which ones i should connect.

i was wondering if anybody could explain/share a link about the different icons that show up:

According to the guide, the items are respectively views, tables and functions.

However, if i may have an idea of what a table is, i cannot grasp what the other items (views and functions) are and what's their use.

Can someone point me to the right direction?

Thank you in advance,

Vittorio

[Nathaniel_C · Accepted solution]

Hi  ,
A VIEW in SQL Server is like a virtual table that contains data from one or multiple tables. It does not hold any data and does not exist physically in the database. Similar to a SQL table, the view name should be unique in a database. It contains a set of predefined SQL queries to fetch data from the database.

 

 

 

 

 

SQL Aggregate Functions

• COUNT FUNCTION. COUNT function is used to Count the number of rows in a database table. ...
• SUM Function. Sum function is used to calculate the sum of all selected columns. ...
• AVG function. The AVG function is used to calculate the average value of the numeric type. ...
• MAX Function. ...
• MIN Function.
   

  
  Let me know if you have any questions.
  
  If this solves your issues, please mark it as the solution, so that others can find it easily. Kudos are nice too.
  Nathaniel 

  👍

@nightfall

[nightfall]

Hi @Nathaniel_C , thank you for your comprehensive reply!

so from a strategic perspective it might be a good move to check the content of the views, because there might already be an aggregation of tables that I would otherwise be forced to do alone? Given that this source has tenths of items and nobody will explain me their use..??

thanks again,

vittorio

[Nathaniel_C]

Hi @nightfall ,

Absolutely! I did not realize that nobody was explaining what you are looking at.  My condolences, but sometimes that is what we do as data analysts. Also it might be helpful if you have someone who is a knowledgeable DBA to give you a hand as the code used to build the tables and views should be accessible.  Be methodical, and write out each thing you learn. My experience is that something like this can be a confusing mess at first, but eventually you can achieve an understanding of the data by familiarity block by block.  Keep your goal in mind and clearly defined, because it is easy to be led down a rabbit hole. 

Good luck!

Nathaniel