[GitHub] [incubator-superset] betodealmeida edited a comment on issue #12195: Improve dataset icons in explorer view

[GitBox <gi...@apache.org>]

betodealmeida edited a comment on issue #12195:
URL: https://github.com/apache/incubator-superset/issues/12195#issuecomment-750518684


   This is something we should improve because the messaging is not clear (cc: @srinify).
   
   These are different things: inside the database we have two types of **tables**, physical tables and (native) views. In SQL Lab these are represented by the table icon and the eye icon, respectively.
   
   Once you're outside SQL Lab, Superset doesn't really care if the database entity is a physical table or a native view — it treats them the same, because the DB abstract these two entities through a single API: SQL.
   
   Superset has a concept that lives atop the physical tables and native views: the dataset. The dataset can be physical or virtual. A **physical dataset** is one that points to a "table name" on the DB, that could be physical or a view. A **virtual dataset** is one that has SQL associated with it, pretty much like a native DB view. The main difference is that the SQL defining a virtual dataset lives in the Superset main database.
   
   So you could have a **physical dataset** in Superset that points to a **native DB view**. Or a **virtual dataset** that is defined by SQL stored in Superset, pointing to a **physical dataset** that points to a DB native view, defined by SQL stored in the DB.
   
   In summary, at the DB level we have 2 things: physical tables and views.
   One level above, we have Superset datasets, that can be: physical datasets or virtual datasets.
   
   This is super confusing, and we should figure out a better way of communicating this. Maybe we can use native views whenever possible, so that when a user clicks "visualize" in SQL Lab we run CVAS if the DB supports it? And then we provide ways of fetching the view definition stored in the DB so that the user can edit it.


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