SnowPro Associate: Platform Question 110
Single answer● ViewsA data engineering team maintains a table named SALES_RAW that receives new rows throughout the day. Analysts from multiple business units query a view named SALES_CURRENT that selects a subset of columns from SALES_RAW and applies a few WHERE clause filters. The team wants analysts to automatically see the latest committed data in SALES_RAW without recreating the view or loading data into another table. Which statement best describes how this will work in Snowflake?
- A
SALES_CURRENT will return the latest committed data from SALES_RAW each time the view is queried because a standard view stores the query definition, not a separate copy of the data.
- B
SALES_CURRENT must be manually refreshed after each load because Snowflake views cache their result set until the owner issues an ALTER VIEW REFRESH command.
- C
SALES_CURRENT will only show new rows after the underlying table is reclustered, because views depend on micro-partition reorganization to reflect table changes.
- D
SALES_CURRENT creates an independent logical snapshot when it is created, so analysts will not see newly loaded rows unless the view is replaced.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct answer is that a standard Snowflake view exposes current data from its underlying table whenever it is queried. A view is a saved SQL statement, not a duplicated dataset. As long as the underlying table exists and the querying role has the necessary privileges, users see the latest committed rows that satisfy the view definition. This makes views useful for simplifying repeated logic, enforcing column/row filtering logic, and presenting curated access paths without duplicating storage. Candidates should distinguish standard views from materialized views: materialized views persist precomputed results for performance optimization and have different maintenance behavior. Snowflake documentation describes views as database objects defined by a query and evaluated against underlying data at query time.
- A. Correct.
Correct. In Snowflake, a standard view stores the SQL definition, not persisted table data. When users query the view, Snowflake executes the underlying query against the current state of the base table, subject to transaction consistency and permissions. This means newly committed rows in SALES_RAW are visible through the view without recreating it.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Standard views in Snowflake do not require a manual refresh command to expose changes in the underlying table. This option confuses standard views with other database objects or platform-specific materialization concepts. Snowflake does support materialized views, but a normal view is resolved at query time.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Reclustering affects data organization and potentially query performance, not whether a standard view reflects current table contents. A view references the base table logically and does not wait for clustering activity to show newly committed data.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A standard view is not a static snapshot of data at creation time. This option reflects a common misconception that creating a view copies data or freezes results. In Snowflake, a regular view remains a stored query definition over the underlying objects.