When did inline views arrive?

Hey, out there.

Does anybody know when the "inline view" came into being on Oracle databases?

An inline view comes in handy when you want to count the number of distinct values in some column:

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM
( SELECT DISTINCT SOME_FIELD
  FROM SOME_TABLE)
;

I know there are other ways to do this, but in my opinion this is the most logical way to express it.

I have just recently discovered the feature, and I have never seen any documentation from Oracle. The syntax diagram in Server SQL Language Reference does not describe the inline view as a possibiliy and Forms 3.0 and PRO*C certainly don't like it, yet SQL*PLUS has no problem whatsoever.

Torben Jeppesen

Computer consultant, PMP Software, Denmark Email: tkjeppesen_at_vip.cybercity.dk Received on Fri Jun 07 1996 - 00:00:00 CEST