Fact Table vs View...

Hello, big newbie here, just want to make sure I understand a simple concept.

A view is not actually storing the data in a table, its just like a report/query within the database whereas a Fact table is actually storing more data (but most likely in an aggregated way)? Is that correct (in simple terms).

At first I thought why can't a Fact Table just be a View, but then I realized a View isn't actually storing data like a Fact table is, its just a plain ol' query.

Thanks All.

Should say table is actually storing data, more or less.

Read this. It will help you.

http://www.parkershannon.net/eda/OLAPArchitecture.html

Fact table is Star Schema concept, where you have transactions in Fact table and Dimension tables have various way you can slice the data in fact table. Since star schema is a data warehouse concept, it is supposed to have have massive amount of data and meant for reporting and data analytics. So creating a view for fact table is not good fit.

A Fact Table without it's associated Dimensions is useless, however you access it.

This is a Star Schema:

http://www.parkershannon.net/eda/StarSchema.html

This is a Data Mart:

http://www.parkershannon.net/eda/DataMart.html

This is Dimension:

http://www.parkershannon.net/eda/Dimension.html

This is a Fact Table:

http://www.parkershannon.net/eda/FactTable.html