Azure Cosmos DB design patterns – Part 7: Materialized Views

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Purpose of Materialized Views
3. Implementation of Materialized Views
4. Benefits of Materialized Views

1. Introduction

This blog post is the seventh installment in the Azure Cosmos DB design patterns series, focusing on materialized views. It explores how materialized views can enhance data access efficiency and cater to specific querying needs in NoSQL applications.

2. Purpose of Materialized Views

Materialized views are beneficial when the original data structure is not optimized for frequent queries. They store only the necessary data required for specific queries, simplifying complex queries, improving query performance, and providing access to specific data subsets.

3. Implementation of Materialized Views

When implementing the materialized view pattern, a separate container is created for each materialized view. This allows for storing precomputed data based on the original database, enabling queries to directly access the precomputed results from the materialized view.

For example, consider a scenario where sales data needs to be viewed by product rather than by customer. By creating a materialized view that stores the sum of quantities sold for each product, queries can efficiently retrieve this precomputed data without the need for complex joins and aggregations.

4. Benefits of Materialized Views

• Improved Query Performance: Materialized views reduce the need for running complex calculations during query execution, improving overall query performance.
• Efficient Data Management: Materialized views facilitate the transformation of data into different formats for specific querying needs, enhancing data presentation and accessibility.

In conclusion, materialized views are a valuable tool for optimizing data retrieval performance, reducing load on primary data stores, ensuring data consistency, and simplifying query complexity in NoSQL database design.