You can specify a subquery between parentheses in places where you would normally specify a table or view name.
You can use inline views for data manipulation purposes.
Data manipulation via inline views is especially interesting in combination with updatable join views.
The following code shows an example of an UPDATE command against an inline updatable join view.
update ( select e.msal from emp e join departments d using (deptno) where location = 'DALLAS') set msal = msal + 1;
Here, you can execute UPDATE commands via an inline join view, giving all emp in Dallas a symbolic salary raise.
The UPDATE command does not contain a WHERE clause at all.
The inline view filters the rows to be updated.
SQL> SQL> drop table emp; Table dropped.-- ww w . j a v a2 s . c om SQL> create table emp( 2 empno NUMBER(4) primary key, 3 ename VARCHAR2(8) not null , 4 init VARCHAR2(5) not null , 5 job VARCHAR2(8) , 6 mgr NUMBER(4) , 7 bdate DATE not null , 8 msal NUMBER(6,2) not null , 9 comm NUMBER(6,2) , 10 deptno NUMBER(2) default 10) ; SQL> SQL> insert into emp values(7001,'SMITH','N', 'TRAINER', 7902,date '1975-12-17', 1800 , NULL, 20); SQL> insert into emp values(7002,'ALLEN','JAM','SALESREP',7006,date '1971-05-20', 1600, 300, 30); SQL> insert into emp values(7003,'WARD', 'TF' ,'SALESREP',7006,date '1972-03-02', 1250, 500, 10); SQL> insert into emp values(7004,'JACK', 'JM', 'MANAGER', 7009,date '1977-04-02', 2975, NULL, 20); SQL> insert into emp values(7005,'BROWN','P', 'SALESREP',7006,date '1976-09-28', 1250, 1400, 30); SQL> insert into emp values(7006,'BLAKE','R', 'MANAGER', 7009,date '1973-11-01', 2850, NULL, 10); SQL> insert into emp values(7007,'CLARK','AB', 'MANAGER', 7009,date '1975-06-09', 2450, NULL, 10); SQL> insert into emp values(7008,'SCOTT','DEF','TRAINER', 7004,date '1979-11-26', 3000, NULL, 20); SQL> insert into emp values(7009,'KING', 'CC', 'DIRECTOR',NULL,date '1972-10-17', 5000, NULL, 10); SQL> insert into emp values(7010,'BREAD','JJ', 'SALESREP',7006,date '1978-09-28', 1500, 0, 30); SQL> insert into emp values(7011,'ADAMS','AA', 'TRAINER', 7008,date '1976-12-30', 1100, NULL, 20); SQL> insert into emp values(7012,'JONES','R', 'ADMIN', 7006,date '1979-10-03', 8000, NULL, 30); SQL> insert into emp values(7902,'FORD', 'MG', 'TRAINER', 7004,date '1979-02-13', 3000, NULL, 20); SQL> insert into emp values(7934,'MARY', 'ABC','ADMIN', 7007,date '1972-01-23', 1300, NULL, 10); SQL> SQL> drop table departments; Table dropped. SQL> SQL> create table departments( 2 deptno NUMBER(2) primary key, 3 dname VARCHAR2(10) not null unique check (dname = upper(dname)), 4 location VARCHAR2(8) not null check (location = upper(location)), 5 mgr NUMBER(4)) ; SQL> SQL> insert into departments values (10,'ACCOUNTING','NEW YORK',7007); SQL> insert into departments values (20,'TRAINING', 'DALLAS', 7004); SQL> insert into departments values (30,'SALES', 'CHICAGO', 7006); SQL> insert into departments values (40,'HR', 'BOSTON', 7009); SQL> update ( select e.msal 2 from emp e join 3 departments d using (deptno) 4 where location = 'DALLAS') 5 set msal = msal + 1; 5 rows updated. SQL>