Question

I am developing with Codeigniter and when it gets to complicated database queries
I am using

$this->db->query('my complicated query');

then cast to array of object using $query->result();

and so far it’s very good and useful

Now my question is

1. what if I want to create mysql view and select from it? Will

   $this->db->from('mysql_view')
   

   take the mysql view as it’s a table or not?

2. And if I do that will be any difference in performance are views faster than normal database query?

3. What would be best practice with Codeigniter and MYSQL database dealing with complicated queries as I understand that ActiveRecord is just query builder and as some tests it’s even a little slower

Thanks in advance for your advise

Answer 1

1. MySQL views are queried the same way as tables, on a side note, you can’t have a table and a view share the same name.
2. Depends on the query you use in the view, views can be internally cached so in the long run – yes, they are faster.
3. Best practice in this case is to use whatever you find easy to use for yourself and your team, I personally stick to using $this->db->query(); as I find it’s easier to change a simple query of this kind to have some advanced functionality like sub-queries or other things that are hard and/or impossible to do with CI query builder. My advice would be to stick to one way of queries – if you use ->query(), then use them everywhere, if you use a query builder, then use it wherever it is possible to achieve the result using it.