PhpPgAdmin Syntax error when creating View

Question

I am attempting to create a View in PhpPgAdmin (PostGreSQL db) which has the following SQL statement:

DELETE FROM myTable WHERE myTable.error IS NULL;

PhpPgAdmin gives me the following error:

ERROR: syntax error at or near "DELETE" at character 59 In statement: CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW "Schema1"."Delete empty errors" AS DELETE FROM myTable WHERE myTable.error IS NULL;

As far as I can tell this SQL statement is valid, and I have delete privileges for the table. Is the DELETE statement not allowed in Views? Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

Views are used to display the data from SELECT statements only (usually when the SELECT is complex). Views cannot contain DELETES, UPDATES, or INSERTS.

Perhaps you want a function?

EDIT: As OMG Ponies points out, you can have updateable views, but thats where you would issue a DELETE to an existing view and then use a RULE to rewrite the query as a DELETE.

And please, please don't wrap a function call to do a DELETE as a side effect in a view. Its unexpected and Jesus shoots a puppy every time this happens.