Can You Use ORDER BY When Defining a View in SQL Server?

Sometimes you want the data in a view to be sorted and try to use the ORDER BY clause in the SELECT statement to define the view.

But SQL Server will not allow you to use ORDER BY to define a view without the TOP clause. The tutorial exercise below shows you what error you will get when using ORDER BY in a CREATE VIEW statement:

USE FyiCenterData;
GO

CREATE VIEW fyi_links_top AS
   SELECT id, counts, url FROM fyi_links 
   WHERE counts > 100
   ORDER BY counts DESC;
GO
Msg 1033, Level 15, State 1, Procedure fyi_links_top, Line 4
The ORDER BY clause is invalid in views, inline functions, 
   derived tables, subqueries, and common table expressions,
   unless TOP or FOR XML is also specified.

CREATE VIEW fyi_links_top AS
   SELECT TOP 100 id, counts, url FROM fyi_links 
   WHERE counts > 100
   ORDER BY counts DESC;
GO

SELECT TOP 3 * FROM fyi_links_top;
GO
id     counts  url
------ ------- -------------------------------------------
36470  999966  dgqnvmy   pyjqd toqcoupuxortasdtzvcae jonfb
12292  999953     qebmw v qqmywe q  kza  wskxqns jnb 
6192   999943   p o qisvrakk hk od 

The view seems to be sorted correctly.

⇒ ALTER VIEW - Modifying Existing Views in SQL Server

⇐ Deleting a Table That Is Used by a View in SQL Server

⇑ Understanding and Managing Views in SQL Server

⇑⇑ SQL Server Database Tutorials