If you were trying to determine the source of a particular view using a query tool, you'd do something like this:

	SELECT TEXT FROM USER_VIEWS WHERE VIEW_NAME = 'MY_VIEW';

However, when you attempt to run the same query through ADO.NET, you'll notice that the TEXT column returned is empty. There is a trick to this: close inspection of the USER_VIEWS table will show that the type of the TEXT column is LONG.

The reason for the empty text is that LONG columns are truncated during return to a length specified in the ADO.NET command object, and the default truncation length is ... zero. The fix is to set the InitalLONGFetchSize property before executing the command:

	OracleCommand command = new OracleCommand(
		"SELECT TEXT FROM USER_VIEWS WHERE VIEW_NAME = 'MY_VIEW'", connection);
	command.InitialLONGFetchSize = int.MaxValue;

	StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();                
	using (OracleDataReader resultReader = command.ExecuteReader())
	{
		while (resultReader.Read())
		{
			string result = resultReader.GetValue(0).ToString();
			sb.Append(result.Replace("\n", "\r\n"));
		}
	}

	return sb.ToString();

And voilà! You have the source of the view.