Is it possible to grant users to create views only?

Question

We are using SQL Server 2008 R2.
Some advanced users have been working on the database to retrieve data from tables and alter existing views for years. Now we would like to give them permissions to create their own views.
It is not supposed to give them too much rights such as creating tables. Is it possible to do that, such as creating new schema for that purpose. Thanks.

Answer 1

You left out an important step that we failed to mention: you muist change the order of the schema. This is required, or else ownership chaining will void all security checks.
In script below, you get a permission error trying to create the first view, but comment out the ALTER AUTHORIZATION statement and it will not.
Using a loginless user and EXECUTE USER is an execellent way to test a permission setup on database level.
CREATE DATABASE yngve
go
USE yngve
go
CREATE SCHEMA torsten
go
CREATE USER ulrik WITHOUT LOGIN WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA = torsten
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA::torsten TO ulrik
GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA::torsten TO ulrik
GRANT CREATE VIEW TO ulrik
ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON SCHEMA::torsten TO ulrik
go
CREATE TABLE dbo.alfa(a int NOT NULL)
INSERT dbo.alfa(a) VALUES (88)
go
EXECUTE AS USER = 'ulrik'
go
CREATE VIEW torsten.albin AS SELECT a FROM dbo.alfa
go
SELECT * FROM torsten.albin
go
CREATE VIEW torsten.alfons AS SELECT getdate() AS today
go
SELECT * FROM torsten.alfons
go
REVERT
go
USE tempdb
go
DROP DATABASE yngve
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, [email protected]
Thanks. I have tried to create a login less account.
CREATE USER [testuser] without login WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA=[SchemaTest]
GOGRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA :: SchemaTest TO  [testuser]
GO
GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA :: SchemaTest TO  [testuser]
GOGRANT CREATE VIEW TO  [testuser]
GO
ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON SCHEMA :: SchemaTest TO [testuser]
GO
Without "ALTER AUTHORIZATION" statment, user can create SchemaTest.v_MyView and select all data.
With "ALTER AUTHORIZATION" statment, user can still be able to create SchemaTest.v_MyView, but unable to select retrieve data from the view. The error is as below.
The SELECT permission was denied on the object 'MyTable', database 'ViewTest', schema 'dbo'.
Maybe I still miss something. But at least user cannot retrieve protected data.