Mysql VIEW with explicit column datatype?

Question

How can I set the datatype of columns in a mysql view?

The following is incorrect:

CREATE VIEW person_view AS
SELECT 'Test' AS VARCHAR(20) person_firstname,
       person.age AS int(2) person_age
FROM person;

table person:

#firstname, lastname, age
john, doe, 8
jane, doe, 5

The example data will trigger the generation of VARCHAR(4) for firstname and int(1) for age. But in fact I want to support VARCHAR(20) and int(2) for those columns in the view.

Answer 1

Try using CAST or CONVERT

CREATE VIEW myview AS SELECT CAST('Test' AS VARCHAR(20)) Column1 FROM mysource;