Question:

When I use dbget on a database pointer for a view, I don't get a whole record back?

Answer:

dbget returns either a field, a record or a whole table for the object identified by the dbptr argument. For a base table, this is an actual field or record from a base table. However, for a view, dbget returns corresponding objects from a view: a single database pointer (for a single base table), a vector of database pointers identifying individual records in multiple base tables, or the whole view, which is a list of these vectors.

In other words, dbget on a view always returns an array of database pointers. The array may be of order zero, one or two.