>I would create a stored procedure (provided that you are using sql server)that contains the select statement and in the client code(vb.net) fill a dataset based on that storedproc and get the dataset.tables(0).DefaultView as the view to bind to the grid.

No, this approach is not good for the related needs. The client receives all the data by a WS DataSet. From it, he can decide to build any kind of list. This is one. I need to know the syntax of SELECT for a UNION from a view.