SQL & PL/SQL

Hello,
I m trying to work on materlized view...i know the conceptually what materized view and difference between view and materlized view...but i dont have much practical exposure on materlized views....


I have couple of questions

- how do i create index on materlized view
say i have test table with 16 columns and i want create an index on date column ...how do i do ???

Next ,
i want to schedule the refresh on every morning say at 5 AM.. How am i going to do this ???


One more question,
I know the view is virtual, whenever you run the view, it queries the base(master) tables on the fly. it doesnt hold data....But materlized view it holds the data until next refresh , so everytime you run the materlized view, its not quering the base(master) tables i guess, right??? If m wrong please correct me.


Thank you!!