SQL Server Team-based Development - Red Gate Software

275
Chapter 9: Searching DDL and Build Scripts
At some point, someone decided to use the special value of 0 to denote the description of
the type, which you can see from …
SELECT name,* FROM master.dbo.spt_values WHERE number=0 ORDER BY type
… but the scheme soon fell foul of the fact that some enumerations, such as binary
'Yes'/'No', required a zero!
Using System Tables (pre-SQL 2005)
If you are stuck on SQL Server 2000 or older, this shouldn't stop you dead in your tracks,
because there are still ways to get at this metadata. Instead of using the catalog views, you
have to use the system tables. The mapping between the system tables and the system
catalog views are all listed for you on Books Online. The big problem is that the code is
complicated by the fact that each routine is stored in as many NVARCHAR(4000) chunks
as are required to hold the entire definition. A solution that I use for searching through
the definitions of routines in SQL Server 2000 database is given at www.simple-talk.
com/community/blogs/philfactor/archive/2006/06/03/854.aspx.
Using SSMS to Explore Table Metadata
Using some of the previously-presented scripts, and a little ingenuity, we can use SSMS
to do a detailed exploration of the metadata of our routines and tables. To provide a feel
for the sort of magic that is possible, let's start with a brief demo. I have a blank query
window. I wonder what tables I have in my database and what they're for. I hit my query
shortcut, CTRL+6. The output shown in Figure 9-4 appears in the results pane.