Find a value anywhere (Views) in a database - sql-server

Question

I would like to search through an MS SQL Server DB for a specific value in the SQL Views.
This SO post is helpful to search all tables for a specific value (Find a value anywhere in a database) but does not cover Views.
Does anyone have any SQL Script they can share? Google has only turned up how to search through all the tables for the value.

Answer 1

This procedure (based on this tip from 2015) will build a separate search command for every string column in any view, table, or both, in any database, or all user databases. Note that I use sys.objects instead of INFORMATION_SCHEMA for reasons I outline here.
CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.SearchViewsAndOrTables
#SearchTerm nvarchar(255) = NULL,
#SingleDatabase nvarchar(128) = NULL,
#ViewsOnly bit = 0,
#TablesOnly bit = 0
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED;
IF #SearchTerm IS NULL OR #SearchTerm NOT LIKE N'%[^%^_]%'
BEGIN
RAISERROR(N'Please enter a valid search term.', 11, 1);
RETURN;
END
CREATE TABLE #results
(
[database] sysname,
[schema] sysname,
[object] sysname,
[column] sysname,
ExampleValue nvarchar(4000)
);
DECLARE #DatabaseCommands nvarchar(max) = N'',
#ColumnCommands nvarchar(max) = N'';
SELECT #DatabaseCommands = #DatabaseCommands + N'
EXEC ' + QUOTENAME(name) + '.sys.sp_executesql
#ColumnCommands, N''#SearchTerm nvarchar(255)'', #SearchTerm;'
FROM sys.databases
WHERE database_id > 4 -- non-system databases
AND [state] = 0 -- online
AND user_access = 0 -- multi-user
AND LOWER(name) = LOWER(COALESCE(#SingleDatabase, name));
SET #ColumnCommands = N'DECLARE #q nchar(1),
#SearchCommands nvarchar(max);
SELECT #q = nchar(39),
#SearchCommands = N''DECLARE #VSearchTerm varchar(255) = #SearchTerm;'';
SELECT #SearchCommands = #SearchCommands + char(13) + char(10) + N''
SELECT TOP (1)
[db] = DB_NAME(),
[schema] = N'' + #q + s.name + #q + '',
[table] = N'' + #q + t.name + #q + '',
[column] = N'' + #q + c.name + #q + '',
ExampleValue = LEFT('' + QUOTENAME(c.name) + '', 4000)
FROM '' + QUOTENAME(s.name) + ''.'' + QUOTENAME(t.name) + ''
WHERE '' + QUOTENAME(c.name) + N'' LIKE #'' + CASE
WHEN c.system_type_id IN (35, 167, 175) THEN ''V''
ELSE '''' END + ''SearchTerm;''
FROM sys.schemas AS s
INNER JOIN sys.objects AS t
ON s.[schema_id] = t.[schema_id]
INNER JOIN sys.columns AS c
ON t.[object_id] = c.[object_id]
WHERE c.system_type_id IN (35, 99, 167, 175, 231, 239)
AND c.max_length >= LEN(#SearchTerm)
AND t.type IN ('
+ CASE #TablesOnly WHEN 1 THEN '''''' ELSE '''V''' END
+ ','
+ CASE #ViewsOnly WHEN 1 THEN '''''' ELSE '''U''' END
+ N');
PRINT #SearchCommands;
EXEC sys.sp_executesql #SearchCommands,
N''#SearchTerm nvarchar(255)'', #SearchTerm;';
INSERT #Results
(
[database],
[schema],
[object],
[column],
ExampleValue
)
EXEC [master].sys.sp_executesql #DatabaseCommands,
N'#ColumnCommands nvarchar(max), #SearchTerm nvarchar(255)',
#ColumnCommands, #SearchTerm;
SELECT [Searched for] = #SearchTerm;
SELECT [database],[schema],[object],[column],ExampleValue
FROM #Results
ORDER BY [database],[schema],[object],[column];
END
GO