List of all different database tables used in views - sql-server

Question

I need to find all the different database tables used in views.
I tried information_schema.view_table_usage.
I got results for current database.
But tables associated with different database are not fetching.
Please guide.

Answer 1

You can use the sys tables sys.objects and sys.sysdepends to retrieve the information you as follows
--Replace 'YOU VIEW NAME' by the view you want
--1) using old sys tables
select distinct(ov.name),ov.xtype from sysobjects o
inner join sysdepends d on o.id=d.id
inner join sysobjects ov on d.depid=ov.id
where o.name='YOUR VIEW NAME'
--2) using new sys.table
select distinct(ov.name),ov.type from sys.objects o
inner join sys.sysdepends d on o.object_id=d.id
inner join sys.objects ov on d.depid=ov.object_id
where o.name='YOUR VIEW NAME'

Answer 2

Don't use information_schema (here's why) or sysdepends (here's why).
SELECT v.name,
ed.referenced_database_name,
ed.referenced_schema_name,
ed.referenced_entity_name
FROM sys.views AS v
INNER JOIN sys.sql_expression_dependencies AS ed
ON v.[object_id] = ed.referencing_id;
If you only want things in another database, add:
WHERE ed.referenced_database_name IS NOT NULL;
You have to run this query from the context of the database where the view exists.
As an aside, permissions are a little different. From the documentation:
Requires VIEW DEFINITION permission on the database and SELECT permission on sys.sql_expression_dependencies for the database.
If you don't have these permissions (explicitly, or though db_owner/sysadmin or a few other roles), you won't get an error message, the view will just return no rows.
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE, on the other hand, has a little more freedom, but still has the limitation you observed (only returns references within the same database):
Returns one row for each column in the current database that is used in a view definition. This information schema view returns information about the objects to which the current user has permissions.
In order to use sys.sql_expression_dependencies, you'll need someone to grant you the appropriate permissions, or they'll need to create a stored procedure that calls it, executes as owner, and give you permissions to call that stored procedure.