Tree of all dependencies in a SQL Server database - sql-server

Question

I have to maintain an old project without documentation, and there is a database with a lot of tables and functions and stored procedures. I want to build a tree of dependencies between tables and stored procedures, for example, this procedure execs these procedures and uses these tables.
Is there any tool that can help me
If there is not, what is the start point for such algorithms? I mean that I can get source code of all procedures from database, and than parse it for all 'exec #', 'update #', 'insert into #' and so on. And in this case, what is the best way to solve this problem (regex maybe, or some special algorithms...)?

Answer 1

Higarian, your code was very useful to me. I refined it a bit to remove circular dependencies, include table references, and to sort by the ObjectPath.
;with ObjectHierarchy ( Base_Object_Id , Base_Cchema_Id , Base_Object_Name , Base_Object_Type, object_id , Schema_Id , Name , Type_Desc , Level , Obj_Path)
as
( select so.object_id as Base_Object_Id
, so.schema_id as Base_Cchema_Id
, so.name as Base_Object_Name
, so.type_desc as Base_Object_Type
, so.object_id as object_id
, so.schema_id as Schema_Id
, so.name
, so.type_desc
, 0 as Level
, convert ( nvarchar ( 1000 ) , N'/' + so.name ) as Obj_Path
from sys.objects so
left join sys.sql_expression_dependencies ed on ed.referenced_id = so.object_id
left join sys.objects rso on rso.object_id = ed.referencing_id
where rso.type is null
and so.type in ( 'P', 'V', 'IF', 'FN', 'TF' )
union all
select cp.Base_Object_Id as Base_Object_Id
, cp.Base_Cchema_Id
, cp.Base_Object_Name
, cp.Base_Object_Type
, so.object_id as object_id
, so.schema_id as ID_Schema
, so.name
, so.type_desc
, Level + 1 as Level
, convert ( nvarchar ( 1000 ) , cp.Obj_Path + N'/' + so.name ) as Obj_Path
from sys.objects so
inner join sys.sql_expression_dependencies ed on ed.referenced_id = so.object_id
inner join sys.objects rso on rso.object_id = ed.referencing_id
inner join ObjectHierarchy as cp on rso.object_id = cp.object_id and rso.object_id <> so.object_id
where so.type in ( 'P', 'V', 'IF', 'FN', 'TF', 'U')
and ( rso.type is null or rso.type in ( 'P', 'V', 'IF', 'FN', 'TF', 'U' ) )
and cp.Obj_Path not like '%/' + so.name + '/%' ) -- prevent cycles n hierarcy
select Base_Object_Name
, Base_Object_Type
, REPLICATE ( ' ' , Level ) + Name as Indented_Name
, SCHEMA_NAME ( Schema_Id ) + '.' + Name as object_id
, Type_Desc as Object_Type
, Level
, Obj_Path
from ObjectHierarchy as p
order by Obj_Path

Answer 2

Here, The max(level) should solve your problem without needing external tools
;WITH cte ( [ID] ,IDSchema,Nome,Tipo,level, SortCol)
AS (SELECT [so].[object_id] AS ID
,so.[schema_id],so.[name],so.[type]
,0 AS [Level]
,CAST ([so].[object_id] AS VARBINARY (MAX)) AS SortCol
FROM [sys].[objects] so
LEFT JOIN sys.sql_expression_dependencies ed ON [ed].[referenced_id]=[so].[object_id]
LEFT JOIN [sys].[objects] rso ON rso.[object_id]=[ed].referencing_id
--in my database, if i insert tables on the search, it gets more tham 100 levels of recursivity, and that is bad
WHERE [rso].[type] IS NULL AND [so].[type] IN ('V','IF','FN','TF','P')
UNION ALL
SELECT [so].[object_id] AS ID
,so.[schema_id],so.[name],so.[type]
,Level + 1
,CAST (SortCol + CAST ([so].[object_id] AS BINARY (4)) AS VARBINARY (MAX))
FROM [sys].[objects] so
INNER JOIN sys.sql_expression_dependencies ed ON [ed].[referenced_id]=[so].[object_id]
INNER JOIN [sys].[objects] rso ON rso.[object_id]=[ed].referencing_id
INNER JOIN cte AS cp ON rso.[object_id] = [cp].[ID]
WHERE [so].[type] IN ('V','IF','FN','TF','P')
AND ([rso].[type] IS NULL OR [rso].[type] IN ('V','IF','FN','TF','P'))
)
--CTE
SELECT ID, IDSchema,
REPLICATE(' ',level)+nome AS Nome,'['+SCHEMA_NAME(IDSchema)+'].['+nome+']' AS Object,Tipo,Level,SortCol
FROM cte AS p
ORDER BY sortcol

Answer 3

There are paid tools like redgate but if you want, you can always right click an object and select "view dependencies".

Answer 4

You can use sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities as shown below to get all dependencies of any object
SELECT
*
FROM
sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities('dbo.myStoredProcedure', 'OBJECT')

Answer 5

Someone mentioned Redgate's paid add-ons. ApexSQL is another company that makes add-ons for SQL Server. Some of them cost money, but others are free and still pretty useful.
ApexSQL Search is one of the free ones. It's 2 main features are:
Allows you to search a database's data or structure for certain text.
Can build a graphical tree of dependencies for one or more objects (what you want).
After you install it, just right-click an object or database and click View dependencies (near the bottom, with an icon next to it). Don't confuse it for View Dependencies (near the top, without an icon next to it), which is the one built into SQL Server. I find the hierarchical diagram layout to be the most useful.
Links:
Product page with a good video demo
Article about the dependency mapping feature
Download page